Lead Data Scientist

Company Description About SEEK SEEK’s portfolio of diverse businesses make a positive impact on a truly global scale. Our purpose is to help people live more fulfilling and productive working lives and help organisations succeed. We create world‑class technology solutions to connect more people to relevant employment, education, small business and volunteer opportunities. We have a culture of high‑performance in our workplaces and celebrate the diversity of our employees who contribute to the success of our organisation. Life at SEEK SEEK’s purpose is at the centre of everything we do. Our SEEK, which defines the way we work, is all about what makes us unique and a little bit different. Passion, Team, Delivery and Future are our principles that drive innovation and creativity. SEEK strives to support employee wellbeing by providing an amazing experience at work which led us to being named AFR BOSS Top 10 Best Places to Work in Technology (2021‑2024). We are proud to work in an environment that's inclusive where everyone's unique ideas, experiences and perspectives are valued. Our award‑winning head office in Cremorne (just a 4 min walk from Richmond station) provides an exceptional space to collaborate with colleagues. The building provides sweeping views of the city, a games area, sit and stand desks at every workstation, modern end‑of‑trip facilities and Thursday night drinks which gives our people an opportunity to connect in a social setting. Job Description The Role We’re looking for a Lead Data Scientist to lead a high‑performing team building end‑to‑end, data‑driven products that create tangible value for hirers and job seekers. In this role, you’ll guide the inference components of our AI/ML products that help SEEK understand the marketplace, and you’ll deliver insightful analysis to enable impactful decision‑making across the business. You’ll develop the team’s technical capability and support their career growth while overseeing delivery and partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Strategy, and Commercial stakeholders. You’ll thrive in a collaborative, fast‑moving environment where alignment, estimation, dependency management, and cross‑functional communication are critical. You enjoy being hands‑on with models and methods, and you value continuous learning—both for yourself and for your team. On any given day, you might assess and guide the development of statistically sound, pragmatic models; prototype and evaluate new approaches to address real business questions; articulate the value created and the risks involved; and refine strategic thinking in partnership with Product Managers, Strategy, Architecture, and Commercial teams. You may collaborate with a dedicated Experimentation team to design and interpret A/B tests, mentor and support other data scientists by validating the value, accuracy, and limitations of their outputs, and work with Engineering and Product specialists to build end‑to‑end AI/ML solutions. Your closest collaborators will include peers across the Data Science stream, stream leads who bring Data Science, Engineering, and Product perspectives to joint problem‑solving, and squad leads who track how your team contributes across SEEK’s broader AI initiatives. Key Responsibilities You will develop a deep understanding of a niche business domain—such as pricing, market position, or ad performance—and the data available to SEEK, translating that understanding into stronger decision‑making within your area of responsibility. You’ll help the team turn real business problems into actionable requirements, clearly framing the value and limitations of data‑driven approaches and ensuring modelling work is grounded in its business context. As a people leader, you’ll coach and sponsor your team’s growth, set clear goals, plan across sprints, define OKRs, and contribute to roadmaps. You’ll champion appropriate ML methods, explaining benefits and trade‑offs to audiences ranging from data scientists to colleagues in Engineering and Product, tailoring the level of detail to each stakeholder. You’ll also bring strong delivery management—balancing experimentation with reliability and scale. Qualifications You have extensive (8+ years) commercial experience building and improving data‑driven products, with deep, hands‑on knowledge of machine learning algorithms and model performance tuning. You have acted as a conduit between Data Science and Product, Architecture, and Engineering, solving commercial problems. You have managed a small team of Data Scientists or delivered large and complex projects. You’re highly proficient with Python, SQL, and Spark for data extraction and processing, and comfortable working within modern software development environments and tooling such as Git, AWS, Databricks, and MLflow (or equivalents). You communicate clearly, influence effectively across functions, and operate confidently amid ambiguity. You’re fluent on the command line in a *nix environment and hold a postgraduate qualification in a quantitative discipline (for example, Physics, Mathematics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or Engineering). Additional Information Permanent Perks At SEEK we offer: Annual Performance Bonus Plan Support of flexible working, including a mix of office and work from home days depending on your role. Paid and unpaid leave benefits including Personal Flexi Days and Volunteer Days, as well as the opportunity to purchase additional leave Support for parents with 14 weeks paid primary carers leave and 2 weeks paid leave for partners At SEEK, we are passionate about fostering a culture of inclusion and wellbeing that embraces and values the diversity of our people. We are a purpose driven business that works with heart. We know teams with diverse ideas, experiences and perspectives are more creative and are critical to ensuring effective delivery and innovating to enable our future success. As such, we welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences, especially as they relate to gender, sexual identity, culture, faith, disability and life stages. If you have the skills, curiosity and an adaptable mindset but don't meet every responsibility or qualification listed in this advertisement, please still get in touch with us. Should you require any specific support or adjustments throughout the recruitment process and beyond, please advise us and we will be happy to assist. For this role, only those candidates with the eligible right to work will be considered. SEEK kindly requests no unsolicited resumes or approaches from recruitment agencies and will not be responsible for any associated fees. #J-18808-Ljbffr