About the Role
In YouGov Shopper, we believe that constant innovation is the key to improve the pertinence and quality of the data that we receive from our consumer panel members and app users. To achieve this goal, we have developed a coding framework that automatically enriches shop receipts and consequently reduces work for our panelists. As a Senior Data Scientist, you'll be part of a cross-functional team of machine learning engineers, developers, and fellow data scientists. Together, you'll help design and build new components of our coding framework, enabling richer insights by enhancing consumer panel purchase data. You'll take the lead on a workstream within the team — owning its technical direction, coordinating the work of others contributing to it, and making sure it delivers against the team's broader goals.
Responsibilities
•Lead a workstream within the project team: define its technical approach, break it down into tasks, and coordinate the data scientists and engineers contributing to it.
•Develop, implement, and standardize NLP and ML solutions for tasks such as text classification, clustering, entity recognition, and semantic search, from proof-of-concept to production.
•Conduct exploratory data analysis and create clear visualizations to communicate patterns and trends to the team and stakeholders.
•Be an active and influential member of our Agile Team, drive the definition of tasks within your workstream, share findings, raise risks and uncertainty, and challenge priorities during plannings.
•Present your workstream's progress and achievements to the team and broader audience during agile ceremonies (sprint reviews, system demos…).
•Screen the market for potential new and innovative Data Science approaches relevant to your workstream, and stay up to date with advancements in machine learning and NLP.
•Create and improve methods and tools, and contribute to and help define best practices around Data Science.
•Share Data Science knowledge within the team, mentor less experienced colleagues contributing to your workstream, and support their growth.
•Work across teams and projects to broaden your understanding of the various areas within YouGov Shopper.
Requirements
These are the essentials for having an interview:
•Typically 5+ years of professional experience in data science, applied ML, or a related field.
•Experience leading a workstream, project, or initiative within a team — coordinating others' contributions and owning technical decisions.
•Expert knowledge of statistics, probability, and machine learning techniques, including statistical and predictive modeling.
•Expert proficiency in Python and its data science ecosystem (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, statsmodels), with good working knowledge of SQL/NoSQL.
•Strong experience with NLP techniques and libraries (tokenization, embeddings, transformers, Hugging Face Transformers, spaCy, or NLTK) and exposure to deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow).
•Good understanding of cloud environments and architectures (AWS, GCP, or Azure) for data and ML workloads.
•Ability to translate and clearly communicate sophisticated analytical information to both technical and non-expert audiences.
Tools & Technology
•Jupyter, Python, and Python best practices and coding standards (PyCharm, R-Studio Server, Zeppelin).
•Python frameworks such as pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, statsmodels.
•Git, GitLab, CI/CD awareness.
•Collaboration & documentation: JIRA, Confluence, Teams, Miro.
About YouGov
Join our global team to help us achieve our social mission: to make millions of people's opinions heard for the benefit of our local, national, and international communities. Understanding diversity of opinion requires diversity of background. Although our global panel of millions of people worldwide powers our research, our biggest asset is our people. If our research is to be truly representative of what the world thinks, we need people from all walks of life to be part of the team to bring their perspective to the work we do.
We are driven by a set of shared values. We are fast, fearless, and innovative. We work diligently to get it right. We are guided by accuracy, ethics, and proven methodologies. We respect and trust each other, bringing these values into everything that we do. We strive to provide YouGovers with best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing.
