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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Data Science Manager, Personalization - **Company:** CarMax Business Services, LLC - **Location:** Richmond, VA, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** A/B Testing, Big Data, Monitoring of Systems, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Machine Learning, Recommender Systems, Large Language Models, Apache Spark, Model Validation, Marketplace, Databricks - **Published:** August 7, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.juju.com/job/00000000gm0qwy ## About the Role * 5+ years of experience in a data science role, preferably in e-commerce, marketplace, or a data-rich environment * Strong development skills and experience with Python for data manipulation, analysis, and model development * Solid foundation in statistics, including hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and experimental design - you should be comfortable explaining why a test result is or isn't significant * Experience working with large datasets using tools like Spark, Databricks, or similar * Clear communication skills - you can explain a complex analysis to a PM or executive without losing them, and present a compelling argument for how and why a team will benefit from using recommendations * Genuine enthusiasm for how search and recommendation systems work and passion for continued learning * Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field (statistics, economics, math, engineering, or similar) * Advanced degree (Master's/Ph.D.) is preferred Work Authorization: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Sponsorship will **not** be considered for this specific role. ## Description Vehicle Recommender is our team's marquee data science product - a full-scale, modern software solution built on a custom embedding model. Launched in 2024 to replace our legacy system, it delivers intelligent, real-time, customizable product recommendations across our retail and wholesale businesses. We're looking for a data scientist who wants to own a product, not just build models. In this role, you'll develop deep technical expertise in our recommender system, but you'll spend just as much time working with partners across the business - understanding their needs, scoping use cases, advocating for adoption, and ensuring we deliver real value. To be clear: this is a data scientist role, not a product manager role. You'll still be hands-on with data, experimentation, and model evaluation. But if you're the kind of DS who lights up in a roadmap discussion, loves translating ML capabilities into business terms, and wants to be the go-to expert that partners come to - this is your role. This role may or may not initially include direct reports, but that can depend on the individual candidate. It's ideal for an experienced data scientist interested in growing toward technical leadership or product-oriented career paths. What You Will Do - Essential Responsibilities Product Ownership & Partner Engagement * Serve as the primary point of contact for Vehicle Recommender across the organization - owning relationships with product managers, business stakeholders, and engineering partners * Drive adoption by helping partners understand what recommendations can do for them, scoping new use cases, and ensuring successful implementation * Own the roadmap for Vehicle Recommender in partnership with engineering and DS leadership - prioritizing enhancements, maintenance, and new capabilities * Translate between technical and business audiences; present to leadership, write strategy docs, and make the case for investment Data Science & Technical * Develop deep technical expertise in the Vehicle Recommender system - how the embedding models work, how recommendations are generated and served, and how performance is measured * Design, execute, and interpret experiments (A/B tests, holdouts, pre/post analyses) to quantify impact and guide decisions * Partner with data scientists and engineers on feature development, model validation, and system monitoring * Stay current on recommender system research and best practices; bring informed perspective to technical decisions ## Related Videos - [Alibaba Big Data and Machine Learning Technology](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/37-alibaba-big-data-and-machine-learning-technology) - [Cutting LLM Costs Without Cutting Quality: How to Beat Proprietary LLMs with Fine-Tuned Open Source](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100151-cutting-llm-costs-without-cutting-quality-how-to-beat-proprietary-llms-with-fine-tuned-open-source) - [Bringing the power of AI to your application.](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1010-bringing-the-power-of-ai-to-your-application) - [Data Science in Retail](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/586-data-science-in-retail) - [PySpark - Combining Machine Learning & Big Data](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/44-pyspark-combining-machine-learning-big-data) - [OLTP in the Lakehouse: Redefining Data for AI Workloads](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2038-oltp-in-the-lakehouse-redefining-data-for-ai-workloads) ## Related Articles - [Coffee with Developers - Maria Apazoglou - Making AI understandable for all in production](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/475-coffee-with-developers-maria-apazoglou-making-ai-understandable-for-all-in-production) - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers) - [Top Big Data Technologies That You Need to Know](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/108-top-big-data-technologies-that-you-need-to-know) - [How software is steering vehicle technology](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/515-how-software-is-steering-vehicle-technology) - [Data Analyst Salary in the UK](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/278-data-analyst-salary-in-the-uk) - [Navigating the AI Shift](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/629-navigating-the-ai-shift)