Manager, Engineering - Data Science

LTK is a global technology platform that empowers lifestyle creators to monetize their content. The Data Science Manager will lead a team building the company’s native AI platform and conversational AI capabilities, including recommendation, retrieval, ranking, semantic understanding, and LLM-powered systems. The role partners with engineering, product, and brand teams to deliver scalable AI solutions while hiring, developing, and managing data science talent.

Responsibilities:

• Lead a team of data scientists building LTK’s AI platform and conversational AI experiences
• Drive the development of LTK AI native platform and LLM powered workflows while thinking about cost efficiency. Also, partner with engineering to productionize models and build reliable AI systems. This includes providing technical guidance to teams on modeling, experimentation, evaluation, and production readiness
• Own team execution and help ensure features are delivered on time and at high quality
• Hire, develop, and retain strong data science talent
• Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and proactively manage the team's performance

Requirements:

• 7+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied AI roles
• 3+ years of experience managing data scientists, or equivalent experience leading projects and mentoring others
• Experience building and deploying machine learning models in production
• Strong understanding of recommendation systems, ranking, retrieval, NLP, experimentation, applied statistics
• Experience with agentic AI, LLMs, advanced RAG, and workflow based AI systems
• Strong Python and SQL skills
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and keep teams moving in a fast-paced environment
• Experience driving projects from planning through execution while embracing AI coding assistant tools
• Strong ownership, prioritization, and follow through
• Comfort with direct conversations around accountability, growth, and team's performance
• Strong cross functional collaboration skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to explain technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical partners
• Adaptability, moving with urgency, and a focus on operational excellence
• Growth mindset and openness to feedback
• Strong foundation in machine learning, statistics, and data analysis
• Experience with experimentation, model evaluation, and real world AI applications/systems
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS/GCP/Azure
• authorization to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment
• A bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field
• Experience in marketplace, social commerce, or recommendation driven products
• Experience with large scale or real time data systems