Senior Data Scientist / AI engineer

Job description

*100% remote opportunity for candidates based in Poland

Sanoma Learning is the leading European learning company, serving over 20 million students in 11 countries.

We offer printed and digital learning materials as well as digital learning and teaching platforms for primary, secondary, and vocational education.

Our methodologies are developed based on deep teacher and student insights, with a strong focus on understanding their needs.

By combining our educational technologies and pedagogical expertise, we create learning products and services with the highest learning impact.

In our Technology organization, you will join the largest cross-cultural community of Sanoma Learning and contribute to the digital transformation and future of education in Europe.

Project description

Working on creating early AI prototypes to drive experimentation in Sanoma Learning.

Size and composition of your current team:

You will be joining a cross-functional team of 6 professionals: 3 Data Scientists, 2 Analysts, and 1 AI Project Manager.

Role responsibilities

The Senior Data Scientist / AI Engineer will play a critical role in advancing AI experimentation at Sanoma Learning.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Head of Data and AI, this position is designed for a senior technical expert who can lead the development of advanced AI solutions – from ideation through PoC/MVP and into productization.
The role involves building scalable prototypes (especially LLM-based and agentic systems), translating business ideas into technical solutions, and working in close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including product owners, project managers, architects, analysts, and operating companies stakeholders.
Beyond hands-on work, this role is expected to coach junior colleagues, embed best practices, and help raise the AI maturity across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy PoCs and MVPs using cutting-edge AI techniques, with a strong focus on Generative AI, including LLMs, and agent-based architectures.
• Translate business challenges into well-scoped AI use cases and deliver end-to-end prototypes in collaboration with product and experimentation teams.
• Work hands-on across the stack – from data ingestion and model development to orchestration, deployment, and monitoring.
• Implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines connected to Sanoma Learning content and multi-step reasoning workflows for practical enterprise use.
• Optimize performance and scalability through techniques like prompt tuning, caching, and efficient inference.
• Establish engineering and MLOps best practices, including versioning, CI/CD pipelines, testing, and cloud-native deployment.
• Ensure AI solutions meet data privacy and compliance standards, working closely with legal and security teams.
• Coach junior team members, foster AI engineering best practices, and help build internal capability across Sanoma Learning.
• Contribute to internal knowledge sharing, including documentation, workshops, and reusable component libraries.
• Stay current with AI research and tooling, evaluating emerging technologies and integrating them into experimentation workflows where relevant.

Must-have requirements

Education
• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, Data Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Additional certifications in cloud engineering (e.g., AWS/GCP), MLOps, or GenAI tooling are an advantage.

Experience
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in data science, AI engineering, or applied machine learning roles, and 2+ years of experience with Generative AI
• Proven experience delivering production-ready PoCs and MVPs with LLMs, transformers, or agentic architectures.
• Hands-on work with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems and vector databases.
• Strong background in cloud-native development (AWS, GCP, Azure), containers (Docker, Kubernetes), and orchestration tools (Airflow, Prefect).
• Experience implementing LLM evaluation and testing frameworks.
• Familiarity with data governance and compliance in AI deployments (e.g., GDPR, EU AI Act).
• Strong track record in mentoring, technical coaching, and/or building internal communities of practice.
• Previous experience in edtech or publishing is a plus.

Skills
• Deep understanding of transformer-based models, prompt engineering, and generative AI workflows.
• Strong programming skills in Python, with experience using frameworks like LangChain, LangGraph, OpenAI API.
• Expertise in retrieval systems, embedding generation, and vector search integration.
• Competence in building agentic pipelines, integrating tools and services for complex task resolution.
• Strong command of MLOps principles, CI/CD, and infrastructure as code (IaC) for deploying and maintaining scalable systems.
• Ability to evaluate model performance using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate across product, business, and technical teams.
• Self-driven, pragmatic, and excited by the challenge of building real-world AI solutions that deliver tangible value.


Personal Attributes:
• Data-driven decision-making approach
• Proactive and positive “can-do” attitude, demonstrating initiative and resilience.
• Strong organizational skills, adept at managing multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Self-motivated, consistently seeking opportunities for improvement and innovation.
• Passionate about opportunities in Data and AI space

+ fluency in English

Location

100% remote work

What we offer

B2B contract for an indefinite period;
Work-life balance and great atmosphere;
Opportunities for professional development through interesting tasks.

As an employer, Sanoma offers a working environment where you are able and encouraged to show your best self.

The working environment is result-oriented as well as flexible with a focus on collaboration.

We offer you a key position with interesting and challenging tasks and excellent opportunities for professional growth.

You will be part of a highly professional and experienced international team in an open and informal setting, where initiative is expected and rewarded.

Required Skill Profession

Mathematical Science Occupations