POSITION SUMMARY: The Data Scientist III independently designs, develops, and delivers AI, advanced analytics and machine learning solutions that directly impact business outcomes. The incumbent owns complex AI and data science initiatives end to end: translating ambiguous business problems into analytical approaches, developing models with appropriate validation, deploying to production, and monitoring performance. The Data Scientist III balances statistical rigor, engineering best practices, and business impact, ensuring solutions are appropriately scoped, scalable, and production ready. The incumbent serves as a technical leader on project teams, a mentor to junior data scientists, and a trusted analytical partner to business stakeholders by clearly communicating insights, tradeoffs, and recommendations.
PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES: - Designs and builds advanced statistical, predictive, machine learning, and AI models, selecting appropriate evaluation metrics and diagnostics to assess performance and business impact.
- Develops approach to solution monitoring and model diagnostics, resolving common modeling issues (e.g., transformations, data limitations, bias, drift, prompt engineering, semantic retrieval, hallucination detection, or model assumptions).
- Independently investigates appropriate model structures, assumptions, and analytical techniques and how they translate to real world business problems.
- Partners with business stakeholders to identify opportunities to apply existing analytics approaches to new problems and unlock additional value from internal and external data sources.
- Organizes analyses into clear, logical narratives, presenting insights and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Relates operational, commercial, financial, and performance metrics to analytics solutions to drive meaningful business impact.
- Acts as a subject matter expert and analytical thought partner for assigned functional areas.
- Mentors data scientists and technical teams on advanced modeling, architecture, and problem solving approaches.
- Designs modular, reusable AI and analytical components and functions that support flexibility and maintainability.
- Partners with engineering, data, and product teams to support production deployment and long-term sustainability.
- Documents solution design, assumptions, data definitions, and limitations to support reuse and transparency.
- Performs other job-related duties as assigned or apparent.
QUALIFICATIONS: - Advanced proficiency in Python for data analysis, modeling, AI, and solution development.
- Advanced proficiency in SQL and relational data concepts.
- Strong understanding of Generative AI, large language models (LLMs), and common enterprise use cases.
- Strong experience with software engineering best practices (Git, code reviews, modular design).
- Experience building, deploying, and monitoring models in cloud environments.
- Working knowledge of ML Ops tools and experiment tracking frameworks.
- Familiarity with AI-based coding assistants like GitHub CoPilot, Cursor, Claude Code.
- Demonstrated expertise working with cloud-based data platforms and infrastructure, such as Snowflake and AWS, to support analytics and data science workflows.
- Demonstrated expertise with common commercial analytics topics (e.g. pricing optimization, customer segmentation, customer churn/lifetime value, etc.), operational analytics topics (e.g. logistics analytics, route optimization, maintenance optimization, etc.), or Customer Experience analytics topics (e.g. Average handle time, containment rate, deflection rate, NPS, customer sentiment, etc.
- Master's Degree in an analytical field (Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Management, Statistics, Engineering) - preferred.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: - Bachelor's Degree in an analytical field (Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Management, Statistics, Engineering).
- 5 years of experience with advanced programming in Python and SQL, conducting complex statistical analysis and building machine learning algorithms or AI applications with large databases in cloud computing environments.
- 5+ years of demonstrated experience working with large databases to perform complex analysis.
- 5+ years of experience with advanced statistical modeling, machine learning methods, and/or AI models.
This is an in-office position. Must reside in the metro Phoenix, Arizona area.
Rewarding Compensation and BenefitsEligible employees can elect to participate in:
Comprehensive medical benefits coverage, dental plans and vision coverage.
Health care and dependent care spending accounts.
Short- and long-term disability.
Life insurance and accidental death & dismemberment insurance.
Employee and Family Assistance Program (EAP).
Employee discount programs.
Retirement plan with a generous company match.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP).
Paid Time Off (PTO)
Benefits: ;br>
The statements used herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by an employee in this position, and are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties and skills required by an incumbent so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the Company.
EEO STATEMENT:Republic Services is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, relationship or association with a protected veteran (spouses or other family members), genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. For any concerns relating to Republic Services' commitment to equal opportunity employment, you may contact the AWARE Line at 1-866-3-AWARE-4.
