Enterprise Data Science Tech Lead

Role Purpose

Act as the technical lead responsible for implementing enterprise customers’ requirements into actionable AI/ML solutions, working in close coordination with the Enterprise AI Solution Tech Lead and Product Owners.
Develop and deliver robust AI models and data pipelines (on-prem and cloud-hosted), ensuring they meet business objectives, customer expectations, and performance standards.
Collaborate with the Enterprise AI team to operationalize AI use cases and translate high-level solution designs into scalable, production-ready implementations.
Apply deep data science expertise to bridge the gap between AI solution design and execution, ensuring technical soundness and business relevance.

Role Profile

Solution Implementation
•    Translate customers’ requirements into actionable data science tasks and implementation plans.
•    Lead the development, training, and deployment of AI models and data pipelines tailored to customer-specific requirements.
•    Ensure models and AI components are scalable, efficient, and production-ready, with smooth integration into customer systems and enterprise platforms.
Technical Leadership
•    Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) in machine learning, data science, and AI engineering practices.
•    Provide hands-on technical guidance to data scientists, engineers, and MLOps teams, ensuring accurate and effective implementation.
•    Lead technical squads through virtual collaboration, guaranteeing solutions are built to meet both customer expectations and technical standards.

Decision Execution
•    Validate model performance, data quality, and technical fit before solution handover.
•    Collaborate with the Enterprise Tech Leads and Product Owners to review and confirm solution readiness based on business impact, feasibility, and model validation results.
•    Provide input on task prioritization based on complexity, risk, and technical dependencies.
Customer Support
•    Work alongside the Enterprise team to ensure implemented AI solutions meet business outcomes and address real customer needs.
•    Explain data science approaches, results, and business insights in a clear and accessible manner to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
•    Contribute to building customer confidence in Vodafone’s AI capabilities by ensuring reliable and transparent solution delivery.
Value Realization
•    Identify technical opportunities to improve performance, accuracy, and efficiency of existing AI solutions.
•    Recommend data science enhancements and automation strategies that can further strengthen the customer’s business outcomes.
•    Contribute to refining reusable assets, components, and best practices for enterprise AI delivery.
    Core Competencies, Knowledge, and Experience 

Customer-Focused Execution
•    Strong communication skills to understand solution requirements in collaboration with Enterprise Tech leads and Product Owners and translate them into data science tasks.
•    Ability to present data-driven insights, model performance, and implementation results in a clear, business-relevant manner.
Problem Solving and Innovation
•    Strong analytical thinking and debugging skills to address real-world AI deployment challenges (e.g., model drift, data quality, latency).
•    Creativity in designing tailored AI pipelines that are both effective and maintainable in production.

Collaboration and Delivery Leadership
•    Proven ability to collaborate with engineers, data scientists, MLOps specialists, and architects to deliver high-quality AI solutions.
•    Leadership in execution: mentoring technical team members, performing code reviews, and ensuring delivery excellence.

Core Competencies and Qualifications

Customer-Focused Execution
•    Strong communication skills to understand solution requirements in collaboration with Enterprise Tech leads and Product Owners and translate them into data science tasks.
•    Ability to present data-driven insights, model performance, and implementation results in a clear, business-relevant manner.
Problem Solving and Innovation
•    Strong analytical thinking and debugging skills to address real-world AI deployment challenges (e.g., model drift, data quality, latency).
•    Creativity in designing tailored AI pipelines that are both effective and maintainable in production.

Collaboration and Delivery Leadership
•    Proven ability to collaborate with engineers, data scientists, MLOps specialists, and architects to deliver high-quality AI solutions.
•    Leadership in execution: mentoring technical team members, performing code reviews, and ensuring delivery excellence.

    Must-Have Technical / Professional Qualifications:
•    Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
•    5–7 years of hands-on experience in developing and deploying AI/ML models in production environments.
•    Advanced proficiency in ML libraries and frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn).
•    Strong expertise in building advanced Generative AI (GenAI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications using modern large language models and frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face, Langchain, OpenAI APIs, Agents Frameworks).
•    Experience with big data processing and distributed computing using Apache Spark or similar technologies.
•    Proficiency in building, deploying, and managing AI, GenAI and big data applications on cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).
•    Experience with MLOps tools and techniques for versioning, CI/CD, monitoring, and scaling models.

Not a perfect fit?

Worried that you don’t meet all the desired criteria exactly? At Vodafone we are passionate about empowering people and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, whatever their personal or professional background. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align exactly with every part of the job description, we encourage you to still apply as you may be the right candidate for this role or another opportunity.

Who we are

We are a leading international Telco, serving millions of customers. At Vodafone, we believe that connectivity is a force for good. If we use it for the things that really matter, it can improve people's lives and the world around us. Through our technology we empower people, connecting everyone regardless of who they are or where they live and we protect the planet, whilst helping our customers do the same.

Belonging at Vodafone isn't a concept; it's lived, breathed, and cultivated through everything we do. You'll be part of a global and diverse community, with many different minds, abilities, backgrounds and cultures. ;We're committed to increase diversity, ensure equal representation, and make Vodafone a place everyone feels safe, valued and included.

If you require any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility request as part of your recruitment journey, for example, extended time or breaks in between online assessments, please refer to https://careers.vodafone.com/application-adjustments/ for guidance.

Together we can.