Data Scientist- Applied AI - Irvine, CA

At Kia, we're creating award-winning products and redefining what value means in the automotive industry. It takes a special group of individuals to do what we do, and we do it together. Our culture is fast-paced, collaborative, and innovative. Our people thrive on thinking diffe ...

Job description

At Kia, we're creating award-winning products and redefining what value means in the automotive industry. It takes a special group of individuals to do what we do, and we do it together. Our culture is fast-paced, collaborative, and innovative. Our people thrive on thinking differently and challenging the status quo. We are creating something special here, a culture of learning and opportunity, where you can help Kia achieve big things and most importantly, feel passionate and connected to your work every day.

Kia provides team members with competitive benefits including premium paid medical, dental and vision coverage for you and your dependents, 401(k) plan matching of 100% up to 6% of the salary deferral, and paid time off. Kia also offers company lease and purchase programs, company-wide holiday shutdown, paid volunteer hours, and premium lifestyle amenities at our corporate campus in Irvine, California.

Status

Exempt

General Summary

The Data Scientist plays an important role in executing data analysis for Kia North America's regional subsidiaries (KUS/KCA/KaGA/KMX). Kia's Big Data Analysis team leverages vast and diverse datasets to drive business improvements and insights. The role requires expertise in statistics, machine learning, and computer science to utilize high-performance compute clusters and perform reproducible analyses at scale. This position supports the application of data, analytics, automation, and responsible AI to advance Kia's business operations.

This role focuses on applying data science and AI techniques to analyze text and other unstructured data, build models, and generate insights that support business decisions. The role contributes to developing new AI- and data-driven products, capabilities, and analytical assets, treating data and models as products that can be used and scaled across the business.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

1st Priority - 30%

Data Processing and Modeling

• Assess the accuracy of new data sources
• Understand the relationship between data sources and downstream use cases
• Preprocess structured and unstructured data
• Analyze large amounts of data to discover trends and patterns
• Build, train, and evaluate machine learning and AI models, including modern NLP and GenAI approaches where appropriate.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams for feature engineering and data integration

2nd Priority - 30%

Model Evaluation, Iteration, and Insight Communication

• Test and continuously improve the accuracy of statistical and machine learning models
• Present information using Python notebooks and/or dashboards
• Explain model behavior and performance in an intuitive manner to technical and non-technical audiences
• Continuously monitor and validate production model performance
• Treat models and analytical outputs as reusable products or services with clear ownership and quality standards

3rd Priority - 20%

Collaborate with IT on model deployment and MLOps setup

• Build or contribute to REST APIs for model inference and result consumption
• Partner with IT system developers on model deployment and MLOps best practices to ensure production readiness

4th Priority - 20%

Clear documentation, source code management, and reproducible analysis

• Use git within GitLab
• Create virtual environments to isolate project dependencies and requirements
• Track model performance and hyperparameter configurations
• Track data and model versioning

This list of essential responsibilities and duties is not exhaustive and may be supplemented and changed as necessary by management.

Qualifications/Education

• Bachelor's degree in a technical or quantitative field required (e.g., Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or related field)
• Master's degree in analytics, data science, or computer science preferred

Job Requirement

• 3+ years of experience in data science preferred.
• Strong foundation in machine learning required.
• Strong Python and SQL skills required.
• Hands-on experience building AI-powered features or products (e.g., NLP pipelines, GenAI features, AI agents); strong interest in continuous learning expected.
• Familiarity with MLOps concepts (model versioning, deployment workflows, monitoring) preferred.
• Ability to manage projects end-to-end and collaborate across technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience querying databases and using programming languages such as Python and SQL
• Experience using statistics and machine learning algorithms (deep learning a plus)
• Experience with big data processing frameworks such as Spark (e.g., PySpark); experience with Hadoop ecosystem or cloud platforms (e.g., Databricks, AWS) preferred
• Experience publishing results to stakeholders through dashboards (e.g. Power BI, MicroStrategy, Tableau)

Specialized Skills and Knowledge Required

• Proficiency in Python and SQL
• Knowledge and experience with NLP and related applied AI techniques (e.g., embeddings, retrieval, GenAI workflows)
• Experience with common Python libraries for data analysis such as Pandas and NumPy
• Experience with visualization libraries such as Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly, Bokeh and plotnine
• Experience developing and evaluating statistical and machine learning models using libraries such as statsmodels and scikit-learn
• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch and TensorFlow preferred
• Experience with big data processing tools such as Spark (e.g., PySpark); experience with Hadoop ecosystem or cloud platforms preferred
• Strong data-driven problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to coordinate across teams

Competencies

• Care for People
• Chase Excellence Every Day
• Dare to Push Boundaries
• Empower People to Act
• Move Further Together

Pay Range

$89,936.24 ~$121,409.23

Pay will be based on several variables that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to, job-related skills, experience, relevant education or training, etc.

Equal Employment Opportunities

KUS provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, including pregnancy and childbirth and related medical conditions, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, legally protected physical disability or mental disability, legally protected medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, family care or medical leave status, protected veteran or military status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. KUS complies with applicable law governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which KUS has offices. The KUS EEO policy applies to all areas of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, discipline, termination and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.

Disclaimer: The above information on this job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification and for this position. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.

Employment Type