Director - Data Science & Machine Learning

Director - Data Science and Machine LearningLocation: MumbaiExperience: 9 YearsIndustry: Consumer Internet / TechnologyFunction: Data Science and Machine LearningJob Description:We are looking for an exceptional Data Science / Machine Learning leader to build and lead a high-performing Data Science organization and drive measurable business outcomes at scale.This is a hands-on, player-coach leadership role for someone who can combine strategic thinking with strong technical execution. The individual will own the Data Science roadmap, identify high-impact business problems, lead experimentation, and build production-grade ML solutions that directly influence key business metrics.The ideal candidate should be comfortable working across strategy, architecture, technical problem-solving, stakeholder management and team leadership.Key Responsibilities:- Define and drive the Data Science and ML roadmap by identifying and prioritizing high-impact business problems.- Lead, hire and develop a high-caliber team of Data Scientists / ML Engineers.- Own the complete ML lifecycle from problem definition and experimentation to deployment, monitoring and continuous improvement.- Build scalable, production-grade ML systems with strong engineering practices.- Drive ML solutions across areas such as demand forecasting, recommendation and personalization, pricing and optimization, customer analytics, marketing optimization, operational intelligence, capacity planning and decision automation.- Partner closely with Product, Engineering and Business leadership to define success metrics and drive adoption of ML solutions.- Establish best practices across feature engineering, experimentation, model validation, deployment, monitoring, retraining and governance.- Act as a player-coach by providing technical direction while remaining hands-on when required.- Build a high-velocity experimentation culture focused on measurable business impact.- Improve overall ML maturity, adoption and technical standards across the organization.Required Experience and Skills:- 9 years of experience in Data Science / Machine Learning.- 2 years of experience leading DS/ML teams or managing high-performing technical teams.- Proven experience building and deploying ML systems in production with measurable business impact.- Strong expertise in applied Machine Learning, statistical modelling and optimization.- Strong hands-on proficiency in Python and SQL, along with Pandas, NumPy and relevant data visualization libraries.- Experience with ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow/Keras and Scikit-learn.- Strong understanding of Regression, Classification, Tree-based / Gradient Boosting Models, Time-Series Forecasting, Ranking / Recommendation Systems, NLP and Optimization / Decision Systems.- Strong understanding of MLOps and production ML, including Docker, REST APIs, CI/CD, version control, scalable inference and model lifecycle management.- Experience with feature engineering pipelines, offline/online evaluation, A/B testing, model deployment and monitoring.- Strong business orientation with the ability to translate ambiguous business problems into scalable ML solutions.- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior leadership.Good To Have:- Experience in Time-Series Forecasting, Causal Inference, Market Mix Modelling or experimentation.- Experience in recommendation / personalization, pricing, revenue optimization, logistics, supply chain or operational optimization.- Experience in Consumer Internet, E-commerce, FoodTech, Mobility, Logistics or other high-scale operational businesses.- Experience building ML platforms, reusable ML frameworks or internal DS productivity tools.- Experience building decision automation and optimization systems.Ideal Candidate:We are looking for a strong player-coach who combines deep technical expertise with business acumen and leadership capability. The candidate should enjoy working on ambiguous, high-impact problems, building teams and taking ML solutions from concept to production at scale.