Remote Principal Data Scientist: Lead ML & Strategy

Placements24; Polokwane; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Flexible hours

Health, dental, vision insurance

Retirement plan

Professional development

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for a fully remote role, ideally near Polokwane. You will lead the design and deployment of advanced statistical models and ML algorithms to solve complex business problems, mentoring junior data scientists and shaping the firm’s analytics strategy.

You will work on large datasets, run experiments, and collaborate with engineering to productionize models, delivering measurable business impact while communicating insights to stakeholders.

Qualifications

• PhD or Master's in a quantitative field.
• 7+ years applying data science, ML and modeling.
• Proficient in Python or R with relevant libraries.
• Experience with big data tech and SQL.
• Strong design of experiments and causal inference.
• Ability to translate business problems into data solutions.
• Excellent communication and mentoring skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and apply advanced statistical models and ML algorithms.
• Analyze large datasets to identify trends and insights.
• Design and run A/B tests and experiments.
• Build and deploy predictive models for business use cases.
• Communicate findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Mentor junior data scientists and analysts.
• Shape data strategy and collaborate with engineering for productionization.

Skills

Python

R

Machine Learning

Statistical Modeling

Experiment Design

Communication

Education

PhD in Statistics/CS/Math/Phys

MS in related field

Tools

scikit-learn

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Pandas

Spark

SQL

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for a fully remote role, ideally near Polokwane. You will lead the design and deployment of advanced statistical models and ML algorithms to solve complex business problems, mentoring junior data scientists and shaping the firm’s analytics strategy.

You will work on large datasets, run experiments, and collaborate with engineering to productionize models, delivering measurable business impact while communicating insights to stakeholders.