Leading the Sparkgeo data science team

Four years leading Sparkgeo’s data science team: an adapted DSLP process, coaching and reviews, advocacy for pay and visibility, and a co-op program.

Role: data science team lead, then senior data scientist and team and project lead, at Sparkgeo

The problem

Sparkgeo’s data science team took on client and research work across very different domains, from coral reefs to insurance, GeoAI, places data and trade monitoring. Work that varied needed a shared way of running projects. The people doing it needed someone to grow them, remove blockers, and make sure the rest of the company saw their work.

What I did

A shared way of working

Project and product managers needed to know what to expect from a data science project, and so did the team. I adapted the Data Science Lifecycle Process (DSLP) so every project followed the same steps, from the first question to delivery.

• Ran ML and AI projects in GitHub Projects with tickets and milestones, kept documentation current, and coordinated experiment tracking in MLflow, while still writing code.
• Built company resources for machine learning work: data processing, labelling efforts, and how to staff and cost an ML project.
• Led cross-functional project teams of developers, academics, data scientists and designers.

Growing people

I managed a remote team of 2 to 5 direct reports across time zones, through annual reviews and regular 1:1s, and completed Coaching for Performance training while at Sparkgeo.

• Advocated for salary increases, and put my team’s work in front of senior management and the wider company.
• Backed professional development for each person on the team, from training to taking on new responsibilities.
• Piloted 30-60-90 day plans with my team. Once they worked, the company adopted the framework.
• Coached people through difficult situations.
• Worked with People & Culture on review cycles, competencies and job descriptions for data science roles.
• Administered performance improvement plans when they were needed.

Growing the team

I sponsored a co-op program for my team. It took buy-in from the CTO and People & Culture, and a team member ready to mentor a student and take on management. I coached that mentor through it, and we screened resumes and interviewed candidates together.

Beyond the team

• Chaired the AI Working Group, which set the company’s standards for using AI.
• Hosted Lightning Talks and Guild Talks for knowledge sharing, and AI show-and-tells so lessons from one team reached the rest of the company.
• Supported business development, and contributed to a $2M Bezos Earth Fund grant for MERMAID.

What my colleagues said

I had the pleasure of working with Lauren at Sparkgeo, where she was both a strong technical leader and someone who genuinely looks out for the people on her team.

Dustin Sampson, CTO, Sparkgeo, who managed me

As a team lead Lauren was likewise outstanding. She took her role seriously, ensuring open communication between our team and senior management, and advocating to ensure our team’s needs were met.

Gordon Logie, Senior Data Scientist, who reported to me for four years

She was highly engaged in our team review cycles, competencies, and job description work, always thinking thoughtfully about what her team needed to grow and succeed.

Isabel Tang, People & Culture, Sparkgeo

The full recommendations are on LinkedIn.