The demand for data science experts is expected to grow by at least 19 percent in 2026.

• Burning Glass

Data science is a rapidly blossoming field in the current world. Today almost all industries are using data science in many shapes or forms. This resulted in the demand for data professionals who have the skills to solve the problems that are related to data and help drive the business to success.

The data scientists play a vital role, as they synthesize and leverage the business’s dataset to enhance the overall business’ capabilities for accomplishing the goals. The senior data professional is instrumental in giving the business to continue its transformation into an analytical and data-driven manner.

In this article, let’s dive deeper and learn about a few elements of what it means to be a senior data scientist.

Essentialities to be a senior data scientist

Senior data professionals take help from data to shape the direction in which the firm grows. They direct and adopt the efforts of junior professionals as they spearhead various data-driven projects. Following are the few prerequisites to be a data scientist at the senior level:

Education

• A bachelor’s degree in statistics or machine learning or mathematics or computer science or economics or any other similar quantitative field.

Experience

• Extensive experience as a data scientist in any industry i.e., at least 5 years of working experience

Skills

• Higher level of proficiency in one or more programming languages
• Must be competent in Machine Learning (ML), libraries, principles, and techniques
• Knowledge in working with Natural Language Processing (NLP)
• Demonstrable history of devising and overseeing data-centered projects
• Ability to get insights, which can be used to make better business decisions
• Compliance with enduring ethical standards
• Outstanding mentorship and supervision skills
• Capacity to foster a healthy work environment that enhances teamwork

Responsibilities of a senior data scientist

The senior data scientist’s job role in data science as compared to a non-senior data scientist is that they provide advanced expertise on several concepts that are useful for the firm’s growth. Many crucial responsibilities are part of their job role. A few of them are mentioned below:

• Staying updated about the latest advancements of data science and adjacent fields to ensure that there are better results.
• Suggesting, and managing data-driven projects which are valuable for a business's interests.
• Collating and cleaning data from several entities so that it is beneficial for the use of junior data scientists.
• Formulating creative ideas for leveraging the business’s wide collection of data in the databases.
• Monitoring the performance of junior data scientists and offering them needed practical guidance.
• Managing the activities of the junior data science professionals, and making sure that they correctly execute their job responsibilities that should be aligned with the business’s vision, goals, and objectives.
• Seeking and applying advanced statistical procedures to acquire actionable insights.
• Collaboratively working with junior data science professionals for developing the new and improved analytics systems that include from prototyping to production.
• Cross-validating models and delegating works to junior data science professionals to get better outcomes and also for completing the projects on time.
• Producing and disseminating non-technical reports that detail the accomplishments and limitations of every project.

Top countries that pay the highest salaries for data scientist

The data scientists salary changes by geography, North America pays usually higher than Europe. Here is a list of top countries that pay impressive salaries, along with the median salaries are mentioned in US$.

Additionally, as senior data scientist attains experience, they often shift to more senior positions with higher pay. These include:

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed the aspects that one needs to know to become a senior data professional. In the current job market, the need for expert data science professionals has increased immensely. It is essential to follow the right steps so that one can gain exponential growth.