Lead/Senior Data Scientist – AI for Education Assessment

PERTH HYBRID | SENIOR LEADERSHIP ROLE | COMPETITIVE SALARY + super

The quick version

• Lead AI that genuinely improves how student work is assessed and feedback is delivered
• Own end-to-end NLP and computer vision models in a live, real-world education product
• Senior, hands-on role with real influence across product, engineering and educators

Why this role exists

A fast-growing edtech scale-up is re-imagining how student assessments are marked — combining AI accuracy with human-centred feedback. As adoption grows across schools and exam bodies, they need a senior data science leader to own, mature and future-proof their AI capability.

This role sits right at the intersection of machine learning, product thinking and educational impact.

What you’ll do

• Own the full model lifecycle: experimentation, training, evaluation, prompt engineering, fine-tuning and production deployment
• Build and improve multi-modal models that interpret handwritten assessments using NLP, OCR and vision techniques
• Design and justify experiments, clearly communicating why certain approaches, datasets or trade-offs were chosen
• Translate complex model behaviour into clear narratives for educators, engineers and senior leaders
• Collaborate deeply with educators and internal teams (around 40% stakeholder engagement) to improve marking accuracy and feedback quality
• Stay hands-on — this is a technical leadership role, not a people-management sideline
• Strengthen robustness in production, including model failover strategies and alternative provider evaluation

What you’ll bring

• Strong experience across NLP, generative AI and OCR, ideally in education, assessment or content-heavy domains
• Proven delivery of multi-modal ML systems (language + vision) in production
• Deep experimentation expertise with a clear, evidence-based decision-making mindset
• Ability to explain complex concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, including executives
• Comfort operating with ambiguity in a scale-up environment
• A genuine interest in improving student outcomes and equity in education

Nice to have: exposure to assessment frameworks, curriculum-aligned marking or regulated environments.

Team & ways of working

• Cloud-based ML environment (AWS) with modern Python tooling
• Generative AI and vision models integrated via APIs
• OCR tooling in a multi-modal stack
• Perth-based hybrid option (around 2 days in-office)
• Timezone flexibility required, with preference for UK-aligned working hours (early starts)

Why it’s different

• Direct impact on how students receive feedback — not just dashboards or optimisation models
• Real-world AI problems involving messy handwriting, nuance and age-appropriate interpretation
• Strong autonomy and trust: you’ll shape direction, not wait for specs
• Mission-driven culture with genuine work-life balance

Compensation & details

• Competitive salary + super, commensurate with experience
• Permanent role
• Open to candidates based in Australia with full work rights



What to do next

Apply via DR Analytics Recruitment. Shortlisting has already commenced.