Top Industries Hiring Data Scientists in 2024

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that the employment of data scientists will grow 35% from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average for all occupations. About 17,700 openings for data scientists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. This blog lists the top industries that proactively post data science jobs for skilled professionals.

Data-driven decision-making is the need of the hour for every business these days. This means how we accumulate, disseminate, study, store, and act upon data will be the primary task for every data-driven organization. The value of the data science market is slated to reach $16 billion by 2025, and so will the data science jobs.

“Consumer data will be the biggest differentiator. Whoever unlocks the reams of data and uses it strategically will win.” – says Angela Ahrendts, ex-SVP – Retail, Apple Inc.

Such an upsurge in demand for data scientists is mainly because they can analyze structured and unstructured data to quickly and efficiently resolve previously possible problems with purely engineered solutions. Data science and AI technologies are being used for popular services like customer service chatbots at Bank of America, easy-to-search images on Facebook, and even automated fashion tips for clothing buyers of Amazon.

To learn more about data science, read our blog – What is data science?

An increasing number of industries and domains are waiting to be disrupted and enhanced by data science methodologies, creating many jobs for professionals with the right data science skills.

The data science industry is witnessing a boom, which is the best time to pursue a career in this field. Data science skills are specific and applicable to companies as diverse as IBM, Amazon, Google, Netflix, Coca-Cola, Ford Motors, Starbucks, etc. The countless not-for-profit and social endeavours to build a better world have created ample data science jobs.

You may be wondering if data science is used in which industries, where data scientists work or which is the best industry for a data scientist? Here are some of the best industries for data science worth exploring.

Top Industries with Data Science Jobs

1. BFSI
2. Media & Entertainment
3. Healthcare
4. Retail
5. Telecommunications 
6. Automotive 
7. Digital Marketing
8. Professional Services
9. Cyber Security
10. Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction

There are abundant data science jobs in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, etc. These cities are home to top companies offering excellent remuneration packages and career growth.

1. BFSI

Increased use cases in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector have led to a massive increase in data to be analyzed and acted upon. The segment has mainly been integrating data science in all decision-making processes based on actionable insights from customer data.

There are many ways data science and AI can help financial institutions to be more efficient in providing services to their clients, some of which include –

• Fraud detection
• Lending and loan appraisal management
• Risk modeling
• Securing and managing customer data
• Lifetime value prediction
• Customer segmentation
• Algorithmic trading
• Underwriting and credit scoring

Top Employers 

• JPMorgan Chase
• HDFC
• ICICI Bank
• HSBC
• Citi Group
• BNP Paribas

To learn more about machine learning, read our blog – What is Machine Learning?

2. Media & Entertainment

The big media and entertainment industry players, including YouTube, Netflix, Hotstar, etc., have started applying data science to understand their customers and offer them the most relevant and customized recommendations. Even regular entertainment channels and gossip newsfeeds rely heavily on user data.

According to PwC, the OTT market is expected to mark an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2028) of 7.30%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$420.10 billion by 2028.

This new face of digital reality aims to match the users’ preferences. It is evoked in the concept of addressability and the ability to interact with consumers as per their choices. In such a scenario where everything depends on data, the media and entertainment industry seeks data scientists who can collect, process, analyze, store, and provide recommendations and make a desirable impact on the business.

Data science strategies, especially machine learning and artificial intelligence, have scaled up the media and entertainment industry through –

• Customer sentiment analysis
• Hyper-Targeted Advertising
• Smart Recommendations & Personalized Content Experiences
• Real-time analytics
• Optimized Media Scheduling
• Programmatic Ad Buying
• Predictive Modelling for Targeted Content Generation
• Leveraging mobile and social media content

3. Healthcare

In the healthcare industry, where most data is unstructured, and it isn’t easy to access and analyze, hospitals and healthcare centres seek data scientists who can assemble fragmented heterogeneous data. From electronic medical records, clinical trials, and genetic information to billing, wearable data, care management databases, scientific articles, etc., data science has made it easier to manage all the information.

The healthcare industry has surprisingly emerged as India’s top creator of data science jobs in recent years. Data science has also contributed to designing and evaluating healthcare strategies that improve equity, opportunity, access, and health service quality. Some areas with enormous scope for data science applicability include – Drug Discovery and Recognizing health risks and recommendations.

• Prevention plans
• Diagnosis of diseases
• Delivering more precise prescriptions and customized care
• Post-Care Monitoring
• Hospital operations

While data scientists need to be proficient with programming languages and statistics, this sector requires professionals with “softer” skills like storytelling and excellent data communication skills to derive and communicate the desired results.

Top Employers 

• GSK
• GE Healthcare
• Sanofi

4. Retail

Even the onslaught of the global pandemic, store closures, and layoffs couldn’t impact data scientists’ demand in the retail segment. The consumer-focused retail industry thrives on increasing personalization and relevance, with one aim – to understand the shopper’s behaviour and patterns through data.

Data science has helped retail businesses to ensure better consumer understanding. Data scientists are in high demand in retail as they bring a rare mix of strong data knowledge, business acumen, technology skills, intuition, and statistical expertise.

