Senior Data Scientist

Job Role: Senior Data Scientist

Experience Required: 6–9 years

Location: Bangalore | Karnataka

About Swiggy and the Team

Swiggy is India's leading on-demand delivery platform, leveraging data science and cutting-edge AI to redefine convenience for millions of customers. The Food-DS team works at the intersection of machine learning, advanced architecture, and applied research to shape AI-first systems that directly impact customer experience and business growth. The team values cross-functional collaboration, open sharing of ideas, and innovation to roll out machine learning and AI solutions at scale. Bring your expertise in making a tangible business impact by building scalable machine learning systems and leading next-generation Generative AI and Agentic AI initiatives.

About the role

As a Senior Data Scientist, you will lead the design and implementation of Swiggy's core Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), and next-generation AI systems. This role requires deep-rooted expertise in classical ML, DL, large-scale search, and recommendation systems. You will act as a hands-on technical leader, balancing the deployment of cutting-edge systems with influencing business KPIs to enhance the customer experience.

What Qualities Are We Looking For?

Technical Expertise

• Experience: 6–9 years in AI/Data Science, with a proven track record of deploying models in production.
• NLP: Hands-on experience with transformer-based open-source SLMs and fine-tuning encoder models (e.g., Nomic, RoBERTa, GTE etc.) for specialized tasks.
• Search & RecSys: Deep expertise in building and scaling large-scale search systems, ranking (learn to rank), and recommendation engines using ML/DL, productionized conversational bots.
• Computer Vision & Multimodal: Deep understanding of classical computer vision (OCR, segmentation, filtering) and modern image understanding models (CLIP, ViT). Hands-on experience with stable diffusion models is preferred.
• GenAI & Agents: Fine-tuning SLMs, training SLM/LLM from scratch, understanding of SOTA LLM models and capabilities, multi-agent workflows (e.g., LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen), and AI-native "co-pilot" architectures.
• Engineering Excellence: Strong system design skills for low-latency, high-throughput platforms.
• Experience with vector DBs, graph knowledge bases, and service layer architectures.
• Proficiency in coding skills with prior experience in PySpark, Python, TensorFlow, Torch and version control systems.

Strategic & Product Thinking

• Optimization: Ability to evaluate trade-offs between proprietary LLMs vs. fine-tuned open-source models regarding cost, latency, and accuracy.
• ROI Focus: A "Founder Mentality" that connects model performance to business KPIs and customer experience.
• Collaboration: Experience partnering with Product Managers to translate complex workflows into technical roadmaps.
• Expertise in evaluating build-vs-buy options and supporting recommendations with logical explanations.

What Will You Do?

• Architect Hybrid Systems: Build systems that leverage both Generative AI (agents/LLMs) and traditional ML (ranking/search) to solve complex search and discovery problems.
• Scale High-Performance Models: Design and train large-scale machine learning and deep learning models for Swiggy's recommendation and ranking pipelines.
• Innovation & Benchmarking: Stay ahead of the curve by benchmarking emerging trends and contributing to the global AI community through research or blog publications.
• Cross-functional Leadership: Lead end-to-end projects from problem statements to production, ensuring scalable and cost-effective AI deployments.

Why Join Swiggy?

• Impact at Scale: Your models will directly influence the experience of millions of users daily.
• Cutting-Edge Stack: Work with the latest in agentic AI, vector search, and distributed ML.
• Innovation-First Culture: A collaborative environment that encourages risk-taking, quick deployments, and continuous learning, collaborating with engineering, product, analysts, and business stakeholders to define workflows, address bottlenecks, and be part of end-to-end product development.

Product Knowledge:

• Strong curiosity and empathy for end-user personas.
• Demonstrates end-to-end product thinking beyond model performance.
• Ability to connect AI capabilities with business KPIs while ensuring ROI on AI investments.
• Experience working closely with Product Managers to identify workflows and bottlenecks, collaboratively defining roadmaps.

Communication and Leadership:

• Demonstrates the ability to act as a thought partner to product managers and stakeholders.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills to align cross-functional teams on objectives, deliverables, and methodologies.
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment with a "Founder Mentality" to move fast.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by the law.