Data Scientist Lead

An independent African market research and insights company is seeking an experienced and driven Data Scientist Lead to head our data science initiatives and guide a high-performing team. This role is ideal for someone who combines strong technical expertise in Python, R, and SQL with proven leadership experience managing and mentoring staff.

You will be responsible for leading end-to-end model development, driving advanced analytics projects, and ensuring data-driven insights translate into measurable business value.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of data scientists and analysts.
• Oversee the full data science lifecycle — from problem definition and data exploration to model development, validation, and deployment.
• Develop predictive, prescriptive, and machine learning models using Python and R.
• Write and optimize complex queries using SQL to extract, manipulate, and analyze large datasets.
• Partner with business stakeholders to translate business problems into analytical solutions.
• Ensure best practices in coding standards, model governance, documentation, and reproducibility.
• Present insights and recommendations to senior leadership in a clear and actionable manner.
• Drive continuous improvement in data science methodologies and tools.

Qualifications and experience:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in data science, statistics, mathematics, computer science, or a related field.
• Proven experience in a data scientist Lead or senior data science role.
• Demonstrated experience managing and mentoring staff.
• Experience deploying models into production environments.
• Experience in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Knowledge of MLOps practices.
• Experience working with large-scale or distributed data systems.

The reference number for this position is NG61057 which is a permanent, onsite role offering a salary of up to R1.5mil per annum salary negotiable based on experience. E-mail Nokuthula on e-Merge.co.za or call her for a chat on 011 463 3633 to discuss this and other opportunities.

Are you ready for a change of scenery? E-Merge IT recruitment is a niche recruitment agency. We offer our candidates options so that we can successfully place the right people with the right companies, in the right roles. Check out the e-Merge IT website www.e-merge.co.za for more great positions.

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Posted on 17 Feb 09:16, Closing date 18 Apr