About the Mission
Context & purpose of the role: The Data mining team is looking for a senior profile who fulfills a dual assignment: Accelerating strategic data initiatives through substantive expertise, technical direction and coaching. Manage the continuous flow of ad-hoc data questions through overview, prioritization, bundling and translation into reusable solutions/data products. The role brings seniority, structure and technical depth to the Data mining team, while supporting the operation and follow-up together with the team manager and other stakeholders. Core responsibilities: 1) Strategic projects & technical leadership Taking on the technical lead in complex data processes (e.g. advanced analytics, graph/network analytics, integrations, architectural choices). Help shape the approach, solutions and priorities of larger initiatives, with an eye for feasibility, impact and scalability. Monitoring and promoting quality standards, including reproducibility, documentation, methodology and – where relevant – engineering quality. 2) Team uplift & co-creation (within Data mining) Coaching and guiding data scientists and analysts through co-creation, substantive reviews and sharing best practices. Structurally contribute to increasing team competencies (methodology, approach, quality, communication). Taking an active role in developing team agreements, such as definition of done, working methods and knowledge sharing. 3) Structuring and productizing ad-hoc demand flow. Creating an overview of incoming questions: intake, slicing, prioritization, status/communication. Cluster ad-hoc work and, where possible, convert it to structural, reusable solutions (reusable datasets, analysis methods, templates, data products). Applying FAIR principles from a data product point of view with a focus on reusability and quality. 4) Project management & follow-up (Stretch) Include basic delivery/project follow-up (scope, milestones, dependencies, risks). Supporting the team leader in follow-up and coordination to bring stability to planning and implementation. Contribute to stakeholder alignment, including expectation management, decision-making and (where necessary) escalations. Collaboration & stakeholders: Close collaboration within the Data mining team (data scientists/analysts, and where relevant data engineers/platform stakeholders). Collaboration with Data Platform team and substantive partners/stakeholders. Works in an environment with multiple priorities, where there is a need for structure in intake, follow-up and communication. Profile (must-haves): Master in IT Strong, hands-on experience as a Data Scientist / ML Engineer with a focus on Python. Experience with data analysis and modeling (pandas, scikit-learn) and building/improving ML models in a production context. Strong software engineering foundation: Git, code reviews, CI/CD pipelines, Docker; experience setting up APIs and reusable components (e.g. FastAPI). Knowledge of SQL; experience with infrastructure-as-code or cloud is a plus (Terraform, AWS/GCP). Strong in structuring unclear questions and translating them into concrete approaches/deliveries. Experience with coaching/mentoring and working in co-creation (e.g. technical training, reviews, SCRUM/scrum master role). Strong communication skills (involving stakeholders, reporting clearly, managing expectations). Trilingualism (NL/FR/EN) strongly desired and preferably at a high level. Positives (nice-to-haves): Experience with data product thinking, governance and quality principles (FAIR, definitions, documentation, reusability). Experience with graph analytics / network analytics or other advanced analytics domains. Knowledge of Databricks. Previous experience within an OISZ is a big plus. Previous experience with secondary data use and fraud detection. Expected impact (3–6 months): Clearer intake and prioritization process for ad-hoc questions to the Data mining team.More reusable and scalable outputs instead of one-offs. Measurable uplift in team quality through coaching, reviews and methodical agreements. Better predictability and progress on key data projects and strategic initiatives. We ask you to send the result of the exercise below together with your CV. Failure to submit an answer or if the answers are not satisfactory means that the candidate will not be retained: explain how a random forest works and in which situations you would prefer XGBoost or AdaBoost compared to a Random Forest.
Required Skills
Agile / Scrum, AI & Machine learning, API, AWS, CI/CD pipelines, Data analysis, Data modeling, Docker, GCP, GIT, Java, ML-modellen, Pandas, Python, SQL, Terraform
Practical Information
- Company: Confidential
- Location: Bruxelles – Hybrid
- Start Date: 22 June 2026
- End Date: 31 December 2026
- Duration: 7 months
- Contract Type: Freelance / Mission
- Application Deadline: 16 June 2026