We have come up with this year’s list of best firms for data scientists to work for after carefully examining many Indian and globally located firms that provide a conducive environment for data scientists to learn and grow. We have considered criteria such as work culture for data science teams, the support provided for data scientists to grow while working, low attrition rate and how the firm works on retaining data scientists.
The companies are listed in alphabetical order.
1.Aditya Birla Group Data and Analytics (DNA) Cell
GDNA team has 55 members with a mix of data scientists, data engineers, product management experts & program managers. With the large and unique mix of the best-in-class data scientists, GDNA is a young and dynamic team which plays an important role in partnering with business leaders to strategize, prioritize, create and implement innovative and impactful analytics interventions.
Support for data scientists: DNA focuses on a holistic view of learning opportunities for its data scientists — from external exposure to business, experimentation, and personal improvement. Data scientists have access to the best-in-class big data infrastructure such as multi-cloud computing capability, GPU and DGX machines and an array of cutting-edge tools. It also encourages data scientists to look through problems with a curiosity lens and bring the best approach to solve the problem. It also conducts hackathons, promotes participation in AI/ML events, supports online training and certifications, engages teams in informal free-flowing knowledge sharing sessions, among others.
Retention of data scientists: With attrition rate that is in single-digits, ABG’s DNA Cell attributes it to the unique and distinctive opportunity it provides. Individual data scientists are given multiple platforms to present, influence and learn. It tries to retain employees by rewarding excellence while showcasing the achievements within ABG and externally. It also frequently provides opportunity and flexibility to work across different domains and roles to keep them engaged depending on their interests. It promotes open communication and freedom for experimentation and decision making.
You can find data science job opportunities at DNA here.
2.BRIDGEi2i Analytics Solutions
With the strength of over 450 data scientists, BRIDGEi2i fosters an open, people-driven work culture with limitless learning and growth that’s facilitated by their Center of Excellence, SCaLA (Short for Skills, Capabilities, Learning and Ascension). It also encourages a flat hierarchy system, collaboration across teams and encourages a problem-solving outlook among employees. With the state-of-the-art AI & Innovations lab, it helps employees deliver holistic solutions to real-world problems, making AI for enterprises real.
Support for data scientists: BRIDGEi2i inducts all its employees into the hallway of learning through their CoE – ScaLA which has comprehensively-designed courses conducted by subject matter experts. Learn & Grow or LeGo initiative by the company helps students recruited from campuses with ice-breaking sessions. It also encourages employees to nurture and cultivate their strengths in activities other than work and take up tasks such as mentoring, marketing, or events. They also host a flagship annual event called ACCENDO that encourages innovation and collaboration within different business units of BRIDGEi2i.
Retention of data scientists: With an attrition rate of 10-12%, BRIDGEi2i believes in nurturing its talent pool with continuous, value-based learning and offers employees opportunities to advance quickly into leadership roles. Its robust rewards and recognition system ensures that all the contributions of employees are valued and duly awarded. Additionally, high performers are bestowed with skill bonuses for their contribution to the company’s holistic growth.
You can find data science job opportunities at BRIDGEi2i here.
3.Course5 Intelligence
Course5 offers an entrepreneurial culture to its highly talented global workforce of more than 700 employees and are empowered to drive high impact projects through co-created value propositions. The company’s quest for constant innovation has led its employees to build unparalleled products and services. It also boosts a rich culture with a focus on collaboration, innovation and social responsibility.
Support for data scientists: Course5 has various initiatives for data scientists that makes it one of the best firms to work with. Course5 University which offers a wide range of skill enhancement and development programs including technical & functional skill development. Course5 awards and recognizes its star performers, recognizes talent for demonstration of its core values, for long service tenure and for participating in philanthropic programs. It promotes work-life rhythm by focusing on emotional, social, spiritual, physical, educational and occupational wellness. It also offers support in the form of Employee Assistance Program, health and wellness, Flexi hours, fun and engagement on weekends among others.
Retention of data scientists: Course5 believes in following a holistic approach to employee satisfaction to drive employee retention. They conduct regular surveys to track employee sentiments, concerns and action plans for HR to drive people programs. With an attrition rate of 20%, it is their various career pathing initiatives that help in retaining highly skilled and talented employees.
You can find data science job opportunities at Course5 here.
4.Evalueserve
Evalueserve has a diverse pool of more than 500 analysts and data scientists globally. The company provides an opportunity to interact with client stakeholders providing an opportunity to gain global exposure. The company encourages an open-door policy among employees, regardless of seniority. They also leverage an AI-enabled sentiment analysis platform that allows employees to share their feedback in an anonymous way. With a high diversity ratio, it also provides mentorship programs and year-round customized training programs focused on skill development.
