A Data Scientist, or Data Science Professional, is responsible for overseeing the collection, storage and interpretation of data for businesses. Their duties include sifting through data points to create organized categories, comparing data points to current company processes and writing reports utilizing business predictions or proposals.

Data Scientist duties and responsibilities at MCTG Consulting

A Data Scientist’s job is to use data to help businesses make decisions. Here are some of the common duties and responsibilities of a Data Scientist:

• Collecting data through means such as analysing business results or by setting up and managing new studies
• Transferring data into a new format to make it more appropriate for analysis.
• Creating new, experimental frameworks to collect data 
• Building tools to automate data collection
• Searching through large data sets for usable information
• Creating reports and presentations for business use.
• Correlating similar data to find actionable results 
• Find patterns and trends in datasets to uncover insights.
• Create algorithms and data models to forecast outcomes.
• Use machine learning techniques to improve the quality of data or product offerings.
• Communicate recommendations to other teams and senior staff.
• Deploy data tools such as Python, R, SAS, or SQL in data analysis
• Stay on top of innovations in the data science field.

Data Scientist skills and qualifications

• Exceptional technical writing skills
• Ability to communicate complex data in a simple, actionable way.
• Ability to visualize data in the most effective way possible for a given project or study
• Experience with machine learning and AI
• Familiarity with data management tools
• Ability to work independently and with team members from different backgrounds
• Excellent attention to details

Data Scientist education and training requirements

• Bachelor’s degree I computer science, social science, statistics or engineering. Master’s degree will be added advantage for senior role.
• 3 + years’ experience in this field or related field.

Salary range (Johannesburg)

• R855 300 – R1 770 000 per year
• Other jurisdictions vary according to local compensation benefits frameworks