Special offer 

Jumpstart your hiring with a $100 CAD credit to sponsor your first job.*

Sponsored jobs are 4.5X more likely to result in a hire.**
  • Invite matched candidates to apply
  • Increase your visibility in job search results
  • Appear to more candidates longer

Data Scientist Job Description: Top Duties and Requirements

A Data Scientist is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data sets for a company to provide data-driven solutions for business decisions. The duties of Data Scientists include developing custom data models, visualizations, and algorithms to interpret data, assessing the accuracy of new data and data-gathering strategies, and implementing and developing tools to monitor and analyze data accuracy and performance.

Build a Job Description

Data Scientist duties and responsibilities

Data Scientists handle many aspects of a company’s data, and they work with many teams and individuals within an organization. Key responsibilities of a Data Scientist may include:

  • Mining and analyzing data from company databases to improve marketing, product development, or overall business strategies
  • Using predictive modeling to optimize revenue growth, marketing campaigns, and customer experiences
  • Developing A/B testing campaign frameworks and testing model quality
  • Communicating and coordinating with teams to implement data-driven strategies while measuring progress
Build a Job Description

Data Scientist Job Description Examples:

What does a Data Scientist do?

Data Scientists are hired to support product, leadership, sales, and marketing teams with information gained from company data. They use large data sets collected from the company’s data sources to analyze and develop solutions to address business challenges. Typically, Data Scientists understand how to use data tools, analyze data sets, build and implement models and visualizations from these data sets, and create algorithms to communicate to stakeholders and other vital teams within the business.

Data Scientist skills and qualifications

Data Scientists need a wide variety of skills to handle the responsibilities of the position. The most important ones to include in a job description are: 

  • Oral and written communication skills
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Ability to create data architectures
  • Knowledge of machine learning techniques
  • Knowledge of advanced statistical analysis techniques and concepts, and how to apply them to data sets
  • A desire to learn new techniques and technologies
  • Flexibility to work as a member of the team and as an individual contributor

Data Scientist experience requirements

The exact amount of experience required for a Data Scientist position varies based on the responsibilities of the job. Senior Data Scientists, for example, usually have a minimum of five to seven years of experience building statistical models to communicate to teams and stakeholders. Entry-level Data Scientists, meanwhile, can qualify with a data science boot-camp certification or some internship experience.

Data Scientists also have experience working with different programming languages such as C, C++, and Java, along with experience in statistical techniques such as Random Forest, Boosting, social network analysis, text mining, and generalized linear models. Other experience include statistical computer languages such as R, SQL, and Python, web services like Spark and Redshift, and machine learning algorithms like regression, simulation, modelling, decision trees, and neural networks.

Data Scientist education and training requirements

Data Scientists typically have a master’s or doctorate degree in mathematics, computer science, statistics, or other quantitative fields. Data Scientists may also have certifications or continuing education in different tools and technologies such as programming languages, data analysis tools, machine learning, the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, or other related technologies.

Data Scientist salary expectations

According to Indeed Salaries, the average salary for a Data Scientist is $81,700 per year. Wages may be dependent on factors including relevant experience, location, education level, and company.

Job description samples for similar positions

If a Data Scientist isn’t the position you’re looking for, other job description samples are available for related or similar job positions:

Ready to Hire?Build a Job Description

Data Scientist job description FAQs

What is the difference between a Data Scientist and a Data Analyst?

Both Data Scientists and Data Analysts require statistical knowledge, an understanding of algorithms, communication skills, and software engineering skills, but there are significant differences between the job responsibilities. Data Analysts work directly with the data, and they focus on using programming languages to dissect data and solve business problems. A Data Scientist focuses on the overall picture of data and understands analysis, modelling, math, statistics, and computer science, allowing them to create visualizations and models to communicate the data findings to teams and stakeholders. Data Scientists also have some business acumen and they understand how data relates to business operations.

What qualities make a good Data Scientist?

Talented Data Scientists should demonstrate a sharp business acumen and an understanding of how raw data translates to data-driven business decisions to improve sales, marketing, product development, or customer experience. Ideal candidates should also have a passion for analyzing data, developing statistical models, and communicating this knowledge to teams and stakeholders. It is also important to have a Data Scientist who can communicate high-level technology concepts in an approachable way for the layperson.

What types of businesses need Data Scientists?

Data Science is a growing field that is necessary to virtually every industry. Data Scientists are needed in the retail and hospitality industries to analyze customer data, in the finance sector for financial insights, and in healthcare for disease modelling, improvement of patient experience, and the implementation of wearable healthcare devices. Other industries, such as construction and transportation, employ Data Scientists to analyze patterns such as material-based expenses, time frames, and traffic routes, among others.

Job Description Examples

Need help writing a job description for a specific role? Use these job description examples to create your next great job posting. Or if you’re ready to hire, post your job on Indeed.

No search results found