Manager, Data Science – Personalization & Recommendation Systems

Jobtailor; Menomonee Falls (WI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking an experienced data science leader in Wisconsin to drive end-to-end ML initiatives. You will manage a team of data scientists, collaborate with product and engineering, and deploy models for personalized experiences at scale.

The role emphasizes building and optimizing ranking and recommendation systems, experimentation, and translating data insights into business value. Strong leadership and production ML expertise are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience with personalization & recommendation systems at scale.
• Experience developing sequential models and utilizing LLMs in production.
• Understanding of collaborative filtering and learning-to-rank methods.
• Experience optimizing models for GPU / distributed training.
• Familiarity with large-scale datasets and production ML systems.
• Exposure to real-time or low-latency serving environments.
• Experience with vector search (FAISS/ScaNN).
• End-to-end customized ML models in production environments.
• Expertise in state-of-the-art algorithms using ML, stats, optimization.
• Proficiency in Python, R, Spark, SQL, GCP; problem-solving for product development.
• 5+ years DS experience or 2+ years with a Master’s; 2+ years leadership.
• Retail and marketing models experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manage, coach, develop, retain, and assess data scientists.
• Partner with product, engineering, and design leads to use data-driven insights for decisions, goals, prioritization, and team objectives.
• Lead end-to-end data science projects from problem formulation through model deployment.
• Oversee experiments addressing targeted business questions.
• Drive continuous improvement of key business metrics.
• Translate data science outputs into business outcomes and delivered value.
• Build strong business partner relationships and promote adoption of data science capabilities.
• Monitor data science and technology trends and identify high-return investment opportunities.
• Design and support deployment of ML models for personalized digital experiences.
• Build and optimize recommendation and ranking systems balancing relevance, discovery, conversion, and revenue.
• Develop multi-stage ranking systems with candidate generation and re-ranking.
• Address cold-start and long-tail challenges in large product catalogs.
• Partner with engineering on real-time personalization and scalable deployment.
• Perform additional assigned tasks.

Skills

Personalization systems

Recommendation systems

Sequential models

Transformers

LLMs in production

GPU training

Vector search

Collaborative filtering

Learning-to-Rank

Python

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Data Science/CS/Statistics/Math

Tools

FAISS

ScaNN

Spark

SQL

GCP

Job description

• Manage, coach, develop, retain, and assess data scientists
• Partner with product, engineering, and design leads to use data-driven insights for decisions, goals, prioritization, and team objectives
• Lead end-to-end data science projects from problem formulation through model deployment
• Oversee experiments addressing targeted business questions
• Drive continuous improvement of key business metrics
• Translate data science outputs into business outcomes and delivered value
• Build strong business partner relationships and promote adoption of data science capabilities
• Monitor data science and technology trends and identify high-return investment opportunities
• Design and support deployment of machine learning models for personalized digital experiences
• Build and optimize recommendation and ranking systems balancing relevance, discovery, conversion, and revenue
• Develop multi-stage ranking systems with candidate generation and re-ranking
• Address cold-start and long-tail challenges in large product catalogs
• Partner with engineering on real-time personalization and scalable deployment
• Perform additional assigned tasks

Requirements

• Experience with personalization & recommendation systems, search, or ranking problems at scale of millions of customers and products
• Experience developing sequential, transformer models and utilizing LLM models in production
• Understanding of collaborative filtering and learning-to-rank methods
• Experience optimizing models for GPU / distributed training
• Familiarity with large-scale datasets and production ML systems
• Exposure to real-time or low-latency serving environments
• Experience with vector search / ANN methods (e.g., FAISS, ScaNN) preferred
• Experience delivering end-to-end customized ML models in production environments
• Expertise in developing and deploying state-of-the-art algorithms using machine learning, statistical, and optimization methods
• Expert in modern analytics tools, programming languages, and cloud platforms such as Python, R, Spark, SQL, GCP
• Strong problem-solving skills with an emphasis on product development
• Experience proposing rapid experiments and iterating based on results
• Proven success guiding teams through unstructured technical problems
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or equivalent quantitative field
• 5+ years of progressively complex data science experience, or 2+ years with a Master’s degree
• 2+ years of managerial or leadership experience in data science or analytics organizations
• Retail experience preferred
• Marketing models preferred

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in managing and developing data science teams while delivering end-to-end machine learning solutions. Proficient in leveraging data-driven insights to drive business outcomes and optimize recommendation systems at scale.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Machine Learning Model Development
• Personalization & Recommendation Systems
• Data Science Team Leadership
• End-to-End Project Management
• Statistical & Optimization Methods

Hard Skills

• Python
• R
• Spark
• SQL
• GCP
• Collaborative Filtering
• Learning-to-Rank Methods
• GPU Optimization
• Vector Search
• ANN Methods

Soft Skills

• Problem-Solving
• Coaching
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Team Development

Industry Keywords

• Data Science
• Retail Experience
• Marketing Models
• Statistical Analysis
• Quantitative Field

Tools & Technologies

• Machine Learning Frameworks
• Analytics Tools
• Real-Time Serving Environments
• Large-Scale Datasets
• Production ML Systems