ABOUT THE COMPANYRepublic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG) is a leader in the environmental services industry. We provide customers with the most complete set of products and services, including recycling, waste, special waste, hazardous waste and field services. Our industry-leading commitments to advance circularity and support decarbonization are helping deliver on our vision to partner with customers to create a more sustainable world.
In 2025, Republic's total company revenue was $16.6 billion, and adjusted EBITDA was $5.3 billion. We serve 13 million customers and operate more than 1,000 locations, including collection and transfer stations, recycling and polymer centers, treatment facilities, and landfills.
Although we operate across North America, the collection, recycling, treatment, or disposal of materials is a local business, and the dynamics and opportunities differ in each market we serve. By combining local operational management with standardized business practices, we drive greater operating efficiencies across the company while maintaining day-to-day operational decisions at the local level, closest to the customer.
Our customers, including small businesses, major corporations and municipalities, want a partner with the expertise and capabilities to effectively manage their multiple recycling and waste streams. They choose Republic Services because we are committed to exceeding their expectations and helping them achieve their sustainability goals. Our 42,000 team members understand that it's not just what we do that matters, but how we do it.
Our company values guide our daily actions:
- Safe: We protect the livelihoods of our colleagues and communities.
- Committed to Serve: We go above and beyond to exceed our customers' expectations.
- Environmentally Responsible: We take action to improve our environment.
- Driven: We deliver results in the right way.
- Human-Centered: We respect the dignity and unique potential of every person.
We are proud of our high employee engagement score of 86. We have an inclusive and diverse culture where every voice counts. In addition, our team positively impacted 5.1 million people in 2024 through the Republic Services Charitable Foundation and local community grants. These projects are designed to meet the specific needs of the communities we serve, with a focus on building sustainable neighborhoods.
STRATEGYRepublic Services' strategy is designed to generate profitable growth. Through acquisitions and industry advancements, we safely and sustainably manage our customers' multiple waste streams through a North American footprint of vertically integrated assets.
We focus on three areas of growth to meet the increasing needs of our customers: recycling and waste, environmental solutions and sustainability innovation.
With our integrated approach, strengthening our position in one area advances other areas of our business. For example, as we grow volume in recycling and waste, we collect additional material to bolster our circularity capabilities. And as we expand environmental solutions, we drive additional opportunities to provide these services to our existing recycling and waste customers.
Recycling and WasteWe continue to expand our recycling and waste business footprint throughout North America through organic growth and targeted acquisitions. The 13 million customers we serve and our more than 5 million pick-ups per day provide us with a distinct advantage. We aggregate materials at scale, unlocking new opportunities for advanced recycling. In addition, we are cross-selling new products and services to better meet our customers' specific needs.
Environmental SolutionsOur comprehensive environmental solutions capabilities help customers safely manage their most technical waste streams. We are expanding both our capabilities and our geographic footprint. We see strong growth opportunities for our offerings, including PFAS remediation, an increasing customer need.
Sustainability InnovationRepublic's recent innovations to advance circularity and decarbonization demonstrate our unique ability to leverage sustainability as a platform for growth.
The Republic Services Polymer Center is the nation's first integrated plastics recycling facility. These innovative sites process rigid plastics from our recycling centers, producing recycled materials that promote true bottle-to-bottle circularity. We also formed Blue Polymers, a joint venture with Ravago, to develop facilities that will further process plastic material from our Polymer Centers to help meet the growing demand for sustainable packaging. We are building a network of Polymer Centers and Blue Polymer facilities across North America.
Our customers are increasingly looking for decarbonization solutions, and we are leveraging our network of landfills to meet that need. Republic is committed to harnessing landfill gas, a natural byproduct of decomposing waste, and converting it to energy. Republic has partnered with renewable gas developers to construct Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) plants at our landfills, expanding beyond the 77 projects we currently have to make progress towards our goal to beneficially reuse 50% more biogas by 2030 (2017 baseline year).
RECENT RECOGNITION- Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies
- CDP Discloser
- Dow Jones Best-In-Class Indices
- Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies
- Fortune World's Most Admired Companies
- Great Place to Work
- Sustainability Yearbook S&P Global
