Data Scientist (Python, Machine Learning, LLMs) – (In Office) CPT

ENVIRONMENT:

An Investment company is searching for a talented and driven Data Scientist to join their innovative and growing team based in Durbanville, Cape Town. This is an exciting opportunity to work with a market leader, leveraging data to drive strategic decision-making, enhance business performance, and contribute to the future of wealth creation in South Africa.

DUTIES

Machine Learning & Predictive Modelling

Design, train, evaluate, and deploy supervised and unsupervised machine learning models in Python.

Build predictive and prescriptive models across classification, regression, clustering, and ranking tasks.

Own the full ML lifecycle: data preparation, feature engineering, model selection, validation, deployment, and monitoring.

Package and deploy models in Docker for reproducible, versioned, maintainable production use.

NLP & Generative AI

Develop and fine-tune NLP models for text classification, named entity recognition, sentiment analysis, and summarisation.

Leverage LLMs and generative AI (Claude, OpenAI API, Hugging Face) to build intelligent applications.

Design prompt engineering strategies and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines using PostgreSQL/pgvector for vector storage.

Evaluate and mitigate risks in generative AI outputs including hallucination, bias, and fairness.

Computer Vision

Build and adapt computer vision models for image classification, object detection, and segmentation.

Work with pre-trained architectures (e.g. CNNs, ViTs) and fine-tune on domain-specific datasets.

Collaborate with engineering teams to integrate vision models into production systems.

Analytics, Dashboards & Statistical Insights

Conduct rigorous exploratory data analysis (EDA) and statistical modelling to surface actionable insights.

Design and analyse A/B tests and experiments to measure the impact of product and business changes.

Translate complex analytical findings into clear, compelling narratives for non-technical stakeholders.

Build dashboards and internal tools using React, TypeScript, Tailwind, and Framer Motion to track model and business KPIs.

AI Automation & Workflow Integration

Use AI developer tools such as Claude Code and LLMs to accelerate experimentation and delivery.

Automate data and model workflows with n8n, Zapier, and Base44.

Integrate model outputs and insights into the group's systems including Zoho CRM (via Deluge and APIs).

Collaboration & Research

Partner with data engineers to ensure high-quality data is available for modelling.

Work with product managers and stakeholders to define problems, success criteria, and evaluation metrics.

Stay current with research developments in ML, NLP, and AI; evaluate and apply relevant techniques.

Document methodologies, experiments, and model decisions to support reproducibility and knowledge sharing.

REQUIREMENTS

3 - 5 years of hands-on experience in a data science or applied machine learning role.

Strong proficiency in Python for data science (NumPy, pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch or TensorFlow).

Solid understanding of ML fundamentals: model selection, cross-validation, regularisation, and evaluation metrics.

Practical experience with NLP and language models (transformers, BERT, GPT-family, etc.).

Proficiency in SQL and working with PostgreSQL for data extraction and manipulation.

Experience deploying models with Docker.

Strong statistical foundations: hypothesis testing, probability, regression, and experimental design.

Ability to communicate technical work clearly to non-technical audiences.

Experience with generative AI tooling (LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI API, Claude, Hugging Face).

Experience building RAG patterns with vector stores (e.g. PostgreSQL/pgvector).

Exposure to computer vision frameworks (OpenCV, torchvision, YOLO, Detectron2).

Familiarity with AI automation tools (n8n, Zapier, Base44) and AI dev tools (Claude Code).

Front-end skills (React, TypeScript, Tailwind, Framer Motion) for building model-facing tools.

Experience integrating with Zoho CRM (Deluge, JavaScript)

Postgraduate degree (Honours, Masters, or PhD) in a quantitative field such as Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or Engineering.