Senior Data Scientist

Senior Data Scientist
As a Senior Data Scientist you will be developing AI agents and other AI applications to assist users in understanding their customer feedback, manage their XM programs, and take data-driven actions.   You will be working closely with product, engineering, UI/UX, client teams to brainstorm ideas, perform feasibility testing, and inform product strategy.  
Why work at SMG?
SMG is a leading experience management (XM) provider, serving restaurants, retailers, and other multi-location consumer businesses by changing how brands act on customer + employee insights. With a rich 30-year history, SMG is uniquely pairing an enterprise software platform with professional services to help brands generate new revenue, grow existing revenue, reduce detractors, and drive operational efficiencies. And with our 2024 acquisition of Bulbshare, we also help the world’s leading organizations grow through real-time customer collaboration by building mobile-first customer communities in over 30 markets worldwide, enabling clients to collaborate with consumers quickly and effectively for insights, ideation, and advocacy.
We offer our talent -

• Work hard, have fun environment - We work hard to deliver a fulfilling, exciting workplace environment for each SMG employee. Our teams are composed of smart, talented, curious people who love a good challenge. 
• Values driven culture where we connect, collaborate & co-create.
• Remote first company (fully remote)
• Unlimited PTO   
• Tech provided
• Company sick pay

Diverse, experienced, friendly team which will welcome you, support you and challenge you. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and create an inclusive work environment in which all our colleagues experience belonging, have their unique needs respected and met, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and feel fully engaged to contribute to the company’s success.
 

As a Data Scientist at SMG, this is what you will do:

• Build models on unstructured text and structured survey data
• Design, develop, test, deploy, and monitor AI and ML solutions to power platform features
• Collaborate on software development with data science colleagues and engineers
• Write production-quality Python code exhibiting best practices in reliability, testing, and performance
• Encapsulate and expose data science models so they can be integrated into the SMG platform
• Manage, deploy, and optimize data science applications and models in the cloud (Azure / Snowflake)
• Lead initiatives that are assigned to you and contribute to projects led by others
• Mentor junior team members

You are a perfect match for the role if you have:

• A master’s degree in data science, statistics, computer science, or related field (broadly construed) or equivalent.
• Extensive experience (4+ years) in data science, ML engineering, or ML operations.
• Core technical skills, including:
  • Machine learning: Python + common libraries, classical machine learning models and approaches, model training and evaluation frameworks and metrics, data analysis and visualization, natural language processing transformers models, databases including SQL and noSQL, statistics
  • ML Ops: Github actions, CI/CD, unit and integration testing, application monitoring and logging (Azure metrics, Grafana), Triton / VLLM, caching (Redis), containerization, API deployment, vector databases, asynchronous execution
  • Cloud platform: Microsoft Azure framework (including function apps, data factory, AI foundry, Snowflake
  • AI / LLM: Prompt engineering, function calling, fine-tuning of open-source LLMs, token management, model guardrails, LLM evaluation, throughput and scaling for LLMs, RAG, agentic frameworks (e.g., LangChain / LangGraph), PyTorch, embedding models
• The curiosity and drive to stay on top of new developments in the AI/LLM space.
• The ability to write production-quality Python code with integrated tests, error handling, and monitoring.
• A deep understanding of how to develop, deploy, and scale LLM solutions to ensure reliability, optimize performance, and manage cost.
• The drive to collaborate with product, engineering, and client teams to build and deliver the best products.
• An “end-to-end” data science skillset with a solid understanding of machine learning fundamentals as well as model management, evaluation, and deployment.
• The willingness to speak up, respectfully offering criticism or suggesting alternatives when you have conviction that better options are available.
• The responsibility to be self-directed and eager to take ownership of your assigned projects.
• The ability to communicate your expertise effectively to audiences with varying levels of technical sophistication, both orally and in writing
• A desire to understand business priorities and customer needs.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment with a growth mindset and a commitment to continuous learning.
• Demonstrated ability to drive change and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization.

About SMG:
To learn more about our customer, employee, and brand experience management (XM) solutions, visit www.smg.com.