Senior Data Scientist

Berkley•Glen Allen, VA

10d•$150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

We are seeking an exceptional Senior Data Scientist who is part deep technologist, part entrepreneur, and part strategic innovator. This is not a traditional analytics role, it is built for a builder. You will own the full lifecycle of high-impact AI/ML solutions, from whiteboard to production, writing substantial code and driving rigorous analysis that directly shapes enterprise decisions. Sitting at the intersection of advanced machine learning, software engineering, and business strategy, you will architect and ship production-grade AI systems across underwriting, claims, operations, and finance.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, Engineering, or a closely related quantitative field.
3-5+ years of hands-on experience in applied machine learning, data science, or AI engineering not just analytics.
Demonstrated track record of shipping ML models and AI systems to production, including ownership of monitoring and maintenance.
Experience leading complex, end-to-end data science projects from problem definition through deployment and business impact measurement.
Proven ability to influence technical direction and strategy without direct management authority.
Python (expert-level): NumPy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, PyTorch or TensorFlow, Hugging Face, LangChain/LlamaIndex or equivalent.
ML Engineering: Feature stores, model registries (MLflow), experiment tracking, CI/CD for ML, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes).
LLMs & Generative AI: Prompt engineering, RAG architecture, fine-tuning, evaluation frameworks, and agentic workflow design.
SQL & Data Engineering: Complex query optimization, dbt or similar, working fluently with Spark or Databricks.
Cloud Platforms: Azure ML preferred; AWS SageMaker or GCP Vertex AI experience
Statistics & ML Foundations: Regression, classification, clustering, time-series, Bayesian methods, causal inference, and model interpretability (SHAP, LIME).
Software Engineering Practices: Git, code review, unit testing, design patterns you write code that others can maintain.

Nice To Haves

Master's or PhD preferred
Experience in financial services, insurance, or other regulated industries with model risk management requirements.
Contributions to open-source ML projects
Experience building and operating real-time inference systems (low-latency APIs, streaming prediction pipelines).
Familiarity with model governance frameworks and regulatory requirements
Experience with agentic AI systems, multi-modal models, or domain-adapted LLMs in an enterprise context.
Background in agile/product-oriented analytics teams with sprint-based delivery.

Responsibilities

Own the code, not just the model: Design, write, test, and deploy production-grade ML and AI systems using Python, modern ML frameworks, and cloud-native tooling.
Build generative AI & LLM-powered solutions: Architect and implement RAG pipelines, fine-tuning workflows, agentic systems, and LLM evaluation harnesses.
Engineer scalable ML pipelines: Develop robust feature engineering, training, inference, and monitoring pipelines built for reliability and scale.
Ship end-to-end: Take models from prototype through CI/CD into monitored production environments, including automated retraining and drift detection.
Lead complex analytical investigations: Apply causal inference, Bayesian modeling, survival analysis, and simulation to solve high-stakes business problems.
Translate ambiguity to impact: Frame undefined problems with entrepreneurial clarity: define success metrics, scope solutions, and move from question to insight at speed.
Ensure reproducibility and rigor: Establish standards for experiment tracking, version control, and model validation aligned with enterprise governance requirements.
Rapidly prototype and validate: Move from idea to working proof-of-concept in days, not months using experimentation to de-risk investment before scaling.
Influence enterprise standards: Shape the organization's model development, validation, and deployment standards as a principal-level technical authority.