Senior Data Scientist

About Emirates NBD and the Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence

Emirates NBD stands as one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East, boasting revenues exceeding USD 6 billion and a global workforce of approximately 14,000 employees. Recently, the bank launched its Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence (CoE) designed to accelerate its advanced analytics initiatives bank-wide.

The centre aims to generate a business impact between 500-800 million AED through various analytics projects in partnership with business units. Additionally, it seeks to embed a data-driven mindset organization-wide by enhancing advanced analytics capabilities. The CoE supports business units by offering guidance on potential analytics applications, prioritizing projects, and facilitating the end-to-end deployment of advanced models through collaborative cross-functional squads composed of data scientists, engineers, and digital experts.

Job Purpose and Key Responsibilities

• Plan, design, and develop machine learning models that reinforce the execution of business use cases to meet strategic goals.
• Collaborate closely with product owners, business translators, data warehousing, and engineering teams to build big data applications leveraging both structured and unstructured data.
• Lead the full lifecycle delivery of machine learning models, including ongoing testing and updates to enhance efficiency and adapt to evolving business requirements.
• Support business translators by effectively communicating model designs, operations, and outcomes.
• Mentor junior team members, guiding their project execution and fostering professional growth.
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for reusable code artifacts.
• Engage in knowledge sharing initiatives within the CoE and externally at industry meetups and conferences.
• Contribute to planning and participating in cultural and team-building activities within the CoE.
• Develop and achieve personal technical learning objectives.

Candidate Profile and Qualification Requirements

• A university degree is mandatory; an advanced degree such as an MS or Ph.D. in Computer Applications, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, or closely related technical disciplines with strong analytical focus is preferred.
• Professionals should have 6 to 8 years of hands-on experience in data science roles.
• Proven expertise in crafting analytics roadmaps and leading analytics projects.
• Strong knowledge of machine learning, statistical methods, optimization, or related fields.
• Proficiency in programming languages, especially R or Python, is essential.
• Experience working with large datasets and using distributed computing frameworks like MapReduce, Hadoop, Hive, Spark is required.
• Excellent analytical thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
• Demonstrated experience working in agile environments coordinating multiple business stakeholders.

Behavioral Competencies

• Pragmatic and focused on driving actionable outcomes.
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to engage diverse stakeholders.
• Strong capability in managing relationships and expectations.
• Encourage curiosity, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit among team members.
• Collaborative team player attitude.
• Rapid learner open to new challenges.

Additional Information and Benefits

Joining Emirates NBD offers the opportunity to be part of a prominent regional banking brand known for innovation and growth across the UAE and globally. The bank provides abundant professional advancement opportunities and a competitive benefits package, including flexible work policies allowing remote work when appropriate.