We are looking for an experienced Head Data Scientist to lead our Search & AI/ML initiatives. This role will drive search systems, taxonomy design, NLP, and information retrieval while leading a team of data scientists and search engineers. You’ll play a critical role in architecting new data solutions, optimizing search experiences, and developing next-gen AI/ML products for eCommerce, lending, and financial services.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the development & optimization of search indices, tagging, taxonomy, and ontology models
• Analyze website metrics & customer behavior to improve search models
• Collaborate across business lines (loans, insurance, investments) & work with stakeholders to define solutions
• Build proof-of-concepts and integrate models into scalable platforms
• Stay ahead of AI/ML & NLP research to design competitive data-driven solutions
• Lead a team of search engineers & data scientists, providing mentorship and technical guidance
• Drive AI/ML product development with a strong focus on scalability, performance & business impact

Ideal Candidate:

• PhD/MTech/BE/BTech/MSc in CS, Math, Statistics, Econometrics, or related fields
• 10+ years in Search, Information Retrieval, NLP, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics
• Strong coding skills in Python/Java + hands-on with R, SAS, Shell/Perl, Scala
• Deep expertise with Elasticsearch, Solr, Lucene-based engines
• Experience in REST APIs, SQL/NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra, Cosmos DB)
• Hands-on with DevOps (Azure DevOps), Kubernetes, Spark, CI/CD tools (Jenkins, Git, Gradle)
• Knowledge of Deep Learning, AI system design & architecture
• Strong experience in team leadership, mentoring & cross-functional collaboration
• Publications/patents in ML/Data Mining journals/conferences (preferred)