Lead Data Scientist

The way people discover and book holidays is changing, and we're rebuilding our technology for what comes next. We are Awaze, Europe's largest managed vacation rentals and holiday resorts business, bringing together some of the continent's most recognised travel brands, including cottages.com, Hoseasons, NOVASOL and James Villa Holidays. With more than 1.5 million bookings every year, 100,000+ properties and customers across Europe, we already operate at serious scale. But the next chapter for Awaze is about much more than scale. We're embarking on an ambitious AI transformation that will reshape how our customers discover, plan and book their holidays, and how our engineering teams build the technology behind those experiences. Our strategy spans AI-powered search, natural-language discovery, intelligent recommendations, richer property data and AI-assisted engineering, all underpinned by a platform built around speed, trust, quality and real-time data. Position: Lead Data Scientist We're looking for an exceptional Lead Data Scientist to take a leading role in shaping how data science drives marketing effectiveness, customer acquisition, commercial performance and business growth within a large-scale digital marketplace. This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of advanced data science, marketing technology, experimentation and commercial strategy, developing intelligent models and decision-making frameworks that directly influence where millions are invested, how customers are acquired and how long-term value is created. Reporting directly to the Head of Data Science, you'll combine deep technical expertise with commercial thinking, taking ownership of high-impact data science initiatives across Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM), paid media optimisation, distribution strategy, CRM, customer lifetime value and experimentation. You'll play a pivotal role in helping the business understand not just what is happening, but why it's happening, what will happen next and where to invest to maximise returns. This is a genuinely hands-on leadership position. You'll remain close to the code, build and deploy sophisticated models, establish technical best practices and mentor other Data Scientists, while working closely with senior stakeholders to translate complex analysis into measurable business outcomes. What You'll Be Working On Marketing Mix Modelling & Investment Optimisation

• Lead the development and evolution of sophisticated Marketing Mix Models (MMM) to measure marketing effectiveness and optimise investment across channels.
• Apply media response curves, adstock, saturation modelling and budget optimisation techniques to understand the incremental impact of marketing spend.
• Develop approaches to marginal ROAS, attribution and paid media effectiveness, helping the business make smarter, evidence-led investment decisions.
• Translate modelling outputs into actionable recommendations that improve marketing efficiency, customer acquisition and commercial returns. Distribution, Channel & Commercial Optimisation
• Develop data science solutions that optimise customer acquisition and distribution strategies across direct channels, paid media and third-party platforms.
• Build models that connect channel investment and distribution decisions to margin, bookings, customer lifetime value and long-term commercial performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve channel mix, reduce acquisition costs and maximise profitability. Experimentation, Causal Inference & Incrementality
• Design and lead sophisticated experimentation programmes, including A/B testing, geo experiments, holdouts and incrementality measurement.
• Apply causal inference techniques to distinguish genuine commercial impact from correlation.
• Establish robust experimentation methodologies that help the business confidently evaluate marketing, CRM and commercial initiatives.
• Embed experimentation into business decision-making, ensuring insights translate into measurable improvements. CRM, Customer Value & Intelligent Decisioning
• Connect marketing effectiveness with CRM, customer behaviour and customer lifetime value to create a more complete understanding of commercial performance.
• Develop predictive and statistical models that support customer acquisition, retention, reactivation and long-term value optimisation.
• Bring together MMM, PPC, CRM, experimentation and channel allocation into a consistent, commercially focused decision-making framework.
• Partner with Marketing, Commercial, Product and Data teams to identify new opportunities for intelligent, data-driven growth. Technical Leadership & Production Delivery
• Take end-to-end ownership of data science solutions, from problem definition and data exploration through modelling, testing, deployment and business adoption.
• Remain highly hands-on with Python, SQL and modern cloud data platforms, ideally Snowflake.
• Establish technical standards across model development, validation, governance, testing and MLOps.
• Build scalable, reliable and production-ready data science solutions with appropriate monitoring and performance measurement.
• Mentor and develop Data Scientists, providing technical guidance, conducting code and model reviews and raising engineering standards across the team.
• Work closely with the Head of Data Science and senior stakeholders to shape technical priorities and ensure data science delivers meaningful commercial impact. What We're Looking For We're looking for a technically exceptional, commercially minded Lead Data Scientist who thrives on solving complex business problems and turning sophisticated modelling into real-world results. You'll bring:
• Significant hands-on experience developing and deploying statistical and machine learning models using Python and SQL, ideally within a Snowflake environment.
• Strong practical expertise in Marketing Mix Modelling, including media response curves, adstock, saturation modelling and marketing budget optimisation.
• Proven experience in causal inference, experimentation, A/B testing, geo testing, holdouts and incrementality measurement.
• A deep understanding of paid media measurement, PPC, attribution, marginal ROAS and marketing effectiveness.
• Experience applying data science to commercial optimisation, marketing investment decisions and customer lifetime value.
• A proven track record of taking data science products from initial concept through to production deployment, monitoring and measurable business adoption.
• Strong knowledge of model governance, testing, MLOps and technical best practices.
• The ability to connect multiple modelling and measurement approaches into a coherent commercial decision-making framework.
• Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring Data Scientists and conducting technical reviews.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with the confidence to challenge assumptions, influence senior leaders and communicate complex concepts in commercially meaningful terms.
• Experience within travel, e-commerce, online marketplaces, retail or media measurement would be particularly valuable, especially within businesses operating across multiple acquisition and distribution channels. What will we offer you?
• Annual Bonus Scheme
• 25 days holidays (plus the option to buy an unlimited number of additional days)
• Holiday Discounts (across all AWAZE brands)
• Pension contribution scheme
• Private healthcare
• Personal training allowance via Sunlight
• 35 hour working week
• Hybrid working (we work 2 days in our Manchester office every week, with 3 days working from home) Get in touch, we'd love to chat: If you're interested in transforming the industry and reinventing how our technology powers everyday amazing holidays, please send your profile to jody.marks@awaze.com and let's chat today.