Staff Data Scientist

CSC Generation is the AI-native holding company re-engineering omni-channel retail. We acquire iconic brands and transform them with Genesis—our operating platform unifying a Data Fabric, Automation Engine, proprietary tools, and shared services—to modernize operations, elevate customer experience, and expand margins. 

With $1B+ in revenue across 13 brands, our portfolio includes Sur La Table, Backcountry, One Kings Lane, and more—premier home and outdoor banners that double as real-world innovation hubs. CSC Generation continues to grow through M&A, revitalizing companies with strong brand recognition and loyal customers. 

We are looking for a Staff Data Scientist to lead the development of production-grade machine learning solutions that drive measurable business impact.

This is a senior individual contributor role requiring deep technical expertise, independent judgment, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams. You will own complex, ambiguous problems end-to-end, from problem framing through deployment and iteration.

Key Responsibilities – Technical Leadership:

• Lead the design and development of ML systems that solve complex, ambiguous business problems
• Make sound technical decisions on model architecture, evaluation methodology, and tradeoffs
• Set standards for model validation, testing, and monitoring across the team
• Identify when "good enough" is appropriate vs. when deeper investment is warranted
• Debug and troubleshoot models that fail in production - understand why they fail, not just that they fail

Key Responsibilities – End-to-End Model Development & Evaluation:

• Frame business problems as well-defined ML tasks with clear success criteria
• Build robust predictive models (classification, regression, time series, causal inference)
• Implement rigorous train/validation/test methodology to ensure real-world generalization
• Identify and prevent data leakage, overfitting, and other failure modes before they reach production
• Define metrics that align model performance with actual business outcomes
• Conduct holdout testing on true out-of-sample data - recognize when CV metrics are misleading
• Design and analyze experiments to measure causal impact
• Communicate model limitations, uncertainty, and risk to technical and non-technical stakeholders

Key Responsibilities – Influence & Collaboration:

• Partner with product, engineering, and business teams to ensure ML solutions solve real problems
• Translate complex technical concepts into actionable recommendations for stakeholders
• Contribute to hiring and technical interviews

Required Qualifications:

• MS in a quantitative field (Statistics, Computer Science, Operations Research or related discipline)
• 7+ years applied ML / data science experience
• Expert-level proficiency in Python / R, and SQL
• Familiarity with cloud data & ML platforms (GCP/Vertex AI, AWS/SageMaker)
• Proven track record of building production ML systems that delivered measurable business impact
• Deep understanding of model evaluation methodology, experimental design, and causal inference 
• Ability to work with messy, incomplete, real-world data and make pragmatic tradeoffs
• Strong communication and influence skills
• Self-directed and autonomous

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience in e-commerce retail and pricing
• PhD in a quantitative field
• Track record of mentoring junior data scientists and leading technical projects

What We're NOT Looking For

• Someone who only knows how to call .fit() and .predict() without understanding the underlying mechanics
• Someone who builds black-box models they can't explain, debug, or defend
• Someone who needs detailed instructions or hand-holding for ambiguous problems
• Someone who over-engineers solutions when a simple approach would suffice

For US-based candidates, this posting is intended for candidates that reside in the following states:

AZ, DE, FL, GA, IN, LA, MI, MS, MO, NV, NC, OK, PA, TN, TX, UT, WV, WI, and WY.

Our preference is for candidates who reside near our hubs in Northwest Indiana, Austin, Texas, and Toronto, Ontario.

Washington state applicants only: If you believe that this job posting does not comply with applicable Washington state law, please notify us by sending an email to [email protected] . 

The CSC family of brands provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, provincial, state or local laws.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Washington state applicants only: If you believe that this job posting does not comply with applicable Washington state law, please notify us by sending an email to [email protected] . 

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie-detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. 

The CSC family of brands is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact [email protected] .

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.