Data Scientist – Warsaw
Summary
Data Scientist in Warsaw building and improving regression models for spectroscopic data, designing robust training/evaluation pipelines, and collaborating on public health and food security projects using Python, statistics, and machine learning.
Use your talent to make a positive change in the world.
QED offers unique opportunities to talented people that are determined to positively affect the world.
For most software engineers and mathematicians, work is easy to come by, but meaningful work is nearly impossible to find. We select our partners and design our projects very carefully, so they can direct their talents on worthwhile problems whose solutions will clearly benefit the welfare of others.
Data Scientist – Warsaw
Location
Warsaw
Employment Type
Full time
Department
QED (https://qed.ai) is a tech company focused on public health and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. We build the digital infrastructure and AI used at the intersection of aid and scientific inquiry, including in-situ nutrient analysis of crops and soils and foods, and surveillance of HIV and malaria at national-scale in multiple African countries. Our funding comes from philanthropic and governmental organizations, such as the Gates Foundation, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture, EU funding programmes, the Global Fund, and others.
We are looking for a Data Scientist to join our team in Warsaw, Poland working on ScanSpectrum (https://scanspectrum.qed.ai), a low-cost and handheld spectrophotometry kit being used to assess quality parameters of food and agricultural products.
Scope of Work
Build and improve regression models for spectroscopic data (e.g., PLSR, SVR, Extra Trees).
Plan sampling strategies and real‑world experimental design with a strong statistical mindset (representativeness, power, coverage across varieties/regions/seasons/batches).
Design robust training/evaluation pipelines: preprocessing, feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning, and proper cross‑validation.
Apply chemometrics best practices to spectral data (baseline/scatter effects, derivatives, outliers, drift).
Diagnose model failures and data issues (instrument effects, label noise, dataset shift) and propose fixes.
Construct dashboards/reports to present and visualize data analytics.
Collaborate with engineering/product to package and deploy models (model export, versioning, monitoring metrics).
Assist in effective communication with scientific institutes, companies, or researchers that QED currently collaborates with or wishes to collaborate with.
Collaborate with governmental, medical, agronomic, and computer science teams in the composition of research papers and impact reports.
Requirements
Technical
Proficiency with core ideas in statistics.
Formal academic studies in statistics, data science, or software engineering, coupled with some practical experience with analyzing real‑world datasets.
Ability to use computer programming to wrangle, inspect, and analyze statistical data.
Proficiency with git and Python-based programming environments, preferably with CI/CD.
Practical proficiency in analyzing substantial real‑world datasets with traditional statistical techniques, such as regression, hypothesis testing, survey design, time series, and RCTs, and also with modern machine learning methods, such as decision trees, boosting and neural networks.
Tenacity and curiosity to acquire domain expertise as needed, enabling rigorous contextualization of statistical challenges within established scientific frameworks (e.g., biology, chemistry, agronomy).
General
Working proficiency (≥C1) in speaking and reading English, and capable of typing English with a speed of at least ≥45 words per minute.
Logical reasoning and ability to express oneself clearly, both orally and in writing.
Willingness and interest in working with people from other cultures. Emotional resilience and social intelligence to communicate and work with collaborators from around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and the USA.
Don’t be afraid of getting your hands dirty.
… and you have to care about the work that you do!
Below are additional skills that are a bonus, but are not required:
Prior experience with spectroscopy (Vis/NIR/MIR) and chemometrics in practice.
Understanding of spectroscopy physics (e.g., overtones/combination bands, scattering, path length effects).
Experience with calibration transfer, drift monitoring, or multi‑instrument datasets.
Domain knowledge and/or interest in the sustainable development goals, particularly in agriculture, climate change, public health, and/or assisting developing countries.
It looks like a perfect match! We would like to learn more about you.
Culture and Expectations
We are the opposite of a big corporation. We impose extremely light bureaucracy. There is no matrix organization structure, careerism, or politicking ... we focus only on the mission and delivering excellent work.
We are willing to take unconventional paths and learn quickly through rapid scientific experimentation, unconstrained by excessive regulations. We are highly motivated to work cleverly and succeed, as no one is there to bail us out and inefficiencies cannot be sustained.
Regardless of one’s age or position in life, we ask that job candidates make serious time commitments if they choose to work with us, which will be reciprocated by equal devotion to the cause from others.
We seek people who are eager for a challenge, willing to take on responsibility, passionate about their craft, and genuinely interested in doing good works for the developing world. If this sounds like you, we would love to learn more about you.
Perks of working with QED
Unusual, socially conscious projects
Little bureaucracy
Travel to exotic places around the world!