---
title: 'Senior Data Scientist at Sand Tech Holdings Limited'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-scientist-sand-tech-holdings-limited-south-africa-qtsxyh73ppvx'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Senior Data Scientist at Sand Tech Holdings Limited

- **Company:** Sand Tech Holdings Limited
- **Location:** South Africa
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-07-20
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/sandtechholdingslimited/jobs/4927185101

## Job description

## About Sand

[Sand Technologies](https://www.sandtech.com/) is a global Physical AI company using data and AI to make critical industries work better. We partner with governments, cities and enterprises to improve how essential systems operate across healthcare, water, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure.

Our work delivers proven real-world impact. We have built AI systems that help manage London’s water supply, supported telecom network planning across hundreds of cities, and developed digital healthcare platforms serving tens of millions of people across Africa. From intelligent command centers to AI-powered infrastructure platforms, we help organizations sense, analyze and act in complex environments.

Our people are ambitious, curious and relentlessly practical. Our teams work alongside clients in the field, solving hard problems and deploying solutions that last. With colleagues across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US, we operate across the full stack - from research and engineering to deployment and capability building.

Our mission is simple: to harness AI to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges.

## About the role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Data Scientist to join our growing data science team. As a key contributor, the Senior Data Scientist will be responsible for using their advanced data analysis and machine learning skills to solve complex business problems and drive data-driven decision-making within our organisation and those of our clients. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in statistics, machine learning and data analysis, along with a proven track record of delivering impactful, scalable solutions - with demonstrated experience getting data science solutions into production. Key responsibilities are:

- Conduct independent (and collaborative) research and development of data science and machine learning models; develop cutting-edge data science and machine learning models that drive business value, leveraging internal and external data sources.
- You are skilled in, and continue to improve upon your knowledge of decision science, communicating data, domain modelling, predictive modelling, advanced analytics, MLOps, Research and AI Ethics with the willingness to up skill others in these competencies.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams: work closely with cross-functional teams to apply data science and machine learning models to business problems, ensuring that models are integrated into scalable products and services.
- Communicate results and impact: communicate results and impact to stakeholders, including technical and non-technical audiences.
- Perform cutting edge research in Physical AI, at the intersection of engineering models and AI.
- Mentor junior data scientists: mentor junior data scientists, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

## Requirements - Essential

- 5+ years of applied data science experience in water, wastewater, utilities, or smart infrastructure environments.
- Demonstrated experience working with operational telemetry data (SCADA, AMI, IoT, sensor systems).
- Strong expertise in time-series modeling, anomaly detection, and forecasting for infrastructure systems.
- Experience applying geospatial analytics and/or graph/network modeling in real-world systems.
- Proven track record of deploying ML solutions into production, including data pipelines, MLOps, and model monitoring.
- Ability to translate advanced analytics into actionable insights for engineering and operations teams.
- Strong communication skills and experience working with public-sector or regulated environments.
- M.Sc. (Master’s degree) in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field required; PhD preferred.

Personal Attributes

- Client Centricity & Integrity: We let Our Clients Run the Company, Surf Like Yvon Chouinard to stay true to our values, and Play the Long Game with integrity.
- Collaboration and Inclusion: We live by Each One, Teach Ten and ensure Everybody is Welcome.
- Operational Excellence and Simplicity: We K.I.S.S. by keeping things simple while always striving to Raise the Bar.
- Action, Ownership, and Execution: We Decide, Get Stuff Done, and Do Hard Things with accountability.
- Growth, Innovation, and Resilience: We Choose Growth, Pioneer boldly, and remember There is No Failure.

Due to the considerable amount of virtual work and interaction with colleagues and customers in different physical locations internationally, it is essential that the successful applicant has the drive and ethics to succeed in working in small teams physically but in larger efforts virtually. Self-drive to communicate constantly using web collaboration and video conferencing is essential.

## About Sand Tech Holdings Limited

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Sand Tech Holdings Limited builds an AI operating system (SandOS) for managing and optimizing critical infrastructure across water, energy, telecom, healthcare, and government.
- **Entity Type**: Private (funding stage not publicly disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Kigali, Rwanda
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (LinkedIn shows active status, but no founding year)
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Critical infrastructure management, Physical AI, Industrial software
- **Target customers**: B2B / Enterprise (government utilities, telecom operators, energy companies, healthcare systems)
- **Mission statement**: Build the intelligence layer for the infrastructure billions depend on – water, energy, health, connectivity, cities – making them safer, more reliable, and more accessible.

