Manager, Data Science & Machine Learning

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Are you actively looking for a new opportunity? Or just checking the market? Well… you might just be in the right place!

We’re looking for a Manager, Data Science & Machine Learning to join our Data team in Canada. The Manager, Data Science & Machine Learning is a hands-on leader, responsible for guiding a high-performing team of data scientists to deliver impactful, production-ready solutions across the organization. This role is responsible for driving Data Science & Machine Learning model delivery from experimentation through production, owning the Data Science Enablement roadmap planning while contributing to the Data Office’s org roadmaps, and building the team capabilities needed to scale the practice.

What you’ll be doing:

Data Science Management & Enablement

• Lead, oversee and own, as needed, the full lifecycle of Data Science & Machine Learning models from experimentation to production deployment.

• Own the day-to-day management of the team by ensuring the right work is being prioritized, the team is unblocked, and delivery standards are consistently met.

• Define, document, and champion data science best practices: covering modeling standards, code quality, experimentation frameworks, and documentation.

• Serve as a subject matter authority and internal resource for other data science teams: advising on methodology, reviewing approaches, and helping teams solve complex or ambiguous problems.

• Collaborate with Data Science leads in other parts of the business to align on standards, share learnings, and create a cohesive data science community of practice. Additionally, surfacing opportunities for collaboration, flagging where work is being duplicated, and brokering knowledge transfer across the organization.

• Collaborate with the MLOps team on the production release and ongoing maintenance of their models.

Team Leadership & People Development

• Set clear expectations, and individual performance goals for all direct reports.

• Conduct regular 1:1s, provide timely and actionable feedback, and lead performance calibrations.

• Identify growth opportunities, sponsor stretch assignments, and build individualized development plans.

• Foster a collaborative team culture where experimentation and learning from failure are encouraged. This includes new AI/ML features or other experimental approaches.

Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Participate in project planning and technical brainstorming sessions with business stakeholders and other Data Office leads as an expert to help design and translate business problems into technical briefs and communicating results in non-technical terms.

• Proactively manage expectations, surface risks early, and influence across cross-functional teams.

• Represent the team's work in leadership forums, steering committees, and quarterly business reviews.

And a little bit of....

• Contributing as part of the wider team to achieve organizational objectives even if this means doing things that aren’t strictly within the scope of your role.

What you need to bring:

• 3+ years of hands-on data science experience, with direct personal experience deploying models to production (not just experimentation or prototyping).

• Demonstrated experience with ML engineering practices that include model serving, monitoring, drift detection, retraining pipelines, and/or feature stores. You don't need to be an engineer, but you need to manage them credibly.

• Familiarity with modern MLOps tooling (e.g. MLflow, Vertex AI, Databricks).

• 4+ years of experience with directly managing a team of data scientists, including hiring, performance management, and career development.

• Proficiency in Python; comfortable reading and reviewing code, models, and pipeline logic.

• Strong understanding of supervised/unsupervised ML, model evaluation, and common failure modes in production.

• MLOps fluency to collaborate with Senior ML engineers in defining standards, reviewing infrastructure decisions, and unblocking technical challenges.

• Comfort with cloud-based ML platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and data warehousing environments.

• Strategic thinking, you can zoom out to prioritize for impact, then zoom in to help unblock.

• Strong communication, you can translate complex technical work for executive audiences without over-simplifying.

• Structured thinking, you can rapidly assess a new project idea across value, feasibility, risk, and strategic fit

• Ability to proactively identify dependencies, risks, and blockers before they become escalations

• Strong prioritization instincts, ability to thrive in ambiguous environments, and navigate a large volume of competing project ideas to focus the team on the highest-value work

We know that people are more than what’s on their CV. If you’re unsure that you have the right profile for the role... hit the ‘Apply’ button and give it a try!

Be a changemaker

You’ll enjoy:

• A flexible work environment that empowers you to do your best work

• A culture that celebrates performance

• The chance to make an impact in a team that’s big enough for career growth, but lean enough to make your voice heard

• Career-defining opportunities

Plus benefits designed to keep you happy, healthy and fulfilled.

• Flexible paid time off and remote work policies

• Equity options, because this is your company too

• Contributions to your pension plan. Your future matters

• Training opportunities to grow your skills and career

• Health and wellness credit so you feel your best

• Time off to volunteer and give back to your community

• Interest groups, employee led networks, social committees to sponsored sports teams

• Computer purchase program to get your personal Macbook

• Enhanced parental leave to support growing families

Fuel your growth. Find your people.

At Lightspeed, your growth is our priority. We invest in you with continuous learning opportunities, global mobility and benefits designed to support you—all within a driven, diverse and inclusive team that’s passionate about empowering our communities.

Please note that we ask applicants to disclose any criminal convictions, and we conduct criminal record checks as part of our hiring process for this role.

To all recruitment agencies: Lightspeed does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. If we have not directly engaged your company in writing to supply candidates for a specific vacancy, Lightspeed will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Lightspeed is a proud equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive and barrier-free workplace. Lightspeed welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Where to from here?

Obviously, this has to be mutually beneficial: we want you to step into a role you love, and we want to offer you a place you’re proud to come to every day. For a glimpse into our world check out our career page here.

Lightspeed is building communities through commerce, and we need people from all backgrounds and lived experiences to do that. We were founded in 2005, in Montreal’s gay village and our original members were all part of the LGBTQ+ community. The ethos of our business has been about inclusion from the very beginning, and we strive to provide a workplace where everyone belongs.

Who we are:

Powering the businesses that are the backbone of the global economy, Lightspeed's one-stop commerce platform helps merchants innovate to simplify, scale, and provide exceptional customer experiences. Our cloud commerce solution transforms and unifies online and physical operations, multichannel sales, expansion to new locations, global payments, financial solutions, and connection to supplier networks.

Founded in Montréal, Canada in 2005, Lightspeed is dual-listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: LSPD) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: LSPD). With teams across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the company serves retail, hospitality, and golf businesses in over 100 countries.

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