About Us

Leap’s mission is to combat climate change by enabling a reliable electric grid that runs on clean energy. The electric grid is transforming from dirty (but predictable) fossil fuels to clean (but less predictable) renewable energy. To do so, the grid needs more flexible demand and supply to help maintain stability and reliability.

Leap plays a crucial role in opening up wholesale energy markets to all distributed energy resources, enabling our partners to get paid for providing flexibility to the grid.

Leap is a privately-held tech company with funding from top VCs and well-known energy entrepreneurs. Our core operations are in the San Francisco Bay Area and Utrecht (NL), but we are a distributed workplace with teammates based in Atlanta, Boston, Boulder, New York, Austin, Portland, Madrid, and Oslo (to name a few). For this role we are exclusively considering candidates that live in the Netherlands.

We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Data Scientist to join our team. As a Data Scientist at Leap, you will play a pivotal role in developing and implementing advanced machine learning solutions to tackle complex challenges in the energy sector. You will work with massive datasets, apply sophisticated analytical techniques, and leverage the latest advancements in machine learning to drive our mission of decarbonizing the world's electrical grid.

Who are we looking for? Someone who…

• Values diverse, inclusive teams and creating an environment where people of all identities, experiences, and backgrounds can thrive.
• Thrives or would thrive in a remote-first, distributed work environment.
• Shares a passion for solving the climate crisis and aligns with our mission to decarbonize the world’s electric grids.
• Is comfortable working with teams across Europe and North America and is fluent in English.
• Can travel to our office in Utrecht 1-2 times per week and travel internationally once per year for our annual company retreats.

Here’s what we hope you bring:

• Master's or Ph.D. in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Data Science, Electrical Engineering).
• At least 3 years of relevant experience as Data Scientist working alongside engineers building and implementing machine learning models.
• Strong expertise in machine learning, deep learning, and statistical analysis.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and R.
• Hands-on experience with machine learning libraries/frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn).
• Solid understanding of data preprocessing techniques and feature engineering.
• Experience working with large and complex datasets.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work on open-ended, ambiguous problems.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

In this role you will:

• Analyze complex problems related to energy consumption and grid management, identifying opportunities for optimization and decarbonization.
• Develop and implement machine learning models and algorithms to extract actionable insights from large and diverse datasets.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and deploy data-driven solutions that drive energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
• Conduct thorough data analysis, including data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model evaluation.
• Stay current with the latest advancements in machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence and apply them to real-world energy challenges.
• Communicate your findings and insights to both technical and non-technical stakeholders through clear and compelling presentations.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

What’s it like to work at Leap?

Product: At our core we are a tech company. We love technical challenges and build things that we are proud of and would like to use ourselves. Everyone is highly involved in building and designing our products, making them extremely valuable and a pleasure to use.

Purpose: Some of us worked in energy before, some of us haven’t. All of us would like to make a difference and do our part in helping the world move towards a more resilient grid run on renewable energy.

Fun: We work hard, but enjoy our time at work as well as outside of work. With the team spread out over multiple time zones we also embraced flexibility early on, and are focused on results instead of time spent or presence.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

What to expect from the screening process

Intro Chat: You’ll speak to the Head of Engineering about your background and interests and get a chance to learn more about Leap. You’ll also have some time to ask questions.

Technical Exercise: Work on problems that reflect the job - you’ll submit your responses to a set of exercises designed to reflect the technical and communication skills you’ll need on the job. We hope it both gives us a sense of your skills and you a sense of day-to-day work at Leap.

Technical Interview: Chat with your potential future co-workers via Zoom - you’ll chat for about an hour with a few of the people with whom you’ll be collaborating. What are we looking for at this stage:

• How do they work, make decisions and process information?
• How they analyze and solve complex problems through some provided cases

Compensation call: A Recruiter will reach out to you with a salary range based on the criteria listed below to ensure there is alignment. If so, a final interview will be scheduled.

Behavior Interview: Chat with your potential future colllegues from different departments via Zoom - you’ll chat for about an hour with potential colleagues. What are we looking for at this stage:

• Can the candidate provide the team with structure/guidance?
• Do they fit in the team?
• Do they match the company culture (values)?
• How do they work cross-functionally?
• How do they execute? How do they communicate (can they communicate downward, upward laterally)?

You’ll also have some time to ask questions of the team.

Founder Interview: Chat with your potential future C-level executive via Zoom - you’ll chat for about 30 minutes with leadership. What are we looking for at this stage:

• Will this person bring an aspect of diverse opinions, experiences, and specialized skills which enhances not just the team, but the overall company culture.

You’ll also have some time to ask questions.

Background check: We’ll ask to speak with two to three people who can speak to your work.

Our decision: If you’re selected, we’ll make an offer and open the avenues for communication with our team members to support you in making your decision. If you’re not selected in the current round, we promise to give you some context as to why not, if you’d find that useful. Keep in mind that we’re growing, and we expect there to be many future opportunities!

Note that our clients are mostly US-based, and so we look for the ability to communicate with clarity in English, verbally and in writing.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation

We use a compensation calculator to keep the ranges as equitable as possible. We start with a benchmark, then include a location factor and a compa ratio (your experience level). The range for candidates in Utrecht is EUR 78,000 - 86,000.

Benefits

• Hybrid work with flexible schedule (must be able to commute to the Utrecht office at least once per week)
• Pension plan
• Paid parental leave
• Unlimited paid time off, holidays (3 weeks minimum/year are encouraged)

For non-US-based team members: In lieu of employer-provided benefits, Leap provides additional compensation to support health insurance, accounting, as well as an equivalent retirement contribution. All team members are eligible for parental leave, PTO, holidays, education allowance, and equipment and office setup allowance.

tvHGYEiyv1