Junior Data Scientist at Sanlam Group

Responsible for utilising data science to deliver value to our clients and business. This includes providing statistical analysis, forecasting, predictive modelling, simulation, machine learning and optimisation to discover trends, opportunities and threats. Findings should be shared regularly with business users in a collaborative fashion. Remains current with developments in data science technology and methodologies. Must have proficiency in ML language e.g. R, Python or Julia. Must be proficiency in SQL. Requires moderate supervision.

Key Result Areas

Data Preparation

• Assess the effectiveness and accuracy of new data sources and data gathering techniques
• Extend the company’s data with third party sources of information when required
• Enhancing data collection procedures to include information that is relevant for building analytic systems
• Processing, cleansing and verifying the integrity of data used for analysis
• Identify valuable data sources and automate collection processes
• Undertake pre-processing of structured and unstructured data

Analysis and Model Building

• Mine and analyse data to drive optimisation and improvement of product development, marketing techniques and business strategies
• Analyse large amounts of information to discover trends and patterns
• Select features, building and optimising classifiers using machine learning techniques
• Use predictive modelling to increase and optimise customer experiences, revenue generation & targeting and other business outcomes
• Develop custom data models and algorithms to apply to data sets
• Combine models through ensemble modelling
• Develop company A/B testing framework and test model quality

Stakeholder Engagement

• Present information using data visualisation techniques
• Propose solutions and strategies to business challenges

Implement and Monitor

• Coordinate with different functional teams to implement models and monitor outcomes
• Develop processes and tools to monitor and analyse model performance and data accuracy

Team Effectiveness

• Collaborate with engineering and product development team

What will make you successful in this role?

Qualifications

• Honours or Masters in Statistics, Actuarial Science, Computer Science or another quantitative field would be advantageous.

Knowledge And Experience

• 1-2 years of experience managing data sets and building statistical models
• Proven experience as a Data Scientist

Familiar With The Following Software/tools

• Experience querying databases and using statistical computer languages when managing data: R, Python, SQL, etc.
• Knowledge and experience in statistical and data mining techniques: GLM/Regression, Random Forest, Boosting, Trees, text mining, recommender systems etc.
• Experience creating and using advanced machine learning algorithms and statistics: regression, simulation, scenario analysis, modelling, clustering, decision trees, neural networks, etc.
• Experience with distributed data/computing tools: Map/Reduce, Hadoop, Hive, Spark, MySQL, etc.
• Experience visualising/presenting data for stakeholder use.

Experience

• Strong problem solving skills with an emphasis on product development.
• Experience using statistical computer languages (R, Python, etc.) to manipulate data and draw insights from large data sets.
• Knowledge of a variety of machine learning techniques (clustering, decision tree learning, artificial neural networks, etc.) and their real-world advantages/drawbacks.
• Knowledge of advanced statistical techniques and concepts (regression, properties of distributions, statistical tests and proper usage, etc.) and experience with applications.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for coordinating across teams.
• A drive to learn and master new technologies and techniques.