Kearney Value Realization: Data & Analytics - Data Scientist / AI Specialist
Manager – Data Scientist / AI Specialist – Value Assurance
Full-time
Region: APAC
Location: Gurgaon
Job description:
This role is the technical authority for data science and AI across complex transformation programs. The incumbent translates business problems into robust analytical solutions, independently challenges models proposed by delivery partners, and ensures that machine learning, optimization and generative AI solutions are accurate, explainable, deployable and linked to measurable value.
About Kearney
Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with more than 5,300 people working in more than 40 countries. We work with more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500, as well as with the most influential governmental and nonprofit organizations.
Kearney is a partner-owned firm with a distinctive, collegial culture that transcends organizational and geographic boundaries—and it shows. Regardless of location or rank, our consultants are down-to-earth, approachable, and have a shared passion for doing innovative client work that provides clear benefits to the organizations we work with in both the short and long term.
About Value Realization: Data & Analytics India
Kearney's Value Realization – Data & Analytics team extends our traditional consulting capabilities beyond strategy into end-to-end execution advisory and solution implementation governance. Through our innovative "as-a-service" delivery model, we help clients execute complex transformation programs with value-driven governance, ensuring solutions are delivered on time, within budget, and at the highest quality.
Our expertise spans the entire transformation lifecycle:
Engineer / Co-shape: Market sounding, business blueprinting, solution design, process excellence, IT and business Architecture, implementation scoping & planning (PMI)
Procure / Source: Cost modeling, RFI and RFP management, Vendor and SW selection, performance management, value driven contract management (e.g., master service agreements, SLAs)
Construct / Assure: Governance/ PMO as a service, Chapters as a service (e.g., Product owners, Functional managers, Coaches), agile implementation
By combining deep consulting expertise with execution excellence, we enable organizations to successfully deliver large-scale digital, data, and technology transformation programs. The Value Realization team delivers direct contribution comparable to Management Consulting through a top-quartile, market-aligned operating model. Our innovative "as-a-service" approach enables unique client offerings and recurring engagements, enhanced by platform services and productivity tools. We also provide an attractive employee proposition with dedicated roles, structured career paths, and a high-performance culture
Key responsibilities
- Own the end-to-end analytical solution lifecycle
- Translate business use cases into clear model objectives, baselines, success metrics, data requirements and experimentation plans
- Develop or independently review statistical, machine learning, optimization, computer vision and generative AI models proposed by internal or external delivery teams
- Challenge feature engineering, algorithm selection, training methodology, benchmark design and evaluation results to ensure technical robustness
- Define standards for model validation, explainability, bias, safety, human oversight, versioning, monitoring and retraining
- Work with solution architects and data engineers to embed models into applications, workflows and decision processes with appropriate APIs, latency, security and operational controls
- Identify data-quality, model-performance and adoption risks early and drive corrective actions before they affect business outcomes
- Create reusable analytical assets and mentor delivery teams while maintaining accountability for model quality and value realization
Who you are
After nearly 100 years, we know this business is fundamentally about making connections—between facts, figures, insights, strategies, tools, technologies, and above all, people. That’s why we look for collaborative, insightful, and inquisitive problem-solvers who don’t accept the first thing in front of them and who are always unapologetically themselves.
We want to hear from you if you are:
8-10 years of hands-on experience in data science, machine learning or AI, including production deployment of models and AI products- Demonstrated experience solving manufacturing or industrial problems such as predictive maintenance, yield and quality improvement, process optimization, demand and supply planning, energy optimization or computer vision
- Strong practical capability in Python and SQL, statistical modelling, machine learning, time-series forecasting, optimization and experimentation
- Experience with generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation, agentic workflows and evaluation of large language model solutions
- Exposure to structured, unstructured and high-frequency sensor / IoT data, along with cloud data and AI platforms
- Hands-on understanding of MLOps / LLMOps, model deployment, monitoring, drift, explainability, reproducibility and responsible AI controls
- Experience working with business teams, technology teams, data engineers and multiple vendors in program delivery environments.
- Deep expertise in statistics, machine learning, optimization and generative AI, supported by strong hands-on coding capability
- Ability to work with manufacturing process data, sensor data, images, text and enterprise transactional datasets
- Strong understanding of model evaluation, causal reasoning, experiment design and translation of analytical outputs into decisions
- Practical knowledge of cloud AI services, data science platforms, model registries, pipelines and monitoring tools
- Ability to explain model choices, limitations and business implications to both technical teams and senior executives
- Strong consulting orientation, intellectual curiosity and willingness to challenge vendor and client assumptions constructively
- Excellent communication and documentation skills, including model cards, validation reports, experiment logs and value-tracking artefacts
What we can offer you
Every day, our people work to be the difference for our clients, our communities, and our colleagues. Helping them make an impact, they are sustained by a competitive remuneration package plus comprehensive benefits and perks, including but not limited to:
̶ Generous retirement/pension savings contributions
̶ Comprehensive medical insurance for employees and their families
̶ Non-partner equity-based awards (for consulting managers and above)
̶ Structured and on-the-job learning and development opportunities
̶ Personalized opportunities including talent mobility, flexible work programs and externships to help you chart a unique career journey to pursue your own personal and professional goals
Read more about our benefits and how you can a make your mark, your way at Kearney.com/careers
Equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination
Kearney prides itself on providing a culture where our employees belong and thrive equally, which means our people feel comfort, confidence, and joy as they do great things for our firm, our colleagues, and our clients. That’s why Kearney is committed to building a diverse workforce and inclusive environment. Kearney is an equal opportunity employer; we recruit, hire, train, promote, develop, and provide other conditions of employment without regard to a person’s gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status, pregnancy status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other differences consistent with applicable laws. This includes providing reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs and practices. We encourage everyone to apply, including those who may not feel historically represented in consulting.
