Data Scientist, Ads and Demand Optimization (Contract)
Get to Know the Team
Join our Demand and Personalization Data Science team, where machine learning, economics, and large-scale engineering intersect. We build the core ranking, recommendation, and algorithmic incentive systems that determine what millions of users see and which merchant offers they receive across Southeast Asia. Our work directly drives discovery, engagement, and platform marketplace efficiency at scale, operating within high-throughput, low-latency production environments.
Get to Know the Role
We are looking for a Data Scientist to develop, deploy, and operate production-grade ranking and recommendation models. Reporting to the Data Science Manager II, this is a full-time 24 months contract role based onsite at the Grab One-North Singapore office. You'll collaborate with senior data scientists, product managers, and software engineers to own models end-to-end—from feature engineering and offline experimentation to live deployment and monitoring. If you're passionate about solving high-stakes marketplace algorithms at consumer scale, we invite you to apply.
The Critical Tasks You Will Perform
- Design, optimize, and maintain training-data and feature extraction pipelines across regional markets, ensuring data integrity and system reliability (including participating in team on-call rotations).
- Formulate, engineer, and validate new user and merchant personalization signals to measurably improve discovery relevance, CTR, and conversion.
- Formulate testable algorithmic hypotheses, run online A/B experiments, and monitor long-term holdout groups to rigorously measure business and user impact.
- Collaborate with Engineering to design, deploy, and scale real-time recommendation services and automated incentive allocation systems under strict SLA and latency budgets.
- Manage production ML operations, including automated retraining pipelines, feature backfills, telemetry, and proactive drift monitoring.
- Leverage Generative AI (GenAI) coding tools and AI-assisted workflows to accelerate model prototyping, automate repetitive data scripts, and drive team innovation.
What Essential Skills You Will Need
- At least 1 year of hands-on industry experience as a Data Scientist or Machine Learning Engineer focusing on ranking, recommendation systems, or search (or an advanced degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Operations Research, or a related field with relevant production internship experience).
- Demonstrated experience with learning-to-rank algorithms, CTR/CVR prediction, relevance modelling, or two-tower retrieval architectures (e.g., GBDT, deep ranking models).
- Experience with offline ranking evaluation metrics (e.g., NDCG, MRR, AUC, MAP) alongside practical experience designing, analyzing, and interpreting online A/B tests.
- Programming proficiency in Python and SQL, with at least 1 year of practical experience building and debugging production pipelines using Apache Spark and Airflow.
- Practical understanding of deploying ML models into real-world production environments, handling latency tradeoffs, and monitoring pipeline health.
- Experience engaging with AI tools and emerging technologies to enhance productivity, improve workflows, and contribute new ideas.
About Grab and Our Workplace
Grab is Southeast Asia's leading superapp. From getting your favourite meals delivered to helping you manage your finances and getting around town hassle-free, we've got your back with everything. In Grab, purpose gives us joy and habits build excellence, while harnessing the power of Technology and AI to deliver the mission of driving Southeast Asia forward by economically empowering everyone, with heart, hunger, honour, and humility.
Life at Grab
We care about your well-being at Grab, here are some of the global benefits we offer:
- We have your back with Term Life Insurance and comprehensive Medical Insurance.
- With GrabFlex, create a benefits package that suits your needs and aspirations.
- Celebrate moments that matter in life with loved ones through Parental and Birthday leave, and give back to your communities through Love-all-Serve-all (LASA) volunteering leave
- We have a confidential Grabber Assistance Programme to guide and uplift you and your loved ones through life's challenges.
- Balancing personal commitments and life's demands are made easier with our FlexWork arrangements such as differentiated hours
What We Stand For at Grab
We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace that enables diverse Grabbers to grow and perform at their best. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all candidates fairly and equally regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, family commitments, physical and mental impairments or disabilities, and other attributes that make them unique.
View our location
Nestled in the vibrant heart of Singapore is Grab's Global HQ! Take a tour of our office here, meet some of our teams and find out what it’s like to work in this vibrant cosmopolitan.
Meet the Data Science team
Our Data Science team is on a mission to create delightful experiences for our users. Every day, they dive into the data to uncover new and intelligent ways to deliver hyperlocal services and solutions to our communities in Southeast Asia.
Every small step of innovation at Grab has an instant impact on hundreds of millions of active users. Nothing is more exciting than facing challenges, exploring uncertainties and advancing the state-of-the-art in artificial intelligence.
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My journey has been fueled by a passion for making a tangible impact through data. Having been a Senior Data Scientist at GrabFin, and now a Lead Data Scientist at Grabads, I found the perfect opportunity to work with massive datasets, which has led to greater impact in my work.
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I get to bring data to life throughout the product journey – from scoping problems and setting metrics to experimenting and tweaking things for the better. It's not just about numbers; it's about actively shaping and improving our products every day.
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The Application Process
What can you expect when you apply for a role at Grab? Here’s what our hiring process looks like.
Step 1: Apply.
We have a range of open roles from Marketing to Engineering and everything in between. Find the one that’s best for you and show us why you’re our next teammate.
Step 2: Getting to know you.
Next, you’ll have a video or phone interview with one of our recruiters to chat about you, the role, and your past work experiences.
Step 3: Testing, testing… 123.
Some roles might require assessments and/or a technical competency interview. For other roles, there might be an additional interview – speak with your recruiter for application details.
Step 4: Is it a culture match?
Finally, we’ll find out how we fit together, if your career vision aligns with our mission, how you embody the 4 H's, and your working style and personality.
