Senior Data Scientist – AI Strategy

Recruiter

A 1L Realization (Pty) Ltd

Job Ref

JHB001018/AG

Date posted

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Location

Midrand, South Africa

SUMMARY

Our client in the Telecoms sector is seeking a Senior Data Scientist – AI Strategy on a contract duration of 12 months.

POSITION INFO

Required Skills & Experience Core Technical Skills Candidates should demonstrate practical experience in: Generative AI platforms. Large Language Models. Retrieval Augmented Generation. Prompt Engineering. Vector databases. AI evaluation frameworks. Agentic AI solutions. AI workflow automation. API integration. Responsible AI. AI governance. LLM observability. Engineering Skills Experience should include: Python development. FastAPI or Flask. Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud). AI deployment pipelines. Real-time processing. Batch processing. Enterprise system integration. Data Science Skills Strong experience in: Machine Learning. Classification. Regression. Clustering. Natural Language Processing. SQL. PySpark. Data engineering. Preferred Experience Additional experience in the following would be advantageous: LangGraph CrewAI AutoGen Conversational AI platforms Speech analytics Voice analytics Telecommunications industry Customer Experience (CX) Enterprise AI implementation Key Success Measures The successful consultant should demonstrate the ability to: Deliver enterprise-ready AI solutions. Build production-grade Generative AI applications. Design intelligent autonomous AI systems. Improve customer experience through AI. Increase operational efficiency. Translate technical capability into measurable business value. Qualifications Applicants should possess: Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering or a related discipline. Minimum five years' experience in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning or Big Data. Proven experience delivering production AI solutions. Strong knowledge of Generative AI technologies. Experience with LLMOps and MLOps. Advanced Python programming skills. SQL and PySpark experience. Knowledge of cloud-native AI deployment. Docker and Kubernetes experience. Experience working with APIs. Strong understanding of traditional machine learning techniques. Experience with AI visualisation and reporting tools. Strong analytical thinking. Excellent communication and presentation skills. Experience mentoring technical teams. Ability to work independently within agile environments.