What is it like to be a data science manager?
You may know already that a Data Science Manager plays a crucial role in the supervision and end-to-end delivery of analytics projects, from the requirements analysis to the developments' automation. Yet, do you know what this means in a day-to-day setting? And how the position may impact your career and personal development?
Data Science Managers help their teams in project management, data manipulation, analysis, modeling, and presenting results. Moreover, they supervise and coach data scientists and data engineers to acquire the business and technical skills to manage their projects. They can take the lead on entire projects, from the initial scope to the final delivery. And they can act as the owner of accounts to build and nurture existing and future clients.
We sat down with Gautier Radermecker, Data Science Manager at Agilytic, to understand his take. Gautier joined our team in September 2021 and has many insights to share.
1. Tell us about you, what has brought you to your current role, and what you like most about what you do.
After I finished my studies in electrical engineering, I joined an electrical company in project management for some years, focusing on signal processing, the very basics of machine learning applied to an electrical system. It was a fast-paced environment where I led the team through development projects. I became passionate about data and almost all digital technologies, from cloud to web development.
Then, I moved into consulting. In 2019, I moved to London, where I had multiple roles such as cloud engineer to build data warehouses and program coordinator in sizeable digital transformation programs. There was a considerable diversity of projects, yet I wanted a more proactive, practical role in a more technical area.
My role encompasses these qualities along with the leadership aspect around coaching colleagues. At Agilytic, I find we are very close to the client and technical aspects of the projects.
2. What role do you play in the end-to-end delivery of projects?
I am part of projects from the beginning, from the pre-sales phase where the planning begins, and offering information about what we do, what we will work on, and how we will make it possible. I am proactively reaching out to the client for updates throughout the project. Also, I take an active role in coaching and supporting my colleagues as I supervise many projects, sometimes two to five projects at a time.
3. What were your first thoughts when you heard about Agilytic?
Of course, my first impression was that the website and the LinkedIn page have a professional aspect. Despite being a small company, the presentation was like a big four company where the projects are very diverse and cover all kinds of industries. So the professional aspect together with a smaller environment drew me to Agilytic. After my first discussions, it became clear that you are not treated as a number here. You are somebody with an important role to play.
4. Why do you believe in Agilytic's services?
I believe in our mission to be business-focused rather than technology-focused. Because technology is a means to achieve what we want to do. We’re not selling complicated, trendy, hard-to-maintain technology. We primarily focus on the business problem and go for the right tools that make sense and bring value. And we take an end-to-end approach to ensure we meet clients' needs and the solution is sustainable in the long term.
5. How do you practice leadership in your role?
Leadership is a vital aspect of my position, foremost through coaching. As a Data Science Manager, you are a role model for the people around you. As we go from one assignment to the other quite quickly, I’ve learned how to manage multiple projects and help team members move forward simultaneously. At the same time, it’s essential that I take a step back and not too often get ‘my hands too dirty’ to give others a chance to develop and get better at the job.
6. What development opportunities or new skills are you picking up in this role?
I am practicing sales and business development skills a lot more than I have before. This means that I propose new offers with clients to bring more value to them and create a long-term partnership. I look forward to developing in this area, attracting more projects to the firm, and helping us grow.
7. What are the three attributes that make an excellent Data Science Manager?
First, any data science leader needs to have empathy, and that applies to two perspectives. On one side, having empathy with the client because they need us to hear their challenges and solve the problem. And, internally, having empathy with junior colleagues who might initially face a significant learning curve. It takes time and patience to learn new skills, and it’s crucial that you can put yourself in their shoes to find the best way forward.
Second, you should feel comfortable in a technical environment. We have a lot of exposure to new technologies and can develop a lot of good experience. Not being afraid to learn new technologies and new features is very important. Because we need to support our team, having a sound basis of technologies and the willingness to share your knowledge in this area is important too.
And finally, ambition. Having the drive to move forward through the gray areas will set great Data Science Managers apart. Not everything will be familiar, especially in a setting where we’re exposed to many industries and business objectives, so showing determination is crucial.
8. What kinds of projects have you worked on since you started?
I’ve had the opportunity to work for many different industries such as telecommunication, gaming, and the marketing industry in a short time. The projects have varied from pure data engineering and building ETL pipelines to reporting on business intelligence tools, scraping and NLP for thousands of documents, and building algorithms from datasets. Overall, the level of project diversity is very motivating.
9. What stands out to you about the culture at Agilytic?
I enjoy the entrepreneurial group culture. Everyone is working to shape the future of the business using our unique combination of skills. As we’re small, we’re here to develop ourselves as professionals and the company.
10. What gets you most excited about coming to work?
When I go into work or 'sign-on,' I know I'm going to be around good people. In Agilytic’s environment, it's safe and welcome to say your opinion and propose ideas that help you work on yourself. That’s what gets me excited each morning. I find it’s easy to get the support I need, and there are great minds here to help along the way and bring a lot of value to our clients and Agilytic.