Data science in retail helps to –

• Analyze people’s past searches and purchases and help them find relevant products
• Create a recommendation and personalization system
• Analyze customer behavior and market insights
• Improve customer experience through predictive analytics

Top Recruiters

• Amazon
• Flipkart
• Walmart
• Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd.
• Future Enterprises Ltd.
• Reliance Retail Ltd.
• K. Raheja Group (Shoppers’ Stop)
• Landmark Group (Lifestyle)
• ITC

5. Telecommunications 

Now that subscribers consistently connect to telecommunications networks through voice, text messages, social media, etc., telecom providers have access to vast amounts of data. Other data sources, including website visits, past purchases, search patterns, and customer demographics like address, age, gender, and location, have proved crucial for telecom businesses. This is where the role of data science comes in.

Useful classification and utilization of this humongous data have been groundbreaking for telecom companies and have helped them more accurately cater to their more extensive range of consumers.

Data science enables telecom companies to –

• Make personalized offers to customers
• Allocate network resources
• Order predictive maintenance
• Ensure smarter network deployment
• Allow optimization and predictive maintenance of the networks
• Detect fraudulent activities
• Product innovation
• Contextualized location-based promotions
• Targeted campaigns
• Call Detail Record (CDR) analysis
• Optimized pricing

Top Employers

• Bharti Airtel Limited
• Reliance Jio
• BSNL
• Vodafone-IDEA

6. Automotive 

Data science has helped the automotive industry remain competitive by improving everything from research to design manufacturing to marketing processes. Moreover, the deployment of advanced analytics has led to the development of autonomous automotive systems, including sensors, cameras, and radar, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Inertial Navigation System (INS), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and much more.

The role of data science in the automotive industry is not limited to –

• Enhance vehicle safety with cognitive IoT
• Decrease repair costs
• Create and manage schedules more effectively
• Improve production line performance
• Identify defects in produced components using predictive maintenance
• Enable manufacturers to gain greater control over their supply chains, including logistics and management

With automobiles getting more complex and capable of collecting more data, it was impossible to monitor wear and tear and report on mileage, fuel efficiency, and routes without data science. Be ready for the future cars that will communicate, collaborate, and navigate without human intervention! All thanks to the power of data.

Top Employers

• General Motors
• Volkswagen
• Maruti Suzuki
• Hyundai
• Honda

Almost every industry is trying to leverage the power of data to thrive in the market. If you also want to ride the data science bandwagon, consider picking up a data science course.

7. Digital Marketing

Search pages, social networks, web traffic display networks, videos, web pages, CRMs, databases, etc., are now fetching huge volumes of customer data. Analysis of such high volumes of data requires a high level of business intelligence, and this can only be achieved through the right usage of data science methodologies. For these reasons, digital marketing increasingly uses data science for analytical purposes. This data-driven information can help marketing/brand managers obtain crucial information such as –

• Predict user behaviours and make more informed business decisions
• Anticipate the user’s needs to send them highly personalized offers and content they desire, thereby increasing the chances of converting into leads
• Spot patterns and trends that can help in product innovation
• Segment the markets and interact with the user more effectively

Top Recruiters

• Reliance Industries Limited
• Amazon
• Google
• Facebook
• Flipkart
• Walmart
• Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd.

8. Professional Services

Data science jobs are abundantly available across the professional services industry since analytics generates buzz. Big conglomerates and SMEs seek professionals who can collect company data, store it, guarantee its security and treat it appropriately. Implementing data science strategies is very different for different businesses, and the methodologies in data collection, data processing, and data visualization vary basis the industry functions. The job profile of data scientists in these professional services is mainly that of data science consulting. With the help of data science, these services can improve their analytical side, develop competencies, and understand the machinations of their business, resulting in meeting the overall business objectives.

Top Employers

The professional services category mainly includes –

• Legal services
• Accounting and bookkeeping
• Marketing consultancy
• IT services
• Customer service
• Logistics

9. CyberSecurity

Cybersecurity Ventures forecasts global cybercrime costs to increase by 15% annually and reach $10.5 trillion USD annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion USD in 2015. It is interesting to know that hackers these days use more sophisticated Artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques to do their business, which is cyber attacks.

The cybersecurity industry is now adopting data science and AI to combat this increasing use of algorithms to perform malicious activities. Data scientists use AI and machine learning techniques to understand the source of the malicious activities by reading attack patterns and devising solutions to tackle these attacks and prevent their reoccurrence.

Data science in cybersecurity has made computing processes more actionable and intelligent compared to conventional information handling. It creates an environment for data collection from relevant cybersecurity sources, and analysis complements data-driven patterns. This fusion of data science and cybersecurity represents a partial paradigm shift from traditional security solutions such as user authentication, access control, cryptography, and firewalls to systematic data management.

Top Recruiters

• Accenture
• Cisco
• IBM
• Microsoft
• National Informatics Centre
• QuickHeal Technologies Limited
• McAfee

10. Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction

Process automation is the main benefit technology brings to any industry. The oil sector is no exception, especially for a high-risk industry that must work 24×7. The use of data science in the mining and oil & gas industry is increasing and is not limited to just exploration and production activities. Data science has been largely utilized in industrial transformation and distribution. For example, many geographic information systems (GIS) contain probability modules to determine the areas with the greatest productive potential. Similarly, with Measurement During Drilling