Data Scientist (Personalization)

Yassir; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech company in Cape Town is searching for a Data Scientist to enhance its AI team. This role focuses on optimizing Machine Learning systems for Personalization and Recommendation Engines. The ideal candidate should possess strong statistical and coding skills, be experienced in software development, and have a proactive approach to problem-solving. The position offers an exciting opportunity within a fast-growing environment that values teamwork and data-driven solutions.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of industry experience in software development.
• Experience with Personalisation and Evaluation modelling techniques.
• Comfortable with statistical concepts and data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects on Personalization and Recommendation Engines.
• Conduct Exploratory Data Analysis and tune ML models.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to champion Data Quality.

Skills

Mathematical skills

Statistical skills

Machine Learning

Python coding

SQL coding

Analytical thinking

Problem solving skills

Visualization skills

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Education

Masters degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, Machine Learning, or related

Tools

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Job description

About Yassir

Yassir is the Super App designed to make your life easier. Yassir’s Mission is to serve Africans in the continent and its diaspora while creating economic opportunities for service providers and infusing social values. We aspire towards providing our users with the most essential services to their door by leveraging technology and a large ecosystem of partners. We at Yassir stand for: Ambition, Transparency & Trust, Quality, Performance. And we are growing fast - super fast. By choosing a career at Yassir, you choose to be part of one of the most impactful, fastest-growing Tech companies in Africa.

About The Role

• Yassir is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Data Scientist to join our Artificial Intelligence (AI) team and contribute to some of our key projects, such as Personalization and Recommendation Engines. As a Data Scientist, you will play a crucial role in analyzing and modelling data to optimize our Machine Learning (ML) systems. Your expertise in both predictive modelling and software development will be essential in driving our solutions and providing value to Yassir. This is a very exciting opportunity, tackling some of Yassir’s most critical problems.

About The Team

• The AI team is part of Yassir’s central Data & AI domain, which is responsible for all data related activities in the organization - from Data Engineering, Data Platform management and Data Analytics all the way to AI solutions and MLOps infrastructure development. We are a global team of Data and AI / ML experts, encompassing diverse backgrounds and skills. We strive to build state-of-the-art Data and ML infrastructure and solutions, and ultimately a Data Culture supported by responsible and democratized data access, data-driven decision making and automation. We push the envelope of what’s feasible, we challenge each other, we support each other, and we take great pride in our work. Most of all we are value-driven to create impact from our data solutions. If you have an inherent curiosity about the fields Data and AI, a relevant background and an internal zeal and drive to contribute, please come join us!

Key Responsibilities

• Become an expert point of contact and thought leader on your scope by mastering the details and principles pertaining to it.
• We aim for this role to focus on Personalization and Recommendation Engines capabilities.
• Identify and propose ML opportunities related to your scope and beyond.
• Support with requirements definition and prioritization of ML projects.
• Collaborate with cross-functional Engineering and Product teams.
• Champion Data Quality as a critical input component to all ML solutions and Analytics.
• Conduct Exploratory Data Analysis and subsequent Feature Selection / Engineering.
• Utilize Statistical and ML techniques, as appropriate, for model training.
• Validate and tune ML models; visualize analysis / modelling results focusing on meaningful, actionable metrics and insights.
• Deploy and test ML applications using our MLOps infrastructure.
• Monitor ML models on their technical performance, business impact and underlying data / concept drift.
• Explain technical solutions in a business-friendly manner, supporting Product teams in their communications and reporting.
• Maintain and improve technical documentation of delivered solutions.
• Support the Data & AI domain in developing its technical capabilities, improving its ways of working and collaboration with other dependent teams.
• Champion Data Culture, proactively share knowledge across teams, and participate and drive team building activities.

Key Requirements

• Solid Mathematical / Statistical / Machine Learning as well as Software Development technical skills - supported by a Masters degree or above in a relevant quantitative field such as Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Software Engineering.
• Comfortable in efficient, production quality Python and SQL coding at a professional setting with at least 3 years of industry experience.
• Comfortable with key software engineering concepts, such as code / memory profiling, code optimization, scalability, code / QA testing, cost optimization and associated best practices.
• Prior experience with Personalisation and Evaluation related problems and/or modelling techniques.
• Comfortable with key Statistical concepts, such as statistical testing and causal analysis.
• Analytical thinking and problem solving skills.
• Engineering mindset focused towards delivering robust applied data science solutions.
• Visualization skills, including experience with common Python ecosystem libraries and/or Analytics / BI tooling.
• Familiarity and prior use of Cloud solutions and their data / ML services - at Yassir we use Google Cloud Platform (GCP), experience with which is highly preferred.
• Mastering of the end-to-end (ML) model development lifecycle.
• Excellent communication skills, including presentation and oral / written communication (clear articulation, concise documentation) in professional English.
• Positive attitude and resilience.
• Strong interpersonal skills focused on peer support, empathy, active listening, team building and stakeholder relationships building.
• Internal drive, self-motivation and ability to work independently including own effective project management.

Nice to have

• Experience with Delivery, Mobility or Financial Services companies.
• Experience working on ML features for Digital Products (apps, websites).

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.