Data Science Team Lead at Luno

Data Science at Luno supports the business in answering questions through creatively leveraging data to generate and test hypotheses to yield insights. In addition, it also creates data products to help the company become more data driven. Data provides a fingerprint that helps us understand who our customers are, how they are using our products, what pain points they face in the process, and how we can improve our products and processes. Our team of data scientists work and collaborate within cross-functional teams to deliver outcomes in support of our business objectives. Your role, as Data Science Team Lead, requires you to understand how to build and structure a high performing data science team, how to recruit and interview the best data scientists, and how to keep them productive and happy once they're in place, including accelerating their professional growth. You get to work in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, where being confident and comfortable in the face of ambiguity is pivotal to you and your team's success.

You'll collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to help scale Luno to the next-level. The role will report to Gorden, Luno's Head of Data. Meet him here.

Your mission will involve:

• Hire, manage and guide your team to ensure that Luno attracts and develops the best talent in the Data Science team
• Building a solid high-performing team that is poised for future growth through development, coaching, clear expectation setting and a strong focus on employee experience
• Create an environment that instills trust, encourages world-class performance and ensures clear transparent communications to align around the overall vision of the product

• Develop relationships across the business to increase the data science team's influence and broaden its perspective
• Aligning teams to Luno's strategy to achieve business objectives
• Ensure delivery of outcomes through helping remove blockers, and discussing statistical, software engineering, and data issues with your team
• Build enthusiasm around innovation, technical growth, and learning for the Data Science team
• Collaborating with leaders within the organisation and develop an inspiring data science "way of working" that you will ensure is applied in your team, providing clarity to the rest of Luno and, therefore, setting your team up for success
• Working closely across all key product development functions, including Engineering, Design, Product Management, Operations, Marketing, and Customer Success to influence, advise and coordinate efforts, ensure strategic alignment and seamless execution
• Conducting periodic one-on-ones with your direct reports, review their performance, understand what keeps them happy and engaged, and offer career mentorin

 

In your first six months you will

• Complete our onboarding program
• Understand Luno's business mission and strategy, product milestones, and product roadmap
• Meet the broader team and work closely with the Data Science team
• Familiarise yourself with our data systems, platforms, and processes
• After completing the onboarding program, you'll begin your journey contributing to the Data Science team's success. You'll help outline our long-term data strategy, formalise the data scientists' roles and career development plans for each of your team members.
• We succeed as a team, so we will provide you with regular feedback from your manager and peers and will encourage you to do the same.

The ideal Lunaut will have:

• You love working with people, and seeing them grow and succeed
• You have at least 5 years experience working in a data science function, or similar, as an individual contributor, with credible technical credentials
• Experience in a people leadership role, coaching, mentoring and developing teams, with a proven track record of delivering results through others
• Experience in building a data science function in a scaling organisation
• Be able to mentor, evaluate, and promote career growth for data scientists
• Ability to influence and persuade others
• Strong people management and mentoring experience and skills
• Highly collaborative with outstanding relationship building skills
• You take control and exercise leadership to lead change by initiating action, giving direction and taking responsibility to ensure delivery of outcomes while simultaneously balancing the data scientists' need for autonomy in how they work
• You are great in prioritising, planning and organising your day and can manage your time efficiently
• Working as a team comes naturally to you – it's all about driving collaboration and teamwork to deliver results
• Adept at problem solving, especially in relation to getting individuals and teams to be the best version of themselves
• Creative and critical thinking abilities
• Nothing holds you back, you have a positive and friendly disposition, with a 'can do' attitude
• Familiarity with cryptocurrencies is highly advantageous