Support for data scientists: Company has initiatives such as hackathons, learning and development conclaves, custom skill-building training, professional development training, management development programs etc. throughout the year. Other initiatives are reward and recognition programs, interactive social work connects, quarterly get-together, annual offsites, among others. Their mobile employee engagement app, REACH, helps connect the employees through communities-based hobbies, photo stories, customized training and surveys and more. Not only that, but a specially curated welcome kit is also delivered to the candidates home even before they join, welcoming them to the Evalueserve family.
Retention of data scientists: With an attrition rate of 19.17%, the company tries to keep it low by having a proactive approach towards employee engagement. In order to improve employee experience, it augments people with Amber, an Al-enabled sentiment analysis platform which interacts with employees at predetermined milestones such as joining, work anniversaries, birthdays etc. while enabling employees to share their feedback directly with leadership anonymously.
You can find data science job opportunities at Evalueserve here.
5.Genpact
Genpact has over 1500 data scientists who operate as a centralised hub model with customer experience as it’s top priority. The company focuses on growing the pool of citizen data scientists through various programs such as Machine Learning Incubator’ and ‘ML Upgrade’. ML Incubator program is an in-house AI/ML university which aims to upskill more than 600 existing domain experts annually by providing them a structured and instructor paced learning framework, in the fields of data engineering, data science.
Support for data scientists: Genpact encourages their data scientists to become experts in the state-of-the-art technologies by offering them self paced tutorials through an in house upskilling framework – ‘Genome’. Genome provides opportunities for the development of data science teams’ skill sets in four different dimensions – industries, service lines, digital and professional skills, adding up to more than 50 specific skills. Besides Genome, it also provides opportunities for employees to train in upcoming digital technologies such as cloud services, advanced AI/ML platforms and more. It also encourages data scientists to take up R&D projects, contribute to the global learning community through technical paper publications, patent publications and participation in AI/ML conferences.
Retention of data scientists: With an attrition rate of 12%, Genpact works towards retaining data scientists by empowering them through a positive learning environment through programs such as Genome, ML Incubator, ML Upgrade and more. They also facilitate the development of data scientists by encouraging mentor – mentee programs across cross functional teams. Genpact also leverages Data Literacy Framework to continuously strengthen their data science talent pool.
You can find data science job opportunities at Genpact here.
6.MiQ Digital India Pvt. Ltd.
With a team of 40 data scientists and 60 data analysts, the company believes that one of their key differentiators is their relentless focus on balancing “discovery & delivery” work for their teams. This helps in ensuring that each data scientist and analyst is working on both immediate production level deliverables as per a quarterly road map (delivery track) while also spending some time on longer-term innovation areas (discovery track).
Support for data scientists: MiQ has initiatives such as Know-How professional development session which aims at improving employees’ performance by conducting relevant and valid courses. Spark 24 which is an initiative where MiQ challenges teams to come up with bold and exciting products and solutions to solve business challenges either for MiQ or for clients. Another initiative called Hack iQ encourages employees to turn ideas into reality. Other initiatives to ensure overall growth of data scientists include conferences, seminars, hackathons in partnership with clients, Future Leader Program to develop their employees as future leaders, among others.
Retention of data scientists: Tackling potential attrition by over-delivering for the people, MiQ continues to focus on technical learning and building solutions with the best in class technologies. To be ahead of the attrition curve, the company measures how engaged employees are by conducting engagement surveys twice a year and acting upon the feedback received. The annual attrition rate at MiQ is 20%.
You can find data science job opportunities at MiQ here.
7.Tiger Analytics
With over 350 data scientists in the team, Tiger Analytics envisions building the world’s best-advanced analytics firm that solves high impact business problems using data. To ensure this, the company attracts exceptional people and gives them the right guidance, opportunities, and freedom to excel in their areas of interest. The organization’s culture revolves around 4 key pillars of trust, mutual respect, transparency in the form of an open communication channel and listening to everyone with no judgement to ensure a free flow of ideas.
Support for data scientists: Ongoing learning programs are a norm at Tiger which are run through the Tiger Academy. Gaps in skills are continuously monitored using surveys and feedback. Individuals are subsequently recommended specific learning programs in areas such as data science techniques, consulting, data engineering, among others. The company also follows a mentorship program where every employee is assigned a mentor who provides long term career development opportunities.
Retention of data scientists: The company’s attrition rate stands at 14%. Data scientists retention strategy lies in the fact that they are offered intellectually challenging assignments which attracts them to join and work with them. While hiring, they focus on the fact that there is a particular alignment of a candidate’s role expectations vs the actual work that will be offered. There is also an organizational push to not make them specialists and get them exposed to various streams in order to make them more rounded professionals. Employees find this unique and refreshing. Open door access to leadership and mentorship programs keep the employees engaged.
You can find data science job opportunities at Tiger Analytics here.
8.Tredence Inc
With a work culture that is egalitarian, non-hierarchical and respects the individuality of team members, Tredence provides a conducive environment for data scientists where all kinds of learning are encouraged. Data scientists are encouraged to upskill themselves and the company invests in them while looping them into ongoing projects. It provides the team of 300 data scientists a collegial environment and allows them to grow by giving them higher responsibility level.
