Staff Data Specialist

This role is for one of Weekday's clients
Salary range: Rs 3000000 - Rs 4000000 (ie INR 30-40 LPA)
Min Experience: 8 years
Location: Pune
JobType: full-time

Requirements

Your ability to navigate the complexities of building scalable and high-performance systems, combined with your data science skills, will make you an invaluable contributor to the mission.

We are looking for a highly skilled Senior Data Scientist who can translate complex business problems into advanced analytical solutions. The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning, and data engineering with a strong focus on Generative AI (GenAI), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Deep Learning.

This role requires both technical leadership and strategic vision — from driving AI/ML innovation to mentoring junior team members, and collaborating across product, consulting, and engineering teams to bring AI-powered solutions to life.

By applying your expertise in data science to the ad-server and retail media domains, you will contribute to delivering targeted and impactful advertising campaigns, optimizing ad inventory, and maximizing ROI.

What Will You Do?

Business Problem Solving

- Apply statistical modeling and ML to solve real-world business problems
- Translate complex business challenges into analytical frameworks
- Build AI/ML solutions across industries
- Extract insights from large-scale datasets to improve model accuracy, fairness, and relevance

Technical Proficiencies

- Strong expertise in ML, DL, NLP, LLMs, and Generative AI (fine-tuning, RAG, prompt engineering)
- Proficiency in Python, PyTorch/TensorFlow, Hugging Face, and cloud ML platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) with MLOps practices
- Skilled in scalable data pipelines and ML systems for training, evaluation, and deployment
- Grounding in Responsible AI (fairness, explainability, bias mitigation)

AI/ML & Generative AI Innovation

- Lead design, development, and deployment of ML/DL solutions, with emphasis on LLMs and GenAI
- Build pipelines for training, fine-tuning, and serving LLMs for use cases like content generation, semantic search, personalization, multimodal AI
- Drive applied research in GenAI and foundation models
- Ensure performance, reliability, and cost optimization

Leadership & Collaboration

- Provide technical and strategic leadership to Data Scientists and Analysts
- Collaborate with engineering and product teams to integrate AI solutions into platforms
- Mentor junior scientists and set best practices in MLOps and Responsible AI
- Stay ahead of industry trends and incorporate into roadmap planning

Project Management & Strategy

- Drive execution of business plans and projects
- Manage continuous improvement of data science initiatives
- Oversee data gathering and assessment for project goals
- Develop contingency plans to adapt to changing business needs

You Will Be a Great Fit If You Have:

- Master's/PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or related field
- 8–12 years' experience in data science, generative AI, ML, and analytics (domain experience in e-commerce/advertising/retail advantageous)
- 3–4 years' deep, hands-on expertise in NLP, LLMs, and Generative AI
- 2+ years' experience leading projects and teams
- Advanced proficiency in Python, PyTorch/TensorFlow, SQL, and cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure)
- Strong foundation in ML, DL, NLP, and statistical rigor (regression, causal inference, time series)
- Experience with MLOps frameworks (MLflow, Kubeflow, SageMaker, Vertex AI)
- Strong data engineering skills (ETL pipelines for large-scale datasets)

Soft Skills:

- Strong business acumen, stakeholder management, and communication skills
- Proven record of mentoring, team leadership, and cross-functional collaboration

---