Data Scientist
Company Overview
Established in 2008, Zicasso is the most-reviewed and highest-rated luxury travel company, specializing in immersive custom tours, vacations, and safaris. Our Zicasso travel specialists are the world’s top 2% of boutique tour operators and travel agents, pre-vetted and handpicked to compete in creating itineraries tailored to each of our travelers’ unique preferences. Joining Zicasso, you'll play a key role in bringing our travelers’ dreams to life—pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with luxury travel experiences.
As a member of our team, you’ll be part of a company recognized for its strong brand reputation among discerning travelers. Our authority in the luxury travel industry is consistently affirmed through features in top media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Forbes, CNN, and Condé Nast Traveler, to name a few. See our press coverage here.
We are a fully remote company spanning five continents, and we foster a dynamic, progressive global work environment that values creativity, initiative, and continuous learning. We're seeking passionate, data-driven individuals who thrive in a high-performance environment and are eager to contribute to our innovative company culture, underpinned by a consistent pursuit of excellence, integrity, and teamwork.
Our global team comes together biannually for international retreats and summits. These are typically held for a week at a new location each time, providing opportunities to share ideas, collaborate in person, and strengthen our culture, all while learning firsthand about the destinations we serve. These events embody our commitment to both professional growth and the transformative power of travel.
Join us in shaping the future of luxury travel while working towards our vision—creating a more connected humanity through travel. To learn more, visit https://www.zicasso.com/careers.
The Role
As a Data Scientist at Zicasso, you will have the opportunity to leverage your expertise in data analysis and modeling to extract valuable insights that will drive the company's strategic decision-making. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to develop and implement data-driven solutions that improve operations, enhance customer experiences, and optimize business performance.
This is an international, fully-remote, freelance contractor position, working from home, at a location outside of the United States. We are particularly seeking candidates who are based in Latin America.
There is flexibility in your work hours but we expect that you will generally maximize your overlap with California hours (eg. until 3pm Pacific Time Zone).
The work will all be conducted in English.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the analysis of large, complex datasets to uncover strategic insights that drive product innovation and business growth.
- Lead the design, development, validation, and refinement of advanced predictive models and AI-driven solutions—including machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) techniques—to optimize every step of the customer journeys, improve demand/supply forecasting, deliver personalized recommendations, and achieve high customer satisfaction.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, marketing, and customer experience teams to identify data-driven opportunities for conversion optimization, retention, and engagement improvements.
- Design, implement, and interpret A/B tests and multi-variant experiments to evaluate and optimize product and operational initiatives.
- Develop and maintain dashboards and automated reporting tools to support data-driven decision-making, partnering with data engineering on scalable data infrastructure.
- Collaborate closely with data engineering teams to ensure data quality and consistency for accurate analysis and modeling.
- Communicate complex technical insights effectively to both technical teams and executive stakeholders.
- Provide training on utilizing data analysis and reports and foster the growth of a data-centric culture across the organization.
Required Experience
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience as a Data Scientist or related role in fast-moving, data-intensive environments.
- Hands-on expertise in AI, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, including model development, tuning, and validation.
- Strong proficiency in Python or R, with demonstrated experience implementing ML pipelines and frameworks.
- Advanced SQL skills, with experience working on large-scale, relational and/or distributed datasets.
- Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or similar platforms.
- Strong problem-solving skills, with ability to translate ambiguous business challenges into actionable analytics projects.
- Effective collaborator with experience working independently in remote team environments.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, Data Science, or related quantitative discipline.
- Deep understanding of statistical modeling, machine learning algorithms, AI frameworks, and experimental design.
- Proven ability to communicate complex quantitative insights clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Passion for leveraging data, AI, and ML to create exceptional customer experiences and measurable business impact.
- Proven experience mentoring and leading project teams preferred.
What We Offer
- Remote work from your home base and flexible hours that allow you to enjoy a great work-life balance.
- Innovative, fast-paced and collaborative culture that values diverse voices and opinions.
- Learning and development annual budget.
- Two company-sponsored business trips each year at international destinations we serve!