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Head Data Science Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

inTALENTgent

Data Scientist

Herndon, VA

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Math, or other relevant field and minimum of five years of ... Demonstrated on\-the\-job experience with data visualization tools (i.e. Tableau, Pandas, D3.js ...

Echelon Insights

Data Team Roles

Alexandria, VA · On-site

... data science, and voter modeling at Echelon Insights. We architect the infrastructure for large ... You're diving head first into the AI revolution and are curious and aware of all the latest ...

Echelon Insights

Data Team Roles

Alexandria, VA · On-site

... data science, and voter modeling at Echelon Insights. We architect the infrastructure for large ... You're diving head first into the AI revolution and are curious and aware of all the latest ...

Maxar

Applied Geospatial ML Engineer

Herndon, VA · On-site

Do you have a head for numbers and enjoy being an integral part of solving mission-critical, real ... S. in Data Science, Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Science, or related field * 5+ years ...

NV5

SAR Scientist

Dulles, VA · On-site

We value both heart and head, the diversity of our people, and their experiences because that is ... Data Science). * 6+ years demonstrated experience. * Active Top Secret Clearance with SCI ...

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All JobsHead Data Science JobsHead Data Science Jobs in Virginia

Head Data Science information

See Virginia salary details

$21.9K

$107.1K

$198.4K

How much do head data science jobs pay per year?

As of Jul 26, 2026, the average yearly pay for head data science in Virginia is $107,099.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $58,351.00 and $144,907.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

How to become head of data science?

To become a head of data science, professionals typically need extensive experience in data analysis, machine learning, and leadership roles, often requiring 8-10 years in data-related positions. A strong educational background in computer science, statistics, or related fields, along with skills in programming, data management, and strategic planning, is essential. Advanced degrees and certifications in data science or analytics can also enhance prospects for leadership positions.

Is 40 too late for data science?

The Head Data Science role and similar data science positions do not have strict age limits; many professionals transition into data science later in their careers. Success depends on relevant skills, experience, and continuous learning in areas like programming, statistics, and machine learning, regardless of age.

What is the highest paid job in data science?

The highest paid roles in data science are often senior positions such as Chief Data Officer, Director of Data Science, or Lead Data Scientist, with salaries exceeding $150,000 annually and sometimes reaching over $200,000 for those with extensive experience, advanced skills in machine learning, and industry expertise. These roles typically require strong leadership, strategic thinking, and proficiency with tools like Python, R, and cloud platforms.

What is the 80 20 rule in data science?

In data science, the 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto principle, suggests that roughly 80% of results come from 20% of the efforts or features. Data scientists often use this concept to focus on the most impactful variables or tasks to optimize model performance and efficiency.

What does a Head of Data Science do?

A Head of Data Science is responsible for leading and managing the data science team within an organization. They oversee the development and implementation of data-driven strategies, ensuring that the team delivers valuable insights and predictive models to support business goals. This role involves collaborating with other departments, setting the vision for data initiatives, and ensuring best practices in data analysis and machine learning are followed. Additionally, the Head of Data Science often mentors team members and helps shape the organization's overall data strategy.

What are some common challenges faced by a Head of Data Science when building and leading a data science team?

As a Head of Data Science, one of the main challenges is balancing strategic leadership with hands-on technical guidance. You'll often need to align the team's goals with broader business objectives while ensuring that team members have the right mix of skills and resources. Additionally, fostering effective collaboration between data scientists, engineers, and business stakeholders can be complex, especially in cross-functional environments. Managing expectations around project timelines and communicating technical insights in a clear, actionable way are also key aspects of the role.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Head of Data Science, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Head of Data Science, you need advanced expertise in statistics, machine learning, data modeling, and a strong background in computer science or a related quantitative field, often supported by a master's or Ph.D. Proficiency with programming languages like Python or R, big data platforms such as Hadoop or Spark, and familiarity with cloud-based analytics tools are typically required. Strategic leadership, excellent communication skills, and the ability to mentor and inspire teams are crucial soft skills for this role. These abilities are essential to drive data-driven decision-making, foster innovation, and align analytics initiatives with organizational goals.

What is the difference between Head Data Science vs Data Science Manager?

AspectHead Data ScienceData Science Manager
ResponsibilitiesStrategic leadership, setting data science vision, overseeing multiple teamsTeam management, project delivery, coordinating data science projects
Required SkillsAdvanced analytics, leadership, strategic planningTeam management, technical expertise, project management
ExperienceSenior data science background, leadership rolesData science experience with managerial responsibilities
Work EnvironmentExecutive level, cross-departmental collaborationTeam-focused, project-oriented

The Head Data Science typically holds a strategic, leadership role overseeing the entire data science function, while the Data Science Manager focuses on managing teams and project execution. Both roles require strong technical backgrounds, but the Head Data Science emphasizes vision and strategy, whereas the Data Science Manager concentrates on operational management.

