Job Details

Overview

Data Scientist II - QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey (Critical Industries) — Job ID: 100741

Do you want to work on complex and pressing challenges—the kind that bring together curious, ambitious, and determined leaders who strive to become better every day? If this sounds like you, you've come to the right place.

Your Impact

As a Data Scientist II, you will collaborate with clients and interdisciplinary teams to understand client needs, develop impactful advanced analytics and AI solutions, optimize code, and solve complex business challenges across industries.

You'll grow your expertise by contributing to cutting-edge projects, R&D, and global conferences while working alongside top-tier talent in a dynamic, innovative environment.

Your work will drive meaningful change. By uncovering patterns in data and delivering innovative solutions, you'll help clients stay competitive, transform operations, and achieve lasting improvements. Here's how you might contribute in a given year:

• Build a digital twin of a defense supply chain to enhance military hardware availability.
• Leverage agentic AI to improve customer service outcomes for a global travel company.
• Optimize the schedule and funding of a multi-billion-dollar capital project to accelerate delivery.

You'll contribute to projects across industries and data science expertise areas, eventually choosing your own path to build your expertise and skills. You should expect this role to include at least some work in critical industries (Defense, Aerospace, Utilities, Oil and Gas), but you will have the ability to serve other industries as well.

Day to day, you'll tackle complex challenges in partnership with senior data scientists, engineers, designers, and domain experts. You will:

• Translate business questions into analytical approaches and select the right techniques for each problem
• Conduct exploratory data analysis
• Design, implement, and evaluate models—from traditional machine learning to deep learning to LLMs—using rigorous metrics and A/B tests. When appropriate, you'll build production-grade RAG pipelines and assess LLM output quality / hallucinations
• Deploy models via APIs or batch pipelines, write unit tests, and set up monitoring dashboards to track performance and drift
• Document assumptions, communicate results in clear, actionable language, and collaborate with engineers to integrate solutions into user-facing applications
• Build models which are accurate, explainable, and free from bias
• Optimize inference latency and cost through parameter-efficient tuning, quantization, and accelerated serving stacks
• Additionally, contribute to internal tools, participate in R&D projects, and have opportunities to attend and present at leading conferences like NIPS and ICML

You will be based in one of our U.S. locations and collaborate closely with data scientists, data engineers, machine-learning engineers, designers, and product managers around the world.

Your Growth

Driving lasting impact and building long-term capabilities with our clients is challenging work. You are the kind of person who thrives in a high performance/high reward culture—doing hard things, picking yourself up when you stumble, and having the resilience to try another way forward.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities you need to become a stronger leader faster than you ever thought possible. Your colleagues at all levels will invest deeply in your development, just as much as they invest in delivering exceptional results for clients. Every day, you'll receive apprenticeship, coaching, and exposure that will accelerate your growth in ways you won't find anywhere else.

When you join us, you will have:

• Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You'll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 nationalities, our firm's diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions for our clients. You'll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• World-class benefits: On top of a competitive salary (based on location, experience, and skills), we provide a comprehensive benefits package to enable holistic well-being for you and your family.

Your qualifications and skills

• U.S. Citizenship is required (this role must be able to be staffed on Critical Industries work which includes Defense, Aerospace, Utilities, etc.)
• Bachelor's degree in computer science with 2+ years of professional experience OR Masters or PhD in computer science, mathematics, statistics or electrical engineering
• Professional experience in applying machine learning and data mining techniques to real problems with copious amounts of data
• Development experience (focus on machine learning): SQL and Python's data-science stack; proficiency with Spark/PySpark for distributed workloads. Technologies you may encounter include Airflow, Databricks, Dask/RAPIDS, Docker/Kubernetes, and major clouds (AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle)
• GenAI experience a plus: parameter-efficient tuning, RAG architectures, vector-store technologies, LLM evaluation
• Exceptional time management to meet responsibilities in a complex and largely autonomous work environment
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, in English and local office language(s), with the ability to adjust your style to suit different perspectives and seniority levels
• Willingness to travel

Please review the additional requirements regarding essential job functions of McKinsey colleagues.

Applications and policies

FOR U.S. APPLICANTS: McKinsey & Company is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Certain US jurisdictions require McKinsey & Company to include a reasonable estimate of the salary for this role. For new joiners for this role in the United States, a reasonable estimated range is $146,600 - $150,000 USD. This reflects our best estimate of the range at the time of posting; actual salaries vary by location, experience, and skills. Some roles are eligible for bonuses, subject to McKinsey's discretion.

Additionally, we provide a comprehensive benefits package that reflects our commitment to the wellness of colleagues and their families. This includes medical, mental health, dental and vision coverage, telemedicine services, life, accident and disability insurance, parental leave and family planning benefits, caregiving resources, a retirement contributions program, financial guidance, and paid time off.

FOR NON-U.S. APPLICANTS: McKinsey & Company is an Equal Opportunity employer. For details regarding our global EEO policy and diversity initiatives, please visit our McKinsey Careers and Diversity & Inclusion sites.

Job Skill Group - N/A • Job Skill Code - SADS - Data Scientist II • Function - • Industry - • Post to LinkedIn - Yes • Posted to LinkedIn Date - Wed Jul 23 00:00:00 GMT 2025 • LinkedIn Posting City - Chicago • LinkedIn Posting State/Province - Illinois • LinkedIn Posting Country - United States • LinkedIn Job Title - Data Scientist II - QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey (Critical Industries) • LinkedIn Function - Consulting;Information Technology • LinkedIn Industry - Computer Software;Information Technology and Services • LinkedIn Seniority Level - Entry level