Senior Lead Data Scientist

Senior Lead Data Scientist

California Santa Clara, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, NY

Full Time

We are looking for an experienced Senior Lead Data Scientist / ML Engineer with a strong blend of pre-sales expertise, team leadership, and technical proficiency across classical machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI. You will engage in high-level client discussions, drive technical sales strategies, and lead a team to design and implement cutting-edge ML solutions. This is a strategic role requiring both thought leadership and hands-on technical contributions.

Roles & Responsibilities

Pre-Sales & Client Engagement

• Collaborate with the sales and business development teams to identify client needs and formulate AI / ML solutions.
• Present technical concepts, project proposals, and proof-of-concepts (POCs) to prospects and clients.
• Translate complex client requirements into actionable project scopes, estimates, and technical proposals.

Leadership & Team Management

Classical Machine Learning & Statistical Modeling

Deep Learning & Generative AI

Project Delivery & MLOps

Stakeholder Management & Communication

Education & Experience

Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field is preferred.

12+ years of relevant industry experience in data science or ML engineering, with 5+ years in a leadership or management capacity.

Technical Expertise

Pre-Sales : Demonstrated experience in client-facing roles, solutioning, and proposal development.

Classical ML : Skilled in traditional algorithms (regression, classification, clustering, etc.) and statistical methods.

Deep Learning : Hands-on expertise with frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch) for CNNs, RNNs, transformer architectures, etc.

Generative AI : Practical exposure to GANs, VAEs, or large language models, with a track record of building generative models.

MLOps : Familiarity with CI / CD pipelines, Docker / Kubernetes, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Leadership & Communication

Proven ability to mentor and lead data science / ML engineering teams to meet project goals.

Exceptional communication skills for presenting to clients, stakeholders, and executive leadership.

Experience in agile methodologies and project management, balancing multiple projects simultaneously.

Preferred / Bonus Skills

Experience in big data ecosystems (Spark, Hadoop) for large-scale data processing.

Background in NLP, computer vision, or recommendation systems.

Knowledge of DevOps tools (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Terraform) for infrastructure automation.

Track record of published research or contributions to open-source AI projects.