Principal Data Scientist
Principal Data Scientist setting the direction of Data Science at Autotrader, a UK automotive marketplace: spotting ML opportunities, orchestrating cross-functional data projects, and mentoring the analytics community. Core stack includes Python, Spark, SQL, MLflow, Databricks and GCP. Hybrid role based in Manchester (min 3 days/week in office).
- Compensation
- £60K–£80K / yr
- Location
- Manchester
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Principal
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Data science
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Enjoy being an accountable leader of cross-functional teams
- Think strategically about commercial impact, unlocking business value with Data Science
- Holistic responsibility for delivery across organisational boundaries
- Care about rigour and quality of scientific outputs, balancing complexity with practicality
- Dependable leader and source of advice, humble and open to challenge
- Research skills to proactively identify opportunities, size them up and make compelling cases to senior stakeholders
- Analytical generalist comfortable leading projects with ambiguous requirements and complex constraints
- Exemplar of data lifecycle, tech estate and tooling, including Python, Spark, SQL and MLflow
- Passionate about leading people and elevating the technical capability of the discipline
Full description
About us
You've probably heard of Autotrader, but do you know what we're all about?
We're the most trusted, most visited automotive marketplace in the UK. A heritage brand and a tech innovator. We bring together vehicle buyers and sellers to give them real choices. Cars may be what we're best known for but we’re also the place for pretty much everything else on wheels, from e-bikes to caravans.
In the automotive world, change is a constant, that’s why we take our job of untangling the complex car-buying journey very seriously.
At our core, we’re all about people. We go our own way while embracing diversity and celebrating our differences. We dedicate ourselves to the idea that we work better together.
Autotrader is a beautiful, surprising and vibrant place to work. We might not be for everyone, but we could be perfect for you.
About the job
We are seeking a Principal Data Scientist who will play a crucial role in driving Autotrader's transformation into a data science-driven organisation.
As a Principal Data Scientist you will be responsible for the direction of Data Science at Autotrader. You will join a cross-functional collaborative squad focussed around a set of products or a services. With your experience and research skills you will spot the opportunities for Data Science and work with the leadership in your squad to prioritise, resource and shape subsequent projects.
Your role will require you to orchestrate these projects, including supporting other Data Analysts and Scientists and collaborating with software engineers towards the best solution. You will have a focus on developing ML-centric data products and solutions, in which your expertise with ML frameworks and workflows will be key.
Right now, our Data Scientists are working on several exciting projects. For instance, they're creating personalised suggestions to get buyers more involved, improving our search system to make buying better for customers while also helping sellers stand out, building AI tools to aid customers in tasks like making listings and describing ads, studying how competition affects seller performance on our site, and upgrading our customer data platform for better targeted marketing beyond our site.
As part of our broader analytical community, Data Scientists collaborate closely with Data Analysts. Together, they foster a culture of shared insights, continuous learning, and mutual support through regular showcases, feedback sessions, mentorship programs and skill-based workshops. As a Senior member of the community, you will play a key role in establishing our analytical standards and tools.
We have invested heavily in a Data Platform that supports industry-leading Data Science. These are some technologies that our Data Scientists use (we don't expect applicants to have experience with all of these):