Lead Data Scientist - OpenExpert.ai

C10 Labs•Cambridge, MA

About The Position

Important: Please Read Before Applying This is an early-stage, hands-on builder role with a path to Head / Chief Data Scientist as the company scales. We are only considering candidates who: Have worked in startups or early-stage environments Are comfortable building from scratch (0 → 1) Want to grow into a leadership role over time, not step into a large pre-built team If you are primarily looking for a senior executive role with an established team and structure, this role is likely not the right fit. About OpenExpert.AI OpenExpert.AI is building the intelligence layer for power operations — an AI platform designed to help operations and maintenance teams diagnose issues faster, preserve institutional knowledge, reduce downtime, and improve decision-making in high-stakes industrial environments. OpenExpert.AI is a venture built within C10 Labs, focused on creating category-defining AI-first companies. The Role: Lead Data Scientist (Founding Team) We’re looking for a senior, hands-on data scientist to build the core intelligence layer of the platform. This is not a pure management role. You will be responsible for designing, building, and deploying real AI systems, working directly with product, engineering, and customers. Over time, you will have the opportunity to build and lead the data science function as the company grows.

Requirements

Builder Mindset (Required)
Experience working in a startup or early-stage environment
Have built and shipped ML/AI systems from scratch
Comfortable being hands-on and scrappy
Strong bias for execution, speed, and ownership
Technical Depth
Strong experience in machine learning, data science, or applied AI
Experience with time-series data, anomaly detection, or predictive systems
Solid engineering skills (Python, production systems, APIs, cloud environments)
Real-World Systems Experience
Experience deploying models into production environments
Comfortable working with messy, real-world data
Ability to balance model performance with practical constraints
Growth Potential
Interested in growing into a leadership role (Head / Chief Data Scientist)
Able to mentor others and help build a team over time
Interested in shaping both technical direction and team development

Nice To Haves

Experience in energy, industrial systems, or manufacturing
Familiarity with SCADA/OT systems, IoT, or operational data environments
Background in predictive maintenance or decision-support systems

Responsibilities

Build the Core AI System (0 → 1)
Design and develop AI/ML systems for diagnostics, anomaly detection, and decision support
Work with time-series, sensor data, text, and operational data in real-world environments
Build and deploy models into production, not just prototypes
Turn Data into Intelligence
Transform telemetry, manuals, work orders, and engineering documents into actionable insights
Develop systems for root-cause analysis, predictive maintenance, and knowledge capture
Contribute to multimodal AI systems that combine structured and unstructured data
Work Across Product & Engineering
Partner closely with product and engineering to ship quickly and iterate
Help define what to build, not just how to build it
Support early pilots tied to real customer outcomes (diagnostics, uptime, efficiency)
Lay the Foundation for Scale
Establish best practices for model development, evaluation, and deployment
Contribute to explainability, reliability, and system performance
Help shape the future data science function and roadmap