Data Practice Lead/director

At Robots & Pencils, we harness the power of data to help our clients achieve meaningful digital transformation. We’re seeking a Data Practice Lead who blends advanced data knowledge with real-world problem solving, who can build and lead a data practice in the Robots and Pencils engineering organization.

This is a high-impact role ideal for a candidate who thrives at the intersection of a deep technical understanding of data, the products, tool and the implementations and the ability to build of data architects, data engineers and data scientists.

About You

You’re passionate about discovering what data can reveal. You approach problems with curiosity and scientific rigor, always looking to test, learn, and improve. You have deep experience with AWS and associated AWS data services and products, Databricks and Snowflake expertise and the ability to recommend new tools and process to hence data capability. You also need to be familiar with Agentic AI and how to integrate AI agents into a data solution. You're collaborative, business-savvy, and known for delivering results that move the needle.

Experience is also required in technical leadership, mentoring of staff and recommend training of staff. Also experience in working closely with complex customers.

What You’ll Do

Modeling & Advanced Analytics

• With the help of your team lead design, developing, and deploy predictive and prescriptive models across a variety of domains (e.g., customer behavior, operational efficiency, personalization).

Data Exploration

• Analyze large, complex datasets to extract key insights and translate them into strategic recommendations.

• Communicate findings clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences, using compelling data knowledge and visualization.

• Collaborate with product managers and business stakeholders to identify opportunities and frame data science solutions.

Partnership & Enablement

• Work closely with data engineers, analysts, and software developers to build scalable, data-powered applications.

• Mentor junior data engineers, data architects and data scientists, supporting technical development and scientific rigor.

• Contribute to the development of reusable assets, tools, and processes to increase team velocity and impact.

Qualifications & Experience

• 7+ years of professional experience in data science, statistics, and applied machine learning.

• Understand the skills required to build and lead a data practice team, and be able to hire the appropriate skills to the team.

• Building and deploying Data Mesh architectures.

• Strong experience in AWS tools and infrastructure and cloud AI and data tools

essential. Experience in working in other cloud environments like Azure would be an advantage.

• Demonstrated success deploying data models into production environments using APIs, pipelines, or ML frameworks.

• Background in quantitative disciplines such as Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or Engineering.

• Experience with tools such as Databricks, AWS data tools such as SageMaker, Glue etc and Snowflake is essential.

• Experience of Palantir would be an advantage.

• AWS cloud certifications or ML specialization credentials are an advantage.

Core Competencies

Scientific Thinking – Brings strong analytical and statistical foundations; frames problems rigorously and tests hypotheses systematically.
Practical Execution – Focuses on delivering actionable insights and real-world model impact, not just theoretical accuracy.
Business Acumen – Understands the “why” behind the data; aligns analysis with client goals and product strategy.
Ownership & Accountability – Delivers high-quality, reliable work end-to-end; takes pride in outcomes.
Communication – Explains technical results clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences.
Team Collaboration – Works effectively across functions and time zones; contributes to a culture of openness and shared learning.

Why Join Robots & Pencils?

At R&P, we don’t just build software; we help our clients build the future. We are a diverse, globally distributed team that thrives on solving challenging problems and delivering exceptional results. If you're a data scientist who’s excited about building intelligent systems that deliver measurable impact, we’d love to hear from you.