Principal Data Scientist

What does the job involve?

We are seeking a Principal Data Scientist to our Houston-team in Design, Software and Data Science (DSD), part of Technology, Digital and Innovation (TDI). The role will work on key business challenges across Equinor, connecting traditional machine learning, mathematical optimization, reinforcement learning, decision intelligence and agentic AI with safe, scalable delivery in operational and business-critical settings. As a principal data scientist, you will provide professional technical leadership for highly complex tasks with strategic impact. You will combine deep hands-on expertise with enterprise perspective, sound judgement and the ability to align stakeholders around practical technical choices. Your work will help Equinor use AI responsibly to automate workflows, strengthen decisions and create measurable business value.

What will my tasks be?

• Drive complex AI deliveries from problem framing to implemented solution, including scope, priorities, delivery approach, technical quality and stakeholder alignment.
• Provide professional support to address key business issues, connecting optimization, reinforcement learning, forecasting and agentic AI to practical decisions in areas such as operations, engineering, energy markets, supply chain and maintenance.
• Manage uncertainty and non-deterministic behavior by designing for bounded autonomy, confidence signaling, human oversight, auditable decisions, safe fallback and rollback paths.
• Improve performance, reliability and cost efficiency across development, evaluation and inference, using techniques such as batching, caching, scalable serving, model routing, quantization and fit-for-purpose model selection.
• Where relevant, combine agentic AI with mathematical optimization, reinforcement learning, Bayesian optimization or adaptive experimentation to support planning, scheduling, control, scenario exploration and decision support.
• Coach and advise colleagues on highly complex AI topics, helping teams handle ambiguity, adopt new technology and improve digital and analytical maturity.

Here’s what we expect from you:

At Equinor, there are some overall qualities we regard as essential. We want you to identify with the values that guide our decisions and help us succeed and grow: open, collaborative, courageous and caring. We expect you to make safety your priority and to contribute to our zero-harm culture. And for this specific position, we are also looking for:

Required qualifications

• Master's or PhD in operations research, applied mathematics, computer science, data science, control/automation, engineering or a related discipline.
• Solid experience and understanding of production-grade AI/ML delivery, including data pipelines, model evaluation, software engineering practices, MLOps, cloud platforms and secure deployment.
• Ability to turn ambiguous business questions into analytical problems, delivery plans, decision recommendations and measurable outcomes.
• Strong professional depth in machine learning, mathematical optimisation, reinforcement learning, decision science, or advanced AI, with demonstrated ability to solve highly complex tasks.
• Experience leading technical tasks or work packages involving several contributors, stakeholders and dependencies, preferably in industrial, operational or enterprise-scale environments.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to explain advanced technical concepts, influence across disciplines and facilitate decisions.
• Sound judgement on risk, safety, ethics, compliance and commercial value when applying AI to business-critical processes.
• Domain understanding from energy production, logistics, power systems, process control, maintenance, trading, project execution or other complex industrial settings.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with optimisation solvers, stochastic or robust optimisation, Bayesian optimisation, multi-objective trade-offs, uncertainty quantification or sequential decision-making.
• Experience combining optimisation or reinforcement learning with GenAI or agentic systems for planning, orchestration, scenario exploration or decision support.
• Experience with Azure, Databricks, Kubernetes, Python, CI/CD, MLflow or similar technologies used in scalable AI delivery.
• Retrieval and knowledge systems, including vector databases, enterprise search and knowledge graphs.

We are looking for

We are looking for a collaborative and structured data scientist who can combine deep technical expertise with business understanding, commercial awareness and strong execution discipline. You should be comfortable leading through influence, advising others, shaping best practice and delivering tangible improvements in a fast-moving field where technology, operating models and business needs continue to evolve.

What can we offer you?

We want you to have a rewarding and fulfilling work life. That’s why we offer:

• Not just a job - a career In Equinor, your development begins on day one. You will build your competence through a wide range of learning activities while being empowered to build your career across multiple disciplines and geographies. Our internal job market allows a wide range of opportunities for development and growth within your own field, or even in other areas you find interesting and relevant.
• Attractive rewards We give you a comprehensive benefits package with a competitive salary, global parental leave, bonus scheme and pension plan.
• Wellness and work-life balance We care about and prioritise our employees' well-being. We know that for you to be the best version of yourself in the workplace, being able to collect your children, attend a class or simply enjoy social time can be invaluable. That's why we encourage you to make use of our flexible work arrangements wherever possible.
• An inclusive culture We believe embracing our differences makes us stronger. For us, true inclusion means being able to bring your whole self to work, and for you and everyone else to feel accepted and valued.
• Equal opportunities for everyone Equinor is an equal-opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions, which include hiring, promotion, transfer, demotion, termination and training, without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital status, parental status, veteran status or any other protected status. As part of this commitment, reasonable adjustments will be made during the recruitment process for candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions. If you have any specific requirements, please clarify this in your application and our team will be in contact to see how we can support your needs.

Important notes about the application process

We expect you to openly offer all relevant information about yourself during the recruitment process. Background checks are performed on all final candidates, and all permanent and temporary hires will be screened using relevant sanctions lists to ensure compliance with sanctions laws. When applying for a job in Norway you will be asked for information on affiliation to high-risk countries for a security assessment.

About Equinor

Equinor is an international energy company headquartered in Norway, energising the lives of 170 million people worldwide. Our ambition is to be a leading company in the energy transition and achieve net zero by 2050. Our task is enormous: supplying the world with the energy it needs, while lowering emissions to the atmosphere. To achieve it, we are looking for like-minded people to join our team of 25,000 colleagues working in more than 20 countries. We’re up for the challenge. Are you?