Senior/Lead Data Scientist

About the role

John Keells Holdings PLC is seeking a Senior/Lead Data Scientist to join its OCTAVE team, the centre of data‑driven decision making across the conglomerate’s diverse businesses. The role involves solving complex analytical problems using the company’s extensive data lake and delivering machine‑learning solutions that impact millions of Sri Lankans.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct advanced statistical analyses on large datasets to generate actionable insights and measure performance.
• Design, build, and iterate supervised and unsupervised machine‑learning models of varying complexity.
• Collaborate with data engineers, translators and senior data scientists to develop end‑to‑end analytics pipelines using Python and Azure Data Factory.
• Communicate findings and model outcomes to technical stakeholders within the integrated analytics team.
• Research best practices, document solutions and continuously improve analytical approaches.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Operations Research, Economics or a related discipline.
• Minimum of 6 years of professional analytics experience, including hands‑on machine‑learning projects.
• Ability to work in agile, cross‑functional teams and manage multiple stakeholder expectations.

Required skills

• Python programming.
• Azure Data Factory and Azure cloud services.
• Machine‑learning techniques (supervised and unsupervised learning).
• Statistical analysis and modelling.
• Data engineering concepts and experience with data lakes.