Senior Data Scientist (JP5860)

Ovations Talent Sourcing; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Ovations Talent Sourcing is seeking a Senior Data Scientist for a 12-month contract in the banking sector. Focus areas include end-to-end ML/AI, predictive modelling, and decision science leveraging the Databricks platform.

You will work on feature engineering, governance, and productionizing models across Personal & Private Banking and Digital channels, collaborating with PPB, Digital, Risk, and MLOps teams to deliver scalable analytical assets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or higher in a quantitative field (Data Science, CS, Engineering, Math/Statistics, Econometrics, Actuarial).
• Hands-on Databricks: Notebooks, Workflows, MLflow, Feature Store/Delta tables.
• Python and SQL proficiency for large-scale data manipulation and ML.
• Experience building customer propensity, next-best-action, retention, or risk models in financial services.
• End-to-end feature engineering, model tuning, validation, governance, and productionization with engineers.

Responsibilities

• Model Development & GenAI: design, train and optimize ML/AI models using Databricks and MLflow.
• Feature Engineering & Governance: build reusable enterprise feature pipelines with full quality controls.
• Decisioning & Optimization: develop decision science models for acquisition, engagement, cross-sell, and operations.
• Monitoring & Governance: monitor model performance, drift; document governance artifacts for risk compliance.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: work with PPB, Digital, Risk and MLOps to deploy production-ready analytics.

Skills

Python

SQL

Domain modelling

End-to-End execution

Education

Degree in Data Science/CS/Engineering/Math/Actuarial/Econometrics

Tools

Databricks

MLflow

Delta tables

Feature Store

Job description

Role Overview

We are looking for a

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Data Scientist,for our client in the banking sector, for a 12-month contract to build and optimize end-to-end machine learning, AI, and decisioning solutions across Personal & Private Banking (PPB) and Digital channels. Leveraging the Databricks platform, you will focus on feature engineering, predictive modelling, experimentation, and decision science to deliver scalable analytical assets.

Key Responsibilities

• Model Development & GenAI: Design, train, and optimize ML/AI models (customer propensity, next-best-action, risk, fraud, and GenAI use cases) using Databricks and MLflow.
• Feature Engineering & Governance: Build and maintain reusable enterprise feature pipelines using Databricks Feature Store and Delta tables with full quality and lineage controls.
• Decisioning & Optimization: Develop decision science models to enhance customer acquisition, engagement, cross-sell strategies, and operational outcomes.
• Monitoring & Governance: Monitor model performance, stability, and drift; produce complete model documentation and governance artifacts for risk compliance.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with PPB, Digital, Risk, and MLOps teams to translate business needs into production-ready analytical solutions.

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematical Statistics, Actuarial Science, Econometrics, or a quantitative field.
• Databricks Stack: Hands-on experience using Databricks (Notebooks, Workflows, MLflow, and Feature Store/Delta tables).
• Technical Skills: Strong proficiency in Python and SQL for large-scale data manipulation and machine learning.
• Domain Modelling: Proven experience building customer (propensity, next-best-action, retention) or operational/risk models in financial services.
• End-to-End Execution: Demonstrated track record of feature engineering, model tuning, validation, governance, and productionizing models alongside engineering teams.