Senior Data Scientist at Sasol

Short Description / Purpose of Job

• The Senior Data Scientist is responsible for preparing and analysing large data sets in order to apply appropriate data science techniques (statistics / simulation / optimisation/ machine learning, etc) to drive predictive & prescriptive intelligence for business applications.
• Responsible for the design, engineering, development, operationalisation and modification of complex and/or specialised data science products in accordance with sound analytical principles and standards to drive critical value-adding business decisions.
• The Senior Data Scientist will forge strong relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders to understand business needs; develop data science products in a way that maximises user buy-in while recognising and capitalising on new improvement opportunities to extract business value.
• He/she will stay abreast of new/alternative techniques and/or tools for relevant application in the Sasol Energy business.
• In addition, the senior data scientist will support and mentor junior data scientists in team.

Recruitment Description/ Key Accountabilities

• Translate business questions and opportunities into specific quantitative questions that can be answered with available data using appropriate data science techniques (statistics/ simulation/ optimisation/ machine learning, etc).
• Define, apply and update Data Science best practices and standards.
• Ensure that solutions are sustainable and adequately packaged for support handover.
• Peer review junior data scientists' work to identify possible areas for improvement of efficiency, effectiveness to ensure and improve the quality and accuracy of the data science products.
• Conduct written and verbal presentation to share insights and recommendations to audiences of varying levels of technical sophistication.
• Actively seek customers where support could be offered and proactively identify real business needs.
• Research trends in data science tools and techniques for continuous improvement
• Contribute to the data science community specific data science topics
• Participate in and contribute to the Sasol Data Science CoP sessions and share own ideas / knowledge / experience within the Sasol Data Science community.

Formal Education

• Bachelor’s degree ideally in Statistics / Mathematics / Data Science / Operations Research / Engineering. Master’s degree in above will be advantageous.

Min Experience

• At least 8 years of applied experience using advanced analytics, statistical methods and data science.
• Advanced in coding capability in R/Python and SQL.
• Applied data science delivery in any of the following areas will be preferred: retail / customer loyalty, price & cost optimisation / inventory optimisation / sales and operations planning / digital twins.
• Experience in Agile project delivery is required.
• At least 2 years experience in any of the following: distributed computing, Databricks, Spark, containers, Git, and building effective CI/CD pipelines, PowerBI, web frameworks
• Applied experience in deep learning techniques (e.g. NLP, computer vision, etc.) is an advantage, but not essential.
• Good presentation and communication skills with a knack for explaining complex analytical concepts to people from other fields
• Azure certifications will be preferred.

Competencies

• Analytics: The systematic computational analysis of data or statistics
• Collaboration: The action of working with someone to produce something
• Critical reasoning: The action of critically thinking about something in a logical, sensible way and taking all factors into consideration.
• Data Management: Knowledgeable of the theory, purpose, architecture and design of the management, administration and relationships of the organization's data.
• Execution capability: The underlying ability to execute a strategy/project or day to day work Problem Solving: Is a step-by-step process of defining a problem, searching for information, and testing a series of solutions until the problem is solved. In involves critical thinking, analysis and persistence.
• Self-Mastery: Takes accountability for driving own growth through developing self-awareness, reflecting, seeking feedback and self-correcting
• Tech Savvy: Knowledge of the Information Technology Industry including trends, emerging technology, best practices, competition, regulations, and legislation.