Data Science Manager Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

By | August 16, 2023
Data Science Manager Job Description
Data Science Managers help organizations leveraging on data in making the best management decisions.

Data Science Manager Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides exhaustive information of the job description of a data science manager to increase your knowledge of what they do.

It highlights the duties, tasks, and responsibilities that commonly define the data science manager work description.

This article also presents the major requirements you may be asked to fulfill if you are seeking to work as a data science manager.

Please, continue reading to learn about the data science manager career:

What Does a Data Science Manager Do?

The data science manager is responsible for helping organization leverage on data, working with and through a team of data scientists and engineers to provide valuable direction and insight, for management to make informed decisions.

His/her job description entails directing the data science group to empower data-informed decision making with respect to product, growth and engagement, and other areas relevant to the organization.

Data science managers can find employment in consulting firms, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and insurance, and any organization that uses large volume of data.

They are responsible for providing profound quantitative and qualitative insights around product use, quality, and performance of the user experience across a variety of touch-points and data sets.

They work together with other units across the organization to identify and refine opportunities for data-driven features.

The data science manager work description also involves applying data in providing strategic direction and expertise necessary to understand and address key business questions.

It also includes working with leaders across the company and externally to build a variety of models to make critical business decisions.

Data science managers also liaise with stakeholders across organizations to understand the goals of developing new and existing projects; identify opportunities to extract value from datasets to produce innovative solutions, and solve focused analytical problems; develop a data strategy and own the end-to-end execution.

They provide leadership for the Data Science team. They are also responsible for providing direction, mentorship and guidance to a team of data scientists and engineers to guarantee their professional and technical development, as well as to foster continuous improvement of the team’s code, architecture, and agile processes.

Data Science Manager Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Data science managers perform various functions as they strive to help organizations take advantage of data in making the best management decisions.

Shown below is a data science manager job description example highlighting the major duties, tasks, and responsibilities commonly assigned to the role:

  • Develop advanced quantitative modules using a variety of programs/software to support predictive assessments
  • Responsible for communicating analytics model behavior/results to business
  • Responsible for carrying out technical risk analysis and reliability assessments
  • Responsible for performing complex analyses, including optimization, text analytics, machine learning, social-science modeling, and statistical analysis, parametric and non-parametric statistical models and techniques
  • Provide recommendations for plans, programs, strategies, policies, and budgets
  • Responsible for the design of algorithms that require different models/methods to be used together
  • Responsible for driving data quality throughout the organization
  • Apply strong understanding of data science techniques and libraries to business problems
  • Direct data science teams to complete all project deliverables.

Data Science Manager Job Description for Resume

If you have worked before as a data science manager or are presently working in that role and are writing a resume for a new job, you can apply the sample job description shown above in making the work or professional experience part of the resume.

The above data science manager job description example provides the duties and responsibilities of the role that you can easily use in completing the professional experience section of your resume.

Data Science Manager Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

If you are seeking to work as a data science manager, recruiters will expect you to have the right skills, abilities, experience, and knowledge to be effective in achieving the purpose, objectives, and obligations of the role.

Shown below are major requirements you will be expected to fulfill by most recruiters if you are seeking the job of a data science manager:

  • Education: To work as a data science manager, applicants are usually required to have a minimum of Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Operations Research, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or Engineering, or in a related field, but a Master’s degree is preferred
  • Knowledge: The role of a data science manager is a senior position, so employers often seek individuals with at least 5+ years of experience in Data Science or related fields. In addition, they require a comprehensive knowledge of modern data science and product/web analytics tools and techniques, including Python and associated data science ecosystem, Machine Learning, Google Cloud Data platform: BigQuery, Dataflow, etc. Candidates for the position must also have broad knowledge and understanding of advanced statistical, machine learning, and/or data mining techniques
  • It is also essential that they have proven experience managing in an Agile environment; using analytically-oriented languages such as Python or R.; working with large, complex datasets applying big data technologies and script language, including Python, Java, and C/C++.
  • Teamwork abilities: the data science manager is responsible for a team of data scientists and engineers, hence recruiters look out for people that can develop and manage complex projects, leading an interdisciplinary team to achieve project goals. It is important that they can provide mentorship and guidance for the efficient and technical development of the members of your team
  • Statistical analysis skills: It is crucial that they have advanced quantitative and statistical analysis skills to solve business problems and provide practical business insight using data and a quantitative/scientific approach
  • Communication skills: Applicants must possess exceptional verbal and written communication skills to relate with and supervise teams, as well as to communicate technical content and analytical insights/complex findings in a clear and concise manner to multiple audiences, including senior management.

Conclusion

If you are a recruiter or HR manager needing to hire for the data science manager position in your company, you will need to produce and publish a description of the role to inform prospective candidates the duties and responsibilities they will be assigned if hired.

You can create a detailed description of the role for your company by applying the sample data science manager job description above.

The information provided in this article is also useful to individuals interested in the data science manager career to learn about what the role does.