Senior Director of Data Science – Data Analytics
About The Position
D.R. Horton is seeking a Senior Director of Data Science to build and lead an enterprise capability that turns advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI into measurable business outcomes. The role shapes technical direction, develops talent, establishes rigorous modeling and production practices, and builds partnerships that move high-value ideas from exploration into scaled use. The successful candidate brings deep data science expertise, enterprise leadership, and a builder mentality focused on durable capabilities. The Senior Director will set applied data science strategy, standards, the talent model, and the technical roadmap in alignment with business priorities. They will lead portfolios of forecasting, optimization, experimentation, machine learning, and advanced analytics products, ensuring work begins with decisions and measurable outcomes and uses the simplest reliable approach. They will establish scientific rigor across validation, experimentation, monitoring, explainability, reproducibility, and model lifecycle management, and partner across technical and business teams to bring models into production workflows. The role also identifies and pilots opportunities for practical business value, represents the function in cross-functional activities, and requires overnight travel.
Requirements
- Advanced degree in Data Science, Statistics, Operations Research, Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent experience.
- 12 or more years of data science, machine learning, optimization, advanced analytics, or related experience, including technical leadership.
- Deep expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning, forecasting, experimentation, optimization, and model evaluation.
- Strong Python and SQL skills and experience deploying models into enterprise production environments.
- Demonstrated ability to connect advanced analytics to measurable business decisions and outcomes.
- Ability to work independently, take ownership, communicate clearly, and deliver results in an evolving environment.
- Ability to build trusted relationships across the organization, balancing enterprise standards with business needs and operating realities.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in operations research, pricing, demand forecasting, land or real estate, supply chain, construction, or capital allocation.
- Experience leading LLM, document AI, or computer vision initiatives.
- Experience in homebuilding, real estate, construction, mortgage, title, land development, sales, purchasing, finance, customer care, or another distributed operating business.
- Experience working in a large enterprise with complex enterprise environments.
- Experience founding, incubating, or building new products, capabilities, or businesses from the ground up.
Responsibilities
- Set applied data science strategy, standards, talent model, and technical roadmap aligned to business priorities.
- Lead portfolios of forecasting, optimization, experimentation, machine learning, and advanced analytics products across priority pillars.
- Ensure teams begin with decisions and measurable outcomes, not models, and select the simplest approach that can create reliable value.
- Establish scientific rigor for validation, experimentation, monitoring, explainability, reproducibility, and model lifecycle management.
- Partner with Product, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE), Platform, Architecture, Governance, and business subject-matter experts to move models from research into production workflows.
- Represent the function in cross-functional discovery, architecture, governance, operational-readiness, and continuous-improvement activities as appropriate.
- Stay current on relevant data, AI, digital, software, and industry practices and apply new capabilities when they create practical business value.
- Identify, shape, and pilot new opportunities where data, AI, and digital capabilities can create business value, building, testing, and learning quickly.
- Conduct all business in a professional and ethical manner.
- Travel overnight as needed.
- Supervise two or more employees.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- 401(k).
- Employee stock purchase plan.
- Flexible spending accounts.
- Life and disability insurance.
- Vacation, sick, and personal time, plus company holidays.
- Multiple voluntary and company-provided benefits.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
