Staff Data Scientist

About Holidu

Holidu stands as one of the fastest-growing technology firms specializing in vacation rentals globally. The company’s vision is to simplify the booking and hosting experience, making it worry-free and enjoyable. Holidu assists hosts in generating more reservations with less effort while helping guests discover ideal holiday homes for their vacations. With a diverse workforce of 700 employees from over 60 countries, the company embraces a passion for technology, continuous innovation, and delivering superior experiences to more than 40,000 vacation rental hosts and 4 million annual guests.

Role Overview

This newly created, senior-level individual contributor position demands deep expertise in tackling challenging and ambiguous machine learning problems. The Staff Data Scientist will lead technical strategy, elevate quality standards, mentor team members, and directly develop code and models. Depending on personal strengths and interests, the role may focus intensely on specific areas such as ranking or dynamic pricing or tackle multiple domains including customer churn, cancellations, marketing optimization, forecasting, and more. This role provides access to extensive datasets and offers autonomy to implement solutions effectively.

Technological Environment

• Programming with Python
• Workflow automation via Airflow
• Data transformation using dbt
• AWS tools including SageMaker, Redshift, and Athena
• Model tracking with MLflow

Key Responsibilities

• Lead major machine learning projects end-to-end by designing, implementing, and deploying critical models that drive essential applications, while measuring their impact.
• Establish and uphold technical guidelines and best practices for the Data Science team encompassing modeling methods, experimentation standards, MLOps, and code quality.
• Amplify team effectiveness by mentoring peers, conducting design and model reviews, and enhancing overall data science craft.
• Collaborate with company leadership to define and advance the enterprise-wide machine learning roadmap, identifying areas where data science can deliver significant value.
• Promote AI adoption throughout the team, continuously integrating advanced AI techniques into data science workflows to increase efficiency and intelligence.
• Simplify complex technical concepts for both specialized and general audiences, providing clear communication of trade-offs and recommendations.

Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum five years of substantial practical experience as a Data Scientist or ML practitioner with proven success in delivering high-impact models deployed in production environments.
• A strong quantitative academic background in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or related disciplines.
• Expertise in statistics, predictive modeling, and machine learning, combined with sound judgment to select appropriate approaches and engineering ability to develop robust production-ready systems, including AI-assisted solutions.
• Hands-on experience with tree-based and gradient boosting algorithms such as XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost on large tabular datasets.
• Demonstrated technical leadership with experience setting strategic direction, mentoring, and enhancing team capabilities.
• A highly proactive and ownership mentality, eagerly tackling the most complex problems and seeing them through to completion.
• Excellent communication skills enabling clear explanation of sophisticated ideas to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Passion for incorporating AI into daily work, practicing experimentation, and leading by example in adopting successful innovations.

Additional Details & Benefits

• Make a meaningful impact in revolutionizing travel by shaping products used by millions of travelers and thousands of hosts. The culture values ideas converted to products, data-driven decision-making, and iterative fast learning where individual contributions visibly matter.
• Enjoy a professional growth environment that encourages curiosity and feedback, with access to mentorship, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and a personal learning budget focusing strongly on AI advancements.
• Be part of an ambitious, supportive, and international team that celebrates achievements and cultivates a culture that is fun, driven, and personable.
• Work with a modern technology stack combining the agility of a start-up with the reliability of an established business, fostering continuous development and refinement of solutions.
• Benefit from a hybrid working setup requiring two office days per week in Munich, plus the flexibility to spend up to eight weeks annually working from alternative inspiring locations with regular team events.
• Additional perks include travel benefits, gym discounts, and more to support wellbeing, alongside the opportunity to thrive in a dynamic industry with exceptional colleagues.
• The company strongly supports diversity and encourages applications from all genders, backgrounds, and geographies. Applicants can apply without submitting photos or disclosing personal demographic information. Special assistance needs during recruitment can be accommodated by contacting HR.