Senior AI Data Scientist: Production ML & Insights

Placements24; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Placements24 in Pretoria seeks a seasoned Senior AI Data Scientist to develop and deploy advanced ML models, translating complex data into actionable business insights. You’ll mentor juniors, collaborate with engineering and product teams, and shape data-driven strategy across retail analytics.

Requires 5+ years in data science, strong Python (and/or R) skills, and production‑level ML experience. GIS/data experience is a plus and collaboration is key.

Qualifications

• Minimum three years in data science or analytics engineering roles.
• BSc Honours or MSc preferred in a quantitative field.
• Strong SQL, Python and Power BI proficiency.
• Experience designing scalable data pipelines and ML models.
• Production experience deploying ML/analytics solutions.

Responsibilities

• Design and improve data architectures for analytics and scalable product delivery.
• Build and maintain robust data pipelines ingesting data from multiple sources.
• Develop, deploy and monitor machine learning models in production.
• Apply statistical methods to solve business problems and create proofs of concept.
• Collaborate with product, engineering and business teams in an Agile environment.

Skills

SQL

Python

Power BI

Data architectures

Machine learning

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

BSc Honours / MSc

Tools

ETL/ELT tooling

SQL tooling

Job description

Placements24 in Pretoria seeks a seasoned Senior AI Data Scientist to develop and deploy advanced ML models, translating complex data into actionable business insights. You’ll mentor juniors, collaborate with engineering and product teams, and shape data-driven strategy across retail analytics.

Requires 5+ years in data science, strong Python (and/or R) skills, and production‑level ML experience. GIS/data experience is a plus and collaboration is key.