Lead Data Scientist

Job description

This is your chance to be part of an in-house Commercial Strategy, Insights, and Analytics team of consultants to important functions across Hilton! The team consists of both embedded authorities who serve as strategic advisors to partners and technical specialists who are proficient in advanced analytics techniques and tools. As a Lead Data Scientist, you will support Hilton's Customers, Brands, Marketing, Digital, Revenue, and Sales organizations, with special support for the executive leadership team. On the Data Science team reporting to Director of Data Science, you will support projects including forecasting, pricing and optimization as well as applications of Generative AI and NLP in Hospitality.

How we will support you

Hilton is proud to support the mental and physical wellbeing of all Team Members so they can Thrive personally and professionally in a diverse and inclusive environment, thanks to programs and benefits such as:

• Go Hilton travel program: 100 nights of discounted travel with room rates as low as $40/night
• Hilton Shares: Our employee stock purchase program (ESPP) - you can purchase Hilton shares at a 15 percent discount
• Paid parental leave for eligible Team Members, including partners and adoptive parents
• Mental health resources including free counseling through our Employee Assistance Program
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Learn more about the rest of our benefits

At Hilton, we believe every Team Member is a leader. We are committed to offering leadership development opportunities through every step of a Team Member’s career journey and at every level, both in our hotels and across corporate. Hilton’s leadership development framework focuses on developing skills and business insight through a range of programs and approaches to meet varying learning needs and preferences.

**Available benefits may vary depending upon terms and conditions of employment and are subject to the terms and conditions of the plans.

How you will make an impact

Your role is important and below are some of the fundamental job duties that make your work unique.

The Data Science Team serves as internal advanced analytics consultants to key functions across Hilton’s business, bringing predictive and prescriptive analytics through Data Science, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In this role you will be driving the research and development of the next generation of Hilton’s predictive models to a production ready state and supporting their integration and implementation in our systems.

What your day-to-day will be like:

• Identify, scope and work on research opportunities where Data Science can meaningfully improve outcomes for the organization using both structured and unstructured data.
• Lead the development and implementation of state-of-the-art LLMs and NLP models to enhance customer service solutions, optimize guest experience, personalize content, and generate valuable insights based on customer intent and interactions.
• Provide technical advice to other team members and senior management and participate in design reviews with peers and engineering team to decide amongst available technologies for the data science applications.
• Review and own code base developed by data scientists for production level quality and provide feedback to ensure best practices (e.g., style guidelines, checking code in, accuracy, testability, and efficiency).
• Provide support to triage product or system issues and debug/track/resolve by analyzing the sources of issues and the impact on operations and quality.

How you will collaborate with others:

• Collaborate with data scientists and technical teams to understand, analyze, design, develop and deploy production ready code.
• Design/Redesign production code and models in consultation with other teams and stakeholders with an eye towards continuous improvement.

What we are looking for:

• An independent and original thinker who can identify the right solution approach and contribute to the development and deployment of data science models for production systems.
• Ability to translate business challenges into research projects and explain technical concepts effectively to non-technical audiences in all communications.
• Passion for innovation and staying abreast of the latest technologies with an eye towards application.
• A collaborative mindset and experience working in cross-functional and interdisciplinary teams

Why you'll be a great fit

You have these minimum qualifications:

• Five (5) years of research experience in machine learning, NLP, statistical modeling, optimization etc.
• Three (3) years of professional/industry experience in building, implementing, testing, and deploying data science models in production.
• Three (3) years of enterprise-scale projects in technology applications.
• Advanced programming skills in SQL and Python, and proficient with common data science Python packages (including Pandas, SciPy, Scikit-learn, Prophet, SpaCy, NLTK, HuggingFace, TensorFlow/PyTorch/Keras etc.)

It would be useful if you have:

• Experience building applications using LLM (Large Language Models) and Generative AI with quantifiable impact.
• Strong experience with research and development, as evidenced by past academic or industry projects or presentations/publications in top research journals or conferences.
• Ph.D degree in Data Science, Statistics, Operations Research, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering or similar disciplines
• Previous experience in the hospitality industry
• Three (3) years of experience working in a complex, matrixed organization involving cross-functional, and/or cross-business projects.

What it is like working for hilton

The future of hospitality is bright at Hilton: a leading global hospitality company with a diverse portfolio of world-class brands. Dedicated to filling the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, we have welcomed more than 3 billion guests in our more-than 100-year history. Hilton is proud to have an award-winning workplace culture and we are consistently named among one of the World’s Best Workplaces. Check out the Hilton Careers blog and Instagram to learn more about what it’s like to be on Team Hilton!

It is the policy of Hilton to employ qualified persons without regard to color, race, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medication conditions), gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, military service, status as a protected veteran, disability, protected medical condition as defined by applicable law, genetic information, or any other protected group status as defined by and subject to applicable federal, state and local laws. Hilton’s commitment to equal employment opportunity supports the attraction and retention of a diverse workforce that will enhance our effectiveness in attracting Team Members, customers, corporate partners, and owners.

We provide reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position and provide other benefits and privileges of employment in accordance with applicable law. Please contact us if you require an accommodation during the application process.