Johannesburg-based Senior ML Scientist – R&D Driver

Placements24; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Retirement fund

Paid time off

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to join the Johannesburg R&D team. You will tackle complex scientific questions with advanced data analysis, predictive modeling, and ML to drive data-driven decisions across projects.

The role requires 5+ years in data science, strong Python/R skills, and experience with big data tools. You will collaborate with scientists, develop pipelines, and contribute to cutting-edge research in Johannesburg.

Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or related quantitative field.
• Minimum of 5 years hands-on data science experience with ML and statistical modeling in R&D.
• Proficiency in Python (scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch) or R.
• Experience with Spark/Hadoop and database management (SQL, NoSQL).
• Strong stats, experimental design, hypothesis testing, and model deployment.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement machine learning models and analyses for complex scientific questions.
• Clean and transform large, heterogeneous datasets for research use.
• Collaborate with scientists to translate data needs into solutions.
• Build data pipelines for model training, evaluation, and deployment.
• Perform exploratory data analysis to identify trends and insights.
• Stay updated on data science advancements and assess impact.
• Communicate findings through reports and presentations.
• Mentor junior data scientists and foster data science culture.
• Ensure governance and ethical data handling.

Skills

Python

Machine Learning

Data Analysis

Big Data

R

SQL

Cloud AWS

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/Stats/Math/Physics

Tools

Spark

Hadoop

TensorFlow

PyTorch

scikit-learn

SQL

NoSQL

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to join the Johannesburg R&D team. You will tackle complex scientific questions with advanced data analysis, predictive modeling, and ML to drive data-driven decisions across projects.

The role requires 5+ years in data science, strong Python/R skills, and experience with big data tools. You will collaborate with scientists, develop pipelines, and contribute to cutting-edge research in Johannesburg.