Lead Data Scientist - OpenExpert.ai

Department: Studio

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Cambridge

Description

Important: Please Read Before Applying
This is an early-stage, hands-on builder role with a path to Head / Chief Data Scientist as the company scales.

We are only considering candidates who:

• Have worked in startups or early-stage environments
• Are comfortable building from scratch (0 → 1)
• Want to grow into a leadership role over time, not step into a large pre-built team

If you are primarily looking for a senior executive role with an established team and structure, this role is likely not the right fit.

About OpenExpert.AI
OpenExpert.AI is building the intelligence layer for power operations — an AI platform designed to help operations and maintenance teams diagnose issues faster, preserve institutional knowledge, reduce downtime, and improve decision-making in high-stakes industrial environments.

OpenExpert.AI is a venture built within C10 Labs, focused on creating category-defining AI-first companies.

The Role: Lead Data Scientist (Founding Team)
We’re looking for a senior, hands-on data scientist to build the core intelligence layer of the platform.

This is not a pure management role.
You will be responsible for designing, building, and deploying real AI systems, working directly with product, engineering, and customers. Over time, you will have the opportunity to build and lead the data science function as the company grows.

What You’ll Do

Build the Core AI System (0 → 1)

• Design and develop AI/ML systems for diagnostics, anomaly detection, and decision support
• Work with time-series, sensor data, text, and operational data in real-world environments
• Build and deploy models into production, not just prototypes

Turn Data into Intelligence

• Transform telemetry, manuals, work orders, and engineering documents into actionable insights
• Develop systems for root-cause analysis, predictive maintenance, and knowledge capture
• Contribute to multimodal AI systems that combine structured and unstructured data

Work Across Product & Engineering

• Partner closely with product and engineering to ship quickly and iterate
• Help define what to build, not just how to build it
• Support early pilots tied to real customer outcomes (diagnostics, uptime, efficiency)

Lay the Foundation for Scale

• Establish best practices for model development, evaluation, and deployment
• Contribute to explainability, reliability, and system performance
• Help shape the future data science function and roadmap

Who You Are

Builder Mindset (Required)

• Experience working in a startup or early-stage environment
• Have built and shipped ML/AI systems from scratch
• Comfortable being hands-on and scrappy
• Strong bias for execution, speed, and ownership

Technical Depth

• Strong experience in machine learning, data science, or applied AI
• Experience with time-series data, anomaly detection, or predictive systems
• Familiarity with LLMs, retrieval systems, or multimodal data is a plus
• Solid engineering skills (Python, production systems, APIs, cloud environments)

Real-World Systems Experience

• Experience deploying models into production environments
• Comfortable working with messy, real-world data
• Ability to balance model performance with practical constraints

Growth Potential

• Interested in growing into a leadership role (Head / Chief Data Scientist)
• Able to mentor others and help build a team over time
• Interested in shaping both technical direction and team development

Bonus (Not Required)

• Experience in energy, industrial systems, or manufacturing
• Familiarity with SCADA/OT systems, IoT, or operational data environments
• Background in predictive maintenance or decision-support systems

What This Role Is NOT
To ensure alignment, this role is likely not a fit if you:

• Are looking for a pure leadership role without hands-on work
• Prefer working with large, structured teams and clean data
• Have not worked in early-stage or ambiguous environments

What You’ll Get

• Early team member with high ownership and impact
• Clear path to Head / Chief Data Scientist as the company grows
• Equity in a venture-backed company
• Backing from C10 Labs (capital, talent, and support)
• Opportunity to build AI systems in real-world, high-stakes environments

Compensation

• Equity + salary (post-fundraise structure)

Why This Role

The energy sector is facing a massive knowledge and workforce gap. OpenExpert.AI is building the system to capture expertise and make it usable in real time.
This is an opportunity to:

• Build from 0 → 1
• Work on high-impact, real-world problems
• Help define a category at the intersection of AI, energy, and industrial systems