What are the most commonly searched types of Data Science jobs in Virginia? The most popular types of Data Science jobs in Virginia are:
Head Data Science jobs near you
Infographic showing various Head Data Science job openings in Virginia as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 83% Full Time, 12% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 88% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $107,099 per year, or $51.5 per hour.
Senior Director, Data Science - Head of Fair Lending Analytics - Fair & Responsible Banking Complian

Senior Director, Data Science - Head of Fair Lending Analytics - Fair & Responsible Banking Complian

Capital One

Richmond, VA • On-site

Full-time

Posted 9 days ago

Capital One rating

7.7

Company rating: 7.7 out of 10

Based on 145 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

91st of 170 rated banks

Job description

Senior Director, Data Science - Head of Fair Lending Analytics - Fair & Responsible Banking Compliance
Data is at the center of everything we do. As a startup, we disrupted the credit card industry by individually personalizing every credit card offer using statistical modeling and the relational database, cutting edge technology in 1988! Fast-forward a few years, and this little innovation and our passion for data has skyrocketed us to a Fortune 200 company and a leader in the world of data-driven decision-making.
As a Data Scientist at Capital One, you'll be part of a team that's leading the next wave of disruption at a whole new scale, using the latest in computing and machine learning technologies and operating across billions of customer records to unlock the big opportunities that help everyday people save money, time and agony in their financial lives.
Team Description
The Compliance and Ethics Department is seeking a Data Scientist to lead the group of data scientists and analysts that help identify and mitigate fair lending and related compliance risk throughout Capital One. As the quantitative arm of the Fair & Responsible Banking Compliance Team (F&RB), the Fair Lending Analytics group partners with Legal department subject matter experts to conduct data analyses of lending decisions and provides guidance, advice and approvals for business area activities based on these analyses. This role involves leading experienced data scientists across all aspects of fair lending reviews and monitoring, including performing statistical data analyses, modeling on judgmental areas, working with business on the review of credit models and policies, and enabling the responsible development of AI in credit processes.
Role Description
In addition to being a great Data Scientist, this role requires a strong people leader responsible for overseeing a team of Compliance professionals, including other data scientists. This position reports to the Managing Vice President - F&RB Officer and Senior Compliance Officer Consumer Regulatory, and will join the F&RB leadership team.
In this role, you will:
  • Partner with a cross-functional team of data scientists, software engineers, and product managers to deliver a product customers love
  • Leverage a broad stack of technologies - Python, Conda, AWS, H2O, Spark, and more - to reveal the insights hidden within huge volumes of numeric and textual data
  • Build machine learning models through all phases of development, from design through training, evaluation, validation, and implementation
  • Flex your interpersonal skills to translate the complexity of your work into tangible business goals and effectively mitigate compliance risks
  • Develop and implement fair lending and responsible data use processes at Capital One to enable a winning credit business in an AI world

The Ideal Candidate is:
  • Innovative. You continually research and evaluate emerging technologies. You stay current on published state-of-the-art methods, technologies, and applications and seek out opportunities to apply them.
  • A leader. You challenge conventional thinking and work with stakeholders to identify and improve the status quo. You're passionate about talent development for your own team and beyond.
  • Technical. You're comfortable with open-source languages and are passionate about developing further. You have hands-on experience developing data science solutions using open-source tools and cloud computing platforms.
  • Statistically-minded. You've built models, validated them, and backtested them. You know how to interpret a confusion matrix or a ROC curve. You have experience with clustering, classification, sentiment analysis, time series, and deep learning.
  • A data guru. "Big data" doesn't faze you. You have the skills to retrieve, combine, and analyze data from a variety of sources and structures. You know understanding the data is often the key to great data science.
  • Influential. You bring a proven track record of building relationships, inspiring trust, appropriately escalating issues in a timely way, and making grounded recommendations that appropriately balance risks and business needs.

Basic Qualifications:
  • Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining one of the following with an expectation that the required degree will be obtained on or before the scheduled start date :
    • A Bachelor's Degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field) plus 11 years of experience performing data analytics
    • A Master's Degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field) or an MBA with a quantitative concentration plus 9 years of experience performing data analytics
    • A PHD in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field) plus 6 years of experience performing data analytics
  • At least 6 years of experience leveraging open source programming languages for large scale data analysis
  • At least 6 years of experience working with machine learning
  • At least 6 years of experience utilizing relational databases

Preferred Qualifications:
  • PhD in "STEM" field (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) plus 7 years of experience in data analytics
  • At least 1 year of experience working with AWS
  • At least 4 year of experience managing people
  • At least 6 years of experience in Python, Scala, or R for large scale data analysis
  • At least 7 years of experience with machine learning

Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.
The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.
McLean, VA: $314,800 - $359,300 for Sr Dir, Data Science
Richmond, VA: $286,200 - $326,700 for Sr Dir, Data Science
Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate's offer letter.
This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.
Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.
This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.
No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug-free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City's Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia's Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.
If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at 1-800-304-9102 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@capitalone.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.
For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to Careers@capitalone.com
Capital One does not provide, endorse nor guarantee and is not liable for third-party products, services, educational tools or other information available through this site.
Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).

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