Data Scientist 3 - Vertex AI [T500-29963]

About Costco Wholesale:

Costco Wholesale is a multi-billion-dollar global retailer with warehouse club operations in eleven countries. They provide a wide selection of quality merchandise, plus the convenience of specialty departments and exclusive member services, all designed to make shopping a pleasurable experience for their members.

About Costco Wholesale India:

At Costco Wholesale India, we foster a collaborative space, working to support Costco Wholesale in developing innovative solutions that improve members’ experiences and make employees’ jobs easier. Our employees play a key role in driving and delivering innovation to establish IT as a core competitive advantage for Costco Wholesale.

Position Title: Data Scientist 3

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Define the long-term vision and strategy for data science initiatives: Set the direction for the organization’s data science, ML, and AI efforts, including advanced analytics, predictive modelling, and AI-driven automation.
• Lead and mentor a team of data scientists: Provide technical guidance, and mentorship for team members.
• Identify and explore cutting-edge research areas and technologies: Stay abreast of the latest advancements in ML, AI, and data science, and evaluate their potential for the organization.
• Drive innovation and the development of novel data science solutions: Lead new technology exploration and experimentation efforts, prototype new approaches, and oversee implementation of advanced models.
• Collaborate with executive leadership on strategic decision-making: Align data science initiatives with business objectives and organizational priorities.
• Establish and enforce data science standards and best practices: Ensure quality, reproducibility, and ethical use of data and AI across the organization.
• Represent the organization in external data science communities: Speak at conferences, publish thought leadership, and build partnerships with academia and industry.

Technical Skills:

• 10+ - years of experience.
• Mastery of relevant technical skills: Deep expertise in data science, ML, and AI, including advanced techniques such as deep learning, NLP, and generative models.
• Significant experience in designing and implementing complex data science systems at scale: Lead the architecture and deployment of large-scale ML/AI solutions on GCP.
• Strong leadership and team management skills: Build and mentor high-performing data science teams.
• Excellent strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities: Translate business challenges into data-driven solutions and drive organizational impact.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills: Advocate for data science initiatives, influence executive decisions, and represent the organization externally.

Must Have Skills:

• Deep expertise in ML, AI, and advanced analytics (e.g. deep learning, NLP)
• Experience deploying large-scale ML solutions on GCP Strong leadership and team mentoring in data science environments
• Strategic mindset with ability to align technical work to business goals
• 10 to 12+ years of hands-on experience building AI models for the Retail, CPG, or eCommerce industry.
• 8+ years’ experience in building and implementing business insights using AI / ML / Deep Learning at scale.
• Proficiency in SQL, PySpark, Python, Machine Learning / Deep Learning,
• Proficiency in ML Frameworks: TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, XGBoost, Kera’s, ML Flow
• Proficiency in ML/AI Services: Vertex AI (training, prediction, pipelines), AutoML, AI Platform
• Expertise with at least one data visualization tool, preference: PowerBI.
• Strong experience working in Cloud platforms viz., GCP, Azure
• Proficiency in working with diverse data types on cloud platforms.