## Products & Services
- **SandOS**: A unified real-time control layer (SaaS/platform) that combines data, scientific models, and operational intelligence to sense, analyze, and act across complex physical systems. Deployed across water networks, energy grids, telecom networks, healthcare systems, and government operations.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding not publicly available; reported to be operating in 18+ countries with zero mission-critical failures.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Trusted by organizations including Southern Company, Thames Water, Telkomsel, MTN, Severn Trent, True (listed on sandtech.com). No investor names publicly disclosed.
- **Growth Signals**: 384 employees (LinkedIn, 2026), presence in 38 countries, rapid deployment at scale in weeks. However, LinkedIn shows -14.7% yearly headcount growth (-79 people), suggesting recent restructuring or contraction.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Physical AI category**: Defines a new category combining data, scientific models, and operational intelligence for critical infrastructure – distinct from generic analytics or IoT platforms.
- **Proven reliability**: Zero mission-critical failures across 18+ countries; case studies cite ~£7M outage saved and 31,000 km of telecom network under unified visibility.
- **Deep domain expertise**: Teams span engineering, research, field operations, and domain experts who work directly with clients in water, energy, telecom, and healthcare.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Expanding SandOS across more geographies and sectors (healthcare, disaster recovery, utilities); building a distributed, field-deployed workforce; investing in AI research (reinforcement learning, network optimization, consequence modeling).
- **Direction**: Continue to scale as the “control layer for society’s most important infrastructure” while maintaining rapid deployment and mission-critical reliability.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “distributed by default” – remote-first with hybrid options where needed. Emphasizes “adventurers” – people willing to go where the problem is, operate in unfamiliar systems and cultures, and find meaning in challenging work.
- **Remote/Hybrid policy**: Most positions remote and globally distributed; some roles require on-site presence depending on project needs. Visa sponsorship handled case-by-case.
- **Notable perks**: Competitive compensation reviewed regularly; health cover designed for distributed/field-based teams; flexible time off; setup & wellbeing stipend; time, budget, and mentorship for continuous learning.
- **Engineering culture**: Strong computer science foundation expected; hiring process includes a role-specific assignment (the most important step); values “no false trade-offs” between technical depth and visible impact.
- **Team diversity**: 384 employees across 38 countries; talent sourced from programs like ExploreAI, ALX Africa, Andela; departments include engineering, research, field operations, product, GTM.

## Sources
1. [sandtech.com](https://www.sandtech.com/) – Company overview, product description, case studies, client logos
2. [LinkedIn – Sand Technologies](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sandtechinc) – Employee count, headcount growth, locations, talent sources
3. [Greenhouse – Sand Tech Holdings Limited](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/sandtechholdingslimited) – Current job openings (31 roles)
4. [careers.sandtech.com](https://careers.sandtech.com/faqs/) – FAQs on remote work, hiring process, benefits, visa sponsorship

## Other roles at Sand Tech Holdings Limited

- [Technical Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-lead-sand-tech-holdings-limited-africa-united-kingdom-pjb4rkasx8cp) — Africa / United Kingdom
- [Vice President, Africa](https://feeny.ai/job/vice-president-africa-sand-tech-holdings-limited-africa-y32arakf3g51) — Africa
- [Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/platform-engineer-sand-tech-holdings-limited-rwanda-6vcret9be1yq) — Rwanda
- [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-sand-tech-holdings-limited-united-states-1ppbzzpj6ds8) — United States
- [Principal Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-data-scientist-sand-tech-holdings-limited-south-africa-75ge9szvfd5g) — South Africa
- [Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/data-scientist-sand-tech-holdings-limited-rwanda-mbzba9dssgnt) — Rwanda
- [Senior Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-scientist-sand-tech-holdings-limited-south-africa-s0xfr5681w8w) — South Africa
- [Principal Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-data-scientist-sand-tech-holdings-limited-south-africa-p7r20pvn94kk) — South Africa
- [Senior Data Governance & Responsible AI Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-governance-responsible-ai-lead-sand-tech-holdings-limited-united-f7yp68sbsveg) — United States
- [Principal Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-software-engineer-sand-tech-holdings-limited-romania-south-africa-zvy1b5jzb2wc) — Romania / South Africa