Lead Data Scientist, Bellville

Bellville, South Africa | Posted on 19/05/2026

Location:

Cape Town |

Work Type:

Hybrid |

Job ID:

J107186

About our client Our client, a reputable financial services firm listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), holds a strong belief in the transformative power of incremental progress. They are committed to empowering individuals and businesses alike, offering tailored solutions and expert guidance to help pave the way to success. With a focus on innovation and excellence, they provide secure financial futures through personalised advice and cutting‑edge products. Their mission is to support diverse goals and aspirations, enriching lives across every journey.

What you will be doing

Analyse and interpret data structures across databases to facilitate data analysis and continuous monitoring.

Develop and identify predictive and prescriptive models to enhance business decision‑making.

Collaborate with business stakeholders to identify problems and opportunities that can be addressed with machine learning or statistical modeling.

Develop the hypothesis testing framework and modeling approach to meet business needs.

Prepare data for analysis and modeling, including data cleaning, standardisation, transformation, dimension reduction, and feature engineering.

Develop custom code to implement data mining techniques, machine learning algorithms, and statistical models for large datasets.

Make strategic recommendations on data collection and experimental design.

Interpret results and translate findings into clear, actionable insights.

Communicate findings to business stakeholders, present trends, correlations, and patterns found in complex datasets clearly and concisely to convey meaningful insights.

Assist with managing and monitoring cloud expenditure and budget.

Help lead and mentor team members and collaborate in problem‑solving.

Lead projects and manage delivery expectations.

Our client is looking for

A relevant degree in a quantitative field is ideal, with exposure to mathematics, statistics, and computer science.

4+ years of data science experience and 3+ years of software/cloud development experience.

Extensive experience with Python, business analytics software, and a statistical package.

Experience with SQL and building/managing big data platforms.

Extensive software engineering experience and cloud understanding, particularly with AWS.

Healthcare and/or insurance industry experience.

Deep theoretical and applied understanding of statistical and machine learning techniques to solve business problems.

Experience translating statistical findings into business recommendations.

Understanding of artificial intelligence solutions and techniques.

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