Lead Data Scientist – Hybrid, ML Leader & Mentor

Placements24; South Africa; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and bonuses

Hybrid work model

Medical and retirement benefits

Generous leave and professional dev/di

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Data Scientist for an analytics client in Paarl, Western Cape. You will drive end-to-end data science initiatives, mentor a team of data scientists, and deploy production‑grade ML models addressing key business challenges.

You will design experiments, build data pipelines, collaborate across departments, and stay on the cutting edge of ML research. A strong mix of technical excellence and leadership is essential.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in a quantitative field (CS, stats, math, physics)
• Minimum 6 years in data science or ML, with at least 2 years in leadership
• Proven production ML model deployment experience
• Proficiency in Python or R and libraries (scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Pandas, NumPy)
• Strong statistical modeling, experimental design, and hypothesis testing
• Experience with Spark/Hadoop and SQL databases
• Familiarity with cloud ML services (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Excellent communication and stakeholder influence skills
• Experience with data visualization tools (Tableau/Power BI)
• Experience leading and mentoring data science teams

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end development and deployment of ML models and data-driven solutions
• Mentor and manage a team of data scientists
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify analytical opportunities and translate needs into data science projects
• Perform data analysis, feature engineering, and model building using statistical methods
• Design experiments, A/B tests, and validation frameworks to measure impact
• Develop and maintain data pipelines and infrastructure for model training and deployment
• Stay updated on ML advances and assess applicability
• Communicate findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
• Ensure quality, scalability, and reproducibility of workflows and models
• Contribute to strategic direction of data and analytics capabilities
• Foster a culture of data-driven decision making

Skills

Leadership

Python

R

ML/DL libraries

Statistics

Big data

SQL

Communication

Education

Master's or PhD in a quantitative field

Tools

Spark

Hadoop

TensorFlow

PyTorch

scikit-learn

Pandas

NumPy

Tableau

Power BI

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Data Scientist for an analytics client in Paarl, Western Cape. You will drive end-to-end data science initiatives, mentor a team of data scientists, and deploy production‑grade ML models addressing key business challenges.

You will design experiments, build data pipelines, collaborate across departments, and stay on the cutting edge of ML research. A strong mix of technical excellence and leadership is essential.