Senior Data Scientist

Position Summary:

The Senior Data Scientist is responsible for transforming complex data into business value through advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). This role leads the design, development, and deployment of scalable analytical solutions that solve high-impact business problems and enable data-driven decision-making. Responsibilities include evaluating new data sources, developing predictive models, statistical algorithms, AI/ML solutions, and proof of concepts, and translating research into production-ready capabilities. The Senior Data Scientist I builds data pipelines and analytical datasets for modeling and AI applications while ensuring scalable, reliable solutions. This role also provides technical leadership, provides guidance to junior data scientists, collaborates with cross-functional teams, and leads multiple medium- to large-scale projects from concept through implementation, delivering measurable business outcomes.

Major Responsibilities:

Data Preparation & Engineering

• Identify source data and build data models to solve complex business problems.
• Extract, transform, and prepare structured and unstructured data.
• Collaborate with IT to build scalable data pipelines and analytical datasets for modeling and analytics.
• Clean, validate, and monitor data quality.
• Perform feature engineering and exploratory data analysis.
• Develop data quality metrics and visualizations to identify trends and opportunities.

Data Science, Machine Learning & Advanced Analytics

• Design, develop, deploy, and monitor statistical and machine learning models.
• Select appropriate statistical methods, modeling techniques, and algorithms.
• Design and evaluate predictive analytics solutions.
• Conduct statistical analyses and experiments to validate hypotheses and support business decisions.
• Develop prototypes and proof of concepts.
• Operationalize analytical solutions for production use.
• Support the AI/ML lifecycle by monitoring model performance and driving continuous improvement.
• Monitor model performance, address model drift, and improve business outcomes.
• Apply advanced analytical techniques, including forecasting, classification, clustering, and natural language processing (NLP), and Sentiment Analysis.
• Apply AI techniques, including generative AI, agentic AI, and large language models (LLMs), where appropriate to enhance analytical solutions.

Technical Leadership & Solution Delivery

• Lead multiple medium- to large-scale data science initiatives from concept through implementation.
• Translate business challenges into analytical solutions.
• Define technical approaches and project methodologies.
• Establish best practices for data science development, documentation, and model governance.
• Partner with Enterprise Engineering, Advanced Analytics, HRIT, and other cross-functional teams to deliver enterprise solutions.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior data scientists.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to analytical solutions and data science practices.

Business Partnership & Communication

• Partner with business leaders and subject matter experts to identify data-driven opportunities.
• Communicate analytical methods, insights, and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Present findings through effective data storytelling and visualization.
• Measure and communicate the business impact of analytical solutions using appropriate performance metrics.
• Create clear technical documentation and project deliverables.
• Facilitate discovery sessions and support solution design.

Innovation & Continuous Learning

• Stay current with advances in data science, machine learning, AI, and cloud technologies.
• Build expertise in business domains and enterprise data assets.
• Promote responsible AI through fairness, transparency, and explainability.
• Share knowledge and best practices across the data science community.
• Identify opportunities to improve analytical capabilities and business outcomes.

Other projects and tasks as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Engineering, Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or related field.
• Minimum 6 years of experience designing and building data science, machine learning, or AI applications using structured or unstructured datasets is required.
• Experience using programming and statistical tools (e.g., Python, R, SQL, Dataiku, AWS, Oracle or similar) to manipulate data and generate insights from large datasets is required.
• Demonstrated experience with multiple machine learning techniques, such as logistic regression, decision trees, random forests, clustering, and other predictive modeling methods is required.
• Experience working with cloud platforms and data environments, such as AWS and Oracle, is preferred.
• Experience working with large-scale data processing, data engineering, and cloud-based analytics is preferred.
• Experience applying AI techniques, including generative AI, large language models (LLMs), natural language processing, or other AI technologies, is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate AI and machine learning solutions from a systems perspective and apply systems thinking.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Regular, predictable, and full attendance is an essential function of the job.
• Willingness to travel as necessary, work the required schedule, work at the specific location required, complete Penske employment application, and submit to a background investigation (including past employment, education, and criminal history) and drug screening are required.

Physical Requirements:

• The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• The associate will be required to: read; communicate verbally and/or in written form; remember and analyze certain information; and remember and understand certain instructions or guidelines.
• While performing the duties of this job, the associate may be required to stand, walk, and sit. The associate is frequently required to use hands to touch, handle, and feel, and to reach with hands and arms. The associate must be able to occasionally lift and/or move up to 25lbs/12kg.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

Penske is an Equal Opportunity Employer