Lead Data Scientist

About Marley Spoon

Marley Spoon is a food-tech company helping people cook better, eat smarter, and waste less. We build meal kits using data across menu planning, marketing, operations, and logistics. We’re hiring a Lead Data Scientist – Growth & Personalization in Portugal, in a remote-first setup (with the option to join colleagues in our Lisbon office for collaboration days).

About The Role

Reporting to the VP Data & AI, you’ll lead a small, high-impact team of Data Scientists and ML-oriented analysts. You’ll partner closely with Digital (Product, Design, Engineering) and Marketing to build models that ship and drive measurable growth.

• Own personalization and recommendations across brands: build and operate recommender/ranking systems, apply uplift modeling and experimentation to improve first-box conversion and repeat rate, and partner with Product/Design to translate outputs into intuitive user flows.
• Lead growth measurement and decisioning: develop LTV/CAC payback, attribution, and targeting frameworks; run experiment design/evaluation with Growth/CRM; and support marketing investment decisions with scenario analysis and clear trade-offs.
• Reduce churn and drive retention: build churn/reactivation models, identify high-impact levers, and partner with Product/CRM/Customer Care on targeted interventions validated through controlled tests.
• Raise the bar on production ML: own the end-to-end model lifecycle (problem framing → deployment → monitoring/retraining) and partner with data/platform teams on reliability, observability, versioning, and alerting.
• Lead and grow a small DS/ML team: mentor 2–3 data scientists/ML analysts, set clear priorities, and create a psychologically safe, high-learning environment.
• Champion an experimentation and data-first culture: improve A/B test quality and interpretation, and communicate model outputs/limits/uncertainty clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

You’ll occasionally support Analytics and Operations on forecasting or supply/demand work, but your primary ownership is growth and personalization (not “everything data”)

About You

You’re a hands-on, technically strong Data Scientist who has already begun leading—and you’re excited about a role where you can both build and shape a function.

You’ll Likely Have

• 6+ years in Data Science / ML, including 3+ years in a lead role delivering production ML.
• Strong depth in at least one: recommender systems, experimentation platforms, growth analytics, or retention/churn modeling.
• Proficiency in Python, SQL, and common ML tooling (scikit-learn, XGBoost, PyTorch, or similar).
• Evidence you’ve tied models to outcomes (retention lift, conversion uplift, marketing ROI, operational efficiency, etc.).
• Familiarity with modern data stacks (cloud warehouse like Snowflake or similar, BI tools like Looker, ML orchestration/deployment tooling).
• Confidence communicating trade-offs, uncertainty, and results to both technical and non-technical partners.
• A practical, collaborative mindset—optimizing for what works, scales, and gets adopted.

How We Work

• This is a remote role within Portugal. We do periodic in-person meetups (workshops, planning, team days). You can join sessions in Lisbon or other hubs—no weekly office requirement.
• You’ll be part of a Data Tribe spanning Data, Analytics, and ML across brands and markets, with peers who value craft, impact, and knowledge-sharing.
• Day to day, you’ll work closely with Digital and Marketing, converting ideas into experiments and models into shipped product features.

Please note: we’re currently only able to consider candidates who already have the right to work in Portugal. We’re not able to sponsor visas for this role.

Benefits

• 22 annual leave days + 2 additional days per year of tenure (up to 6).
• 5 training days per year.
• Private health insurance via Tranquilidade.
• Meal/food allowance of €7.62 per worked day via Coverflex.
• 24/7 confidential Employee Assistance Program.