Support for data scientists: The company has a unique learning offering called ‘U Learn V Pay’ where it encourages employees to take any course through online platforms like Udemy or Coursera on any topic of their choice. Once the employee successfully completes the course, the course fees are reimbursed by Tredence. Not just professionally, the company promotes a healthy and fit workforce with engagement activities around sports and fitness. The company serves all meals at the office with fruits available round the clock. Some of the other initiatives are encouraging employees to attend conferences and industry events, open house learning sessions, leadership development programs, team development programs (Kaleidoscope), among others.
Retention of data scientists: With an attrition rate which is at par with the industry average, Tredence constantly strives to engage continuously with the top performers. The company believes that the biggest reason they attract and retain talent is a combination of opportunity to solve complex problems while mastering analytics skills in an environment that makes the entire journey rewarding.
You can find data science job opportunities at Tredence here.
9.Ugam, a Merkle Company
With over 2000 employees worldwide, Ugam is driven by a passion to succeed, encouraging a free and open environment based on trust, flexibility with responsibility, and fun at work. With an approachable and innovation-focused leadership at the core, the company strongly encourages innovation through experimentation and collaboration keeping data scientists highly motivated. Employees are also exposed to different work cultures & policies, coupled with opportunities to travel and visit client offices.
Support for data scientists: To ensure that data scientists are a balanced mix of problem solving, consulting, techniques and technology, they are put through induction and training programs to build technical skills like Python, SQL, etc. They are also trained to have a problem-solving attitude and consultative approach so that they can effectively guide clients and apply techniques to drive business impact. The company also enrolls them for online courses from universities ensuring skill development. Hackathons, connect sessions with leadership, rewards and recognitions programs, celebrating family day are some of the other initiatives that keep employees motivated.
Retention of data scientists: Ugam believes that nothing excites a data-scientist more than a challenging yet exciting project, hence they are put on projects that present them with exciting opportunities to work with cutting-edge AI-ML technologies. The company has also devised continuous learning and engagement programs along with assigning dedicated mentors that keep data scientists motivated. With the various efforts, the company has been able to keep the attrition rate at par with industry standards.
You can find data science job opportunities at Ugam here.
10.Verizon Data Services India
With a team of 170 people, the company has a strong work culture focused on mantras such as setting clear goals, strong test and target framework, promoting ownership of the work, focus on innovation and experimentation, among others. It also promotes collaboration with the stakeholders enabling data scientists to brainstorm their ideas and collaborate with global teams. Verizon also has the strongest appetite to digest failures which means that it not only recognizes the results but also appreciates the efforts put in. The company also promotes transparency in recognition and growth.
Support for data scientists: The company provides support to data scientists in the forms of providing tailored learning paths and training sessions from leading teams, participation in external forums, COE to ideate and innovate, weekly innovation forum, patent and paper presentation, among others. It also has Verizon Tuition Assistance where it invests in employee development which shows the company’s commitment to supporting continuous learning of data scientists.
Retention of data scientists: Verizon has a low attrition rate of 7.5% which it has been able to accomplish by providing a strong work culture and appreciating efforts and not just the results. It also sends out newsletters on key achievements to the whole organization to highlight the work done by the team which gives a sense of pride in what the organization is doing in terms of improving customer experience.
You can find data science job opportunities at Verizon here.
11.Wipro Limited
The company promotes an open work culture based on five pillars — spirit, conducive work environment, business ethics, equal opportunities and sustainability. With more than 1000 data scientists, Wipro boasts a combination of growth prospects, fair play and continuous innovation. For Wipro, the motto is equal dignity without any form of discrimination. The deep-rooted values give the organisation and its people a clear sense of purpose and direction at every critical juncture.
Support for data scientists: Wipro provides several platforms and initiatives to enable data scientists to grow. It has a Comprehensive Workforce Reskilling Framework that covers training across the workforce on new-age data & AI skills. TrendNxt, FutureSkills and Wilearn to name a few. SDS (School of decision sciences) provides technology stack-based enablement programs that cover data, algorithms, storytelling and more. Its crowdsourcing platforms Topcoder and TopGear engage the aspiring data scientists and provide hands-on experience. Some of the other initiatives are a series of webinars and talk sessions hosted by the senior leaders, Python Academy to reinvent AI journey through Python, Datathon AI among others.
Retention of data scientists: Hiring and retaining the right data scientists is one of the top priorities for Wipro. It strongly promotes employee excellence in the form of awards and recognition and creates a positive and encouraging work environment for data scientists. Career development opportunities such as detailed career & aspiration discussions with managers, intensive technical and experiential training, MOOCs, tie-up with top-notch academia for M.Tech in data science keep them further motivated.
You can find data science job opportunities at Wipro here.
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