Director, Data Scientist

Greystar•Columbia, SC

3d•$155,000 - $185,000•Remote

About The Position

Greystar is the world’s largest multifamily owner-operator, managing a portfolio that spans thousands of properties and billions in assets under management globally. Our proprietary data — spanning operations, leasing, investment, resident behavior, and market dynamics — is one of our most significant competitive assets. Today, we are building the organization, platform, and capabilities to turn that data into durable intelligence that drives every major decision across the company. We’re seeking a Director, Data Scientist to serve as the senior-most data science leader at Greystar. Reporting to the Global Head of Data, Digital & AI, this Director-level role is responsible for setting the data science vision, methodology, and governance framework across the enterprise — and for ensuring that every AI and analytics initiative at Greystar is built on rigorous, trustworthy, and impactful science. This is not a research role. This is a leadership role for someone who builds systems that make an organization measurably smarter.

Requirements

12+ years of applied data science, ML engineering, or quantitative research experience, with at least 4 years in a senior leadership role (Director or equivalent) managing teams of 5+.
Proven track record of building data science functions from the ground up or transforming existing analytics organizations into high-performing data science teams.
Experience setting enterprise-level data science strategy and governance in a complex, multi-business-unit organization.
Demonstrated ability to translate data science capabilities into measurable business value — not just model metrics, but revenue, cost, and decision quality impact.
Deep expertise across the ML spectrum: supervised/unsupervised learning, time series, NLP, optimization, causal inference, and deep learning.
Strong hands-on skills in Python and the modern ML/AI stack; you can still review code, evaluate model architectures, and challenge technical decisions credibly.
Significant experience with LLMs in production: prompt engineering, fine-tuning, RAG, evaluation frameworks, and responsible deployment.
Experience building and governing MLOps pipelines: model training, experiment tracking, deployment, monitoring, and automated retraining.
Experience operating as a senior technical leader who influences business strategy, not just executes on it.
Comfort presenting to C-level executives, investors, and board members — making the case for data science investment in clear economic terms.
Strong opinions on build vs. buy for AI capabilities, grounded in practical experience evaluating and integrating vendor tools alongside proprietary development.
Understanding of how data science intersects with product management, data engineering, and software engineering — and how to build effective partnerships across these functions.

Nice To Haves

Experience in real estate, property management, asset management, or financial services is strongly preferred.
Familiarity with asset performance analytics, portfolio optimization, risk modeling, or valuation methodologies.
Experience building data products or intelligence platforms that serve external clients or investors (not just internal analytics).
Applied over academic — you measure success by business impact, not publications.
Builder mentality — you’ve built teams and systems from scratch, not just inherited them.
AI-first — you use AI tools in your own workflow and expect the same of your team.
Intellectually rigorous but pragmatic — you know when a simple model shipped today beats a perfect model shipped never.

Responsibilities

Set the Data Science Vision for Greystar
Build the Data Science Function
Drive Enterprise AI and Model Governance
Deliver High-Impact Intelligence Across the Business
Shape Greystar’s AI Future

Benefits

Competitive Medical, Dental, Vision, and Disability & Life insurance benefits.
Low (free basic) employee Medical costs for employee-only coverage; costs discounted after 3 and 5 years of service.
Generous Paid Time off. All new hires start with 15 days of vacation, 4 personal days, 10 sick days, and 11 paid holidays. Plus your birthday off after 1 year of service!
Additional vacation accrued with tenure.
For onsite team members, onsite housing discount at Greystar-managed communities are available subject to discount and unit availability.
6-Week Paid Sabbatical after 10 years of service (and every 5 years thereafter).
401(k) with Company Match up to 6% of pay after 6 months of service.
Paid Parental Leave and lifetime Fertility Benefit reimbursement up to $10,000 (includes adoption or surrogacy).
Employee Assistance Program.
Critical Illness, Accident, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance and Legal Plans.
Charitable giving program and benefits.