Oritain

Verifies product and raw material origin

Lead Statistical Data Scientist

Data ScienceUpdated on Nov 13

Full-timeLondon, UKNo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

A minimum of 8 years of industry experience applying statistics, mathematics, and machine learning to real-world problems.
Advanced academic training in Statistics, Mathematics, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related discipline is required; a PhD is preferred.
Deep understanding of probability, statistics, uncertainty, linear algebra, and calculus.
Extensive experience working with large datasets, data preparation, and machine learning workflows.
Proven experience applying classification, clustering, dimension reduction, and other machine learning techniques.
Strong programming capability and experience writing efficient, maintainable code in collaborative environments.
Advanced expertise in Python and R.
Experience with modern development tools and practices, including GitHub, VS Code, Conda, and cloud environments.
Ability to balance technical rigour with practical business outcomes.
Strong communication skills and confidence working with stakeholders across different functions and levels.
Passion for mentoring, coaching, and growing technical talent.
Sound judgement, curiosity, and willingness to challenge assumptions when better solutions exist.

Responsibilities

Provide technical leadership across statistical and machine learning projects.
Mentor and support other data scientists, helping raise capability across the team.
Lead a high-performing, engaged team that delivers meaningful outcomes and contributes positively to Oritain's culture.
Partner with stakeholders to understand problems, develop solutions, and assess wider business impact.
Build statistical models and machine learning approaches that turn data into decisions.
Develop and deploy predictive models that solve business and operational challenges.
Work with large and complex datasets from diverse sources.
Create visualisations, dashboards, and reporting tools that communicate insight clearly.
Work cross-functionally to embed data science into products, workflows, and decision-making processes.
Keep up with developments in statistics and data science and bring useful developments into analytics.
Provide trusted expert guidance to internal and external stakeholders.

Desired Qualifications

Experience working with geospatial data or spatial statistics.
Experience with Databricks or similar analytics platforms.
Experience with HTML, JavaScript, or related technologies.
Previous experience in a scaling technology, analytics, or science-led business.
Experience leading teams through growth and change.

Oritain is a global leader in forensic origin verification of products and raw materials. With offices in Auckland, Dunedin, London, Paris, Singapore and Washington D.C, our vision is to be the source of truth in global supply chains.

Through our proprietary methodology, our mission is to harness cutting edge science, data, and specialized services to create a community of origin verified buyers and suppliers, protecting our people and planet. We empower the world’s leading brands to make positive changes across their supply chain; ensuring product integrity, meeting regulatory demands, and reducing the risk of fraud and unethical sourcing - creating real change in our world.

About the Role

As the Lead Statistical Data Scientist, you'll provide technical leadership for the models, methods and analytical approaches that power Oritain's origin-verification science. You'll help set the direction of our data science capability while remaining close enough to the work to solve complex problems, guide projects and support delivery.

This is a role for someone who enjoys building as much as leading.

You'll mentor and develop other data scientists, help shape how we approach technical challenges, and work across science, engineering, product and commercial teams to ensure our statistical solutions create real-world impact.

You'll be joining a business in an exciting stage of growth. We're beyond the start-up phase, but we're still creating processes, improving ways of working and building capabilities. That creates a huge opportunity for someone who enjoys ownership, influence and helping bring clarity to complexity.

The people who thrive at Oritain are motivated by building, improving and creating. They enjoy helping others succeed and are open to feedback and learning, regardless of experience level. They bring energy, curiosity and a clear point of view. They can make progress when information is incomplete and know how to balance speed with quality.

Provide technical leadership across statistical and machine learning projects.
Mentor and support other data scientists, helping raise capability across the team.
Lead a high-performing, engaged team that delivers meaningful outcomes and contributes positively to Oritain's culture.
Partner with stakeholders to understand problems, develop solutions and assess wider business impact.
Build statistical models and machine learning approaches that turn data into decisions.
Develop and deploy predictive models that solve business and operational challenges.
Work with large and complex datasets from diverse sources.
Create visualisations, dashboards and reporting tools that communicate insight clearly.
Work cross-functionally to embed data science into products, workflows and decision-making processes.
Keep up with developments in statistics and data science and bring the useful ones into our analytics.
Provide trusted expert guidance to internal and external stakeholders.

We're looking for someone with deep statistical expertise, strong commercial awareness and a track record of helping others succeed.

Essential:

A minimum of 8 years of industry experience applying statistics, mathematics and machine learning to real-world problems.
Advanced academic training in Statistics, Mathematics, Machine Learning, Data Science or a related discipline (PhD preferred).
Deep understanding of probability, statistics, uncertainty, linear algebra and calculus.
Extensive experience working with large datasets, data preparation and machine learning workflows.
Proven experience applying classification, clustering, dimension reduction and other machine learning techniques.
Strong programming capability and experience writing efficient, maintainable code in collaborative environments.
Advanced Python and R expertise.
Experience working with modern development tools and practices, including GitHub, VS Code, Conda and cloud environments.
An ability to balance technical rigour with practical business outcomes.
Strong communication skills and confidence working with stakeholders across different functions and levels.
A passion for mentoring, coaching and growing technical talent.
Sound judgement, curiosity and a willingness to challenge assumptions when better solutions exist.

Nice to have:

Experience working with geospatial data / spatial statistics.
Experience with Databricks or similar analytics platforms.
Experience with HTML, JavaScript or related technologies.
Previous experience in a scaling technology, analytics or science-led business.
Experience leading teams through growth and change.

About the Company

Oritain

Verifies product and raw material origin

Oritain verifies the origin of products and raw materials using forensic science and data science. Its services test items across supply chains to confirm where they come from and build a growing database of origin signatures. The company works with industries such as cotton and fashion, red meat, fish, and honey to combat mislabeling and fraud, helping brands meet Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals and protect reputations. The process involves scientifically analyzing materials and linking results to a verified origin, allowing brands to prove field-to-factory-to-store provenance. Unlike others that focus only on testing, Oritain combines origin verification with a lasting data-backed proof system to reduce risk and maintain trust. The goal is to help businesses prevent fraud, ensure authenticity, and uphold brand integrity by providing reliable proof of origin.

Company size: 51-200
Company stage: Series C
Total funding: $115M
Headquarters: Dunedin, New Zealand
Founded: 2008

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