Staff / Principal Data Scientist (US)
Job Description
About Auror
At Auror, we’re empowering the retail industry to tackle theft and Organised Retail Crime, a $150 Billion problem globally. It’s high volume crime that’s increasingly organised in nature and is putting people, retailers, and communities at risk every day.
Founded in New Zealand 12 years ago, we’re working with some of the best and largest retailers in the world across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Auror is connecting people and intelligence to reduce crime. We’re using technology for good.
Our mission is clear: reduce violent retail crime by 50% in 5 years. It's an ambitious goal - and one we believe is achievable. In partnership with our leading retail partners, we need people with the passion, determination, and innovation required to overcome one of the world's largest problems. If you’re looking to make a difference with and for the people dedicated to stopping crime, for good, then we want you on our team.
We're also embracing the potential of AI to supercharge our impact - whether that's enhancing the way we detect trends, support our customers, or improve internal workflows. As a company, we're committed to responsibly incorporating AI into how we work and what we build, and we encourage all Aurors to be curious about how AI can elevate their work, regardless of role or function.
The Role
Auror’s North American footprint is live and expanding. We need a highly practical and rigorous Data Scientist to build, productionize, and defend predictive models that customers can trust, especially for high-stakes operational decisions in Loss Prevention and Fraud detection (e.g., cashier risk scoring, deployment optimization, shrink prediction). This role fills a current need for deep statistical modeling expertise combined with real-world domain knowledge and the ability to ship robust analytics products.
Responsibilities
Own predictive modeling and advanced analytics end-to-end, from ambiguous problem framing to deployment, focusing on Loss Prevention (LP) and Asset Protection (AP) applications.
Design, build, and standardize ETL pipelines and data architecture necessary to support robust, scalable predictive modeling at scale.
Build defensible metrics (calibration, error tradeoffs, bias/disparity checks) and link them to measurable decision outcomes for C-suite and AP teams.
Partner with ML engineers to productionize: feature definitions, scoring workflows, monitoring signals, and retraining triggers.
Communicate clearly and concisely to diverse audiences (internal Product/Engineering, external customers, and executive teams) on model uncertainty, value, and strategic application.
Design randomized controlled trials and evaluation harnesses that make model quality legible to stakeholders and customers.
Requirements
Expertise in practical statistical modeling and analysis (inference, causal/experimental thinking, time series, model calibration, measurement) applied to real-world, messy data.
Demonstrated experience taking analyses/models from ambiguous problem → shipped decision support (e.g., shortage prediction, risk classification models).
Strong domain expertise in Retail Loss Prevention, Fraud detection, Asset Protection, or POS Analytics.
Strong SQL + Python, with demonstrated experience in ETL Pipeline Design and Data Modeling & Architecture.
Practical, high-integrity approach to responsible AI (limits, misuse risk, bias considerations, auditability).
Nice to haves
Experience with geospatial risk modeling, network/graph analytics, or Exception Based Reporting (EBR) tools.
Experience building customer-facing proofs-of-concept and translating complex analytics into product features.
We are looking for people who demonstrate a strong alignment to our Guiding Principles (you can find these on our Careers page). With diversity and inclusion at the forefront of Auror’s guiding principles, we promote a culture that celebrates diversity and inclusiveness at Auror, regardless of, but not limited to, race, gender, sexual orientation, family status, religion, ethnicity, national origin, physical disability, veteran status, or age.
Benefits:
Competitive salary range: Depending on level of experience, between $[Salary band].
Employee share scheme: You’ll own part of a company making a real difference!
Flexibility: We are hard-working and outcome focused, but recognise there is more to life than work. We promote a healthy work/life blend.
Shorter work weeks (at full pay): Everyone gets Friday afternoons off, so you can start your weekend early, and do more of whatever it is that makes you happy.
Focus on mental and physical health: We understand how vital our health is and have policies to support your wellness, including Wellness Days, and up to $500 for expert sessions every year.
Health care plan (Medical, Dental & Vision): Auror covers 100% of the cost of your individual health insurance plan with Anthem & Metlife.
Family-friendly: We offer comprehensive paid parental leave - 12 weeks for birth parents and 6 weeks for non-birth parents following birth, adoption, or surrogacy, available to all Aurors from day one.
Personal growth: We support our team to participate in courses, conferences, or events that will help them develop their skills.
Team love: We have regular team lunches and social events where most (if not all) activities are during work hours.
What are the next steps?
If you’re excited about our mission and you have the experience and a passion for this role, please hit “Apply”.
If you’re not sure that you tick all the boxes but feel you’re close to what we’re looking for, please apply anyway! We’re proud that Auror is a place where everyone can learn and grow so we’d love to hear from you.
You'll be asked to submit a cover letter as part of your application. While this is optional we do encourage it, as we find cover letters can tell a story that resumes alone often cannot. Our hiring team love to understand what attracted you to this role and why you are excited about the opportunity to join Auror.
Once you apply, you’ll hear from us to acknowledge your application. If you have questions about any of the above, or if you have any accessibility requirements, we’ll be able to help you from there.