Lead Data Scientist

Req ID: 472206  Benefits: * Fuel Your Growth with Love's - company funded tuition assistance * Paid Time Off * 401(k) – 100% Match up to 5% * Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance after 30 days * Competitive Pay * Career Development *  *Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We do not provide sponsorship for employment visas now or in the future.*  Welcome to Love's: The Lead Data Scientist is a hands-on analytics leader responsible for advancing marketing and customer analytics across Love’s convenience store network. This role blends deep technical expertise with people leadership, owning high-impact analytical initiatives that influence revenue growth, customer experience, and marketing effectiveness.   Job Functions: Develop deep understanding of Love’s business, including products, strategy, customers, and performance, and guide your team in aligning analytics initiatives with business prioritiesCollaborate with Marketing and other business units to understand needs and design analytical approaches, then lead your team in implementing advanced analytics and machine learning solutions for key domains such as marketing and operations to deliver actionable insightsContribute to the development of enterprise-wide analytics strategy and roadmap, representing the team’s perspectiveUtilize statistical programming languages (R, Python, SAS) to manipulate data and extract insights from large datasets, ensuring team members follow best practicesApply advanced statistical techniques (e.g., A/B testing) and machine learning methods (e.g., time series forecasting, clustering) to solve business problemsSupervise and develop a team of data scientists, analysts, and/or analytics engineers by setting goals, managing performance, providing feedback, and fostering a collaborative, high-performing environmentPromote best practices in data science methodologies, modeling, experimentation, documentation, and model governance across the teamPrioritize team workload and manage delivery timelines in alignment with strategic objectivesIdentify gaps in measurement and data solutions and lead efforts to recommend and implement improvements that maximize analytics impactCommunicate complex insights clearly to stakeholders through presentations, reports, and visualizations, coaching team members on effective storytellingPartner with data engineering to ensure scalable and robust data infrastructure that supports team objectivesStay current with industry trends and emerging tools, introducing innovative techniques into the team’s practice  Experience and Qualifications:    BA/BS minimum, Masters preferred, in a relevant field, such as business analytics, mathematics, statistics, finance, economics, management information systems, computer science, engineering or other quantitative fields.6+ years of experience preferred in retail, sales, marketing, data, IT, or operations with exposure to reporting and analytics  In-depth, hands-on knowledge of data science tools preferredProven experience with troubleshooting principles and issue resolution technique      Skills and Physical Demands: 6+ years of experience querying data from relational databases using SQL, using advanced algorithms, programming languages, or technologies in the development of technical analytics solutions or capabilities, and extracting insights from large databases, translating data and insights into actionable solutions and presenting findingsCompetency using R, Python, or other similar statistical software to develop analytical solutionsExperience with data wrangling, data cleaning and prepProven ability to juggle multiple workstreams as neededData modelling and business analytics experience especially within the retail or marketing domainExcel proficiency including simple formulas and pivot tables  Understanding of data warehouse principles and database structuresData visualization skills and ability to present technical solutions to non-technical audience  1+ years of experience with mentoring or leading analytical projectsNatural curiosity that welcomes and embraces change and willingness to try new thingsExcellent written, oral and interpersonal skillsAbility to devise an analytical approach to solving business problemsCapacity to explain and simplify complex analytics for a wide range of audiencesWork effectively within a team-oriented and collaborative environmentKeen attention to detailHighly motivated self-starter    Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship Our Culture:  Fueling customers' journeys since 1964, innovation leads the way for this family-owned and operated business headquartered in Oklahoma City. With nearly 40,000 team members, travel stops are the core business along with products and services that provide value for professional drivers, fleets, traveling public, RVers, alternative energy and wholesale fuel customers. Giving back to communities and an inclusive workplace are hallmarks of the award-winning culture.   Love’s is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Veterans encouraged to apply.  Job Category: Corporate