Remote Principal Data Scientist — Lead & Drive Impact

Placements24; Sandton; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement plan

Performance bonuses

Professional development

Remote-friendly policy

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to lead advanced analytics initiatives within a fully remote team. The role focuses on delivering impactful insights from complex data, mentoring junior data scientists, and shaping the company’s data strategy.

You will work on large-scale datasets, design experiments, and collaborate with stakeholders to translate problems into analytical frameworks. Strong leadership and communication are essential for success in a remote, globally distributed

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s in a quantitative field (Statistics, CS, Math, Physics, Economics, etc.).
• 9+ years of professional data science experience with leadership in significant projects.
• Expertise in ML algorithms, statistical modeling, and experimental design.
• Proficiency in Python or R with core data-science libraries (pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Strong SQL skills and experience with large-scale data warehousing/big data (Spark, Hadoop).
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills for a remote role.
• Experience mentoring junior data scientists and contributing to team strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end development and deployment of advanced analytical models and ML solutions.
• Identify new data sources and techniques to address business challenges.
• Perform complex data mining, statistics, and predictive modeling on large datasets.
• Develop data-driven strategies and provide actionable recommendations to senior leadership.
• Mentor junior data scientists and guide their technical growth.
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and business to implement solutions.
• Communicate findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Stay updated on latest data science advances and perform experiments to measure impact.
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and ethical use across projects.

Skills

Machine learning

Statistical modeling

Experimental design

Python/R

SQL

Big data technologies

Communication

Mentoring

Remote collaboration

Education

PhD or Master’s degree in quantitative field

Tools

pandas

scikit-learn

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Spark

Hadoop

Tableau

Power BI

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to lead advanced analytics initiatives within a fully remote team. The role focuses on delivering impactful insights from complex data, mentoring junior data scientists, and shaping the company’s data strategy.

You will work on large-scale datasets, design experiments, and collaborate with stakeholders to translate problems into analytical frameworks. Strong leadership and communication are essential for success in a remote, globally distributed