Senior Data Scientist and Senior Associate Data Scientist – Career Comeback Program 2026

Senior Data Scientist and Senior Associate Data Scientist – Career Comeback Program 2026  

• You are ready to re-ignite your Data Science excellence after a career break 

• Join our 20-week Career Comeback program and gain access to a tailored induction program, personalised Career Coaching and, learning and development opportunities! 

• We support flexible working (i.e. part-time, school hours) and have multiple positions available across varying teams  
   

About the Career Comeback Program  

Stepping back into your career after a break can feel daunting – that’s exactly what our Career Comeback Program is designed for. It’s a structured, supported pathway for experienced professionals returning to the workforce after an extended career break, offering wrap-around support to help you rebuild confidence, refresh skills and set yourself up to thrive from day one.  

As part of the Program, you can expect: 

• Paid 20-week support Program starting on Monday 27 July 2026, with employment on a permanent contract extending post-program.   

• A structured induction and re-onboarding experience to help you settle in quickly.  

• Personalised career coaching and mentoring for confidence, clarity and momentum. 

• Professional development workshops designed to support your transition back to work. 

• A dedicated program manager and support network (e.g., buddy/alumni connection) to guide you throughout the program. 

If  you’ve taken a career break of two years or more, this is your opportunity to return to meaningful work with the structure, support and flexibility to help you thrive. You can read more about our Career Comeback Program here.   

Do work that matters

We have two roles available. The Senior Associate Data Scientist role within Chief AI Office(CAIO) and the Senior Data Scientist role is available within the Chief Operations Office(COO)

• Demonstrate subject-matter expertise in data to enable fast and efficient sourcing, cleaning and preparation of large, complex data sets for model building and data science work. 

• Understand and apply appropriate modelling and statistical techniques independently to solve business problems and support decision-making. 

• Work with business and team members to propose, develop and deliver data science solutions to real customer and operational challenges. 

• Complete tasks associated with deploying, monitoring and running machine learning models in production as part of MLOps, including version control, CI/CD pipelines, automation in deployment and retraining. 

• Apply software engineering principles across the software development life cycle, including requirements analysis, design, coding, testing and maintenance. 

• Partner effectively with engineers, product teams, platform specialists, risk and governance stakeholders to deliver safe, scalable and reliable AI outcomes. 

• Communicate technical approaches, trade-offs and outcomes clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. 

• Contribute to a strong team culture by sharing ideas, learning quickly and supporting continuous uplift in capability. 

We’re interested in hearing from people who have the following skills: 

We use a broad range of tools, languages and frameworks, which means our data scientists are empowered to support a diverse group of customers and stakeholders. We do not expect you to know everything; depth in some areas and curiosity to learn others is key. 

For Senior Data Scientist role, we would be keen to hear from people who have the breadth and scale of technical and leadership skills.  

• Experience collaborating with software engineers and other data scientists to develop production-ready AI. 

• Applied experimentation mindset to be familiar with the latest and most exciting patterns in AI, workshop new ideas with others and quickly demonstrate value of those ideas within a business and customer context. 

• Are passionate and committed to returning to their data science profession after a career break. 

• Bring prior experience in data science, predictive modelling, machine learning, deep learning, statistics or a related discipline. 

• Are excited by the opportunity to shape Gen AI and machine learning capability in a large enterprise environment. 

• Enjoy solving complex problems with data, sound judgement and practical delivery focus. 

• Work well with diverse stakeholders and thrive in cross-functional teams. 

• Are comfortable learning quickly in a field that continues to evolve. 

• Value responsible AI, good engineering practice and customer-focused outcomes. 

Technical Skills and Tools: 

• Generative AI:  Experience designing and deploying various aspects of Generative AI, including prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), guardrail design, orchestration design, skills, evals frameworks, and tools such as LangChain and LangGraph. 

• Machine Learning: Expertise in the design and construction of machine learning models, including natural language processing, unsupervised clustering and classification algorithms including feature engineering, model selection, hyperparameter tuning, model evaluation, and deployment of models into production environments. 

• Cutting-Edge AI: Work on projects leveraging traditional AI, Generative AI, and agentic AI to pave the path for how banking and broader industry functions in the future. LLM frameworks, NLP pipelines, machine learning model development and monitoring. Knowledge and practical exposure to experimental design, statistics and measurement. 

• Version Control and CI/CD: Experience with version control and CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub. 

• Tooling: Hands-on experience with data science tools such as Spark, Python, R, TensorFlow, PyTorch, and SQL. 

• Data Engineering: Knowledge of ETL processes and data pipeline construction, ensuring efficient data flow and integration. 

• Deployment: Familiar with Docker for containerization and deployment of applications. 

• Cloud Architecture: Grounded understanding in AWS or Azure Cloud architecture and integration, demonstrating experience in deploying and managing cloud-based solutions. 

• Educational background: A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics or a similar discipline is beneficial. 

Eligibility criteria for Career Comeback Program: 

If this sounds like you and you meet the essential criteria below, APPLY TODAY! 

• Are currently on a career break of 2 years or more.   

• Have permanent Australian working rights at the time of application.  

• Are based in Sydney at the time of application.  

Working with us: 

Whether you’re passionate about customer service, driven by data, or called by creativity, a career here is for you. At CommBank, we advocate and facilitate a culture of inclusion and respect, celebrating all cultures, abilities, genders, expressions of gender and sexual orientation. Read more about our commitment to inclusion and diversity on our career’s website. 

Our people bring their diverse backgrounds and unique perspectives to build a respectful, inclusive and flexible workplace. We are working hard to recruit people who represent the diversity of our customers and our society. If you're excited about this opportunity but you don't meet every single requirement, or your experience doesn't align perfectly, we still want to encourage you to send in your application. You may just be the perfect candidate for this opportunity or another within CommBank. 

At CommBank we will inspire you with work that makes a difference, surround you with talented people that respect and value each other, and empower you to grow professionally and personally. Most of all, making a positive impact for customers, communities and each other is part of our every day. 

We’re determined to make a real difference for Australia’s first peoples. We encourage all interested applicants to apply. If you’re already part of the Commonwealth Bank Group (including BankWest), you’ll need to apply through Sidekick to submit a valid application. We’re keen to support you with the next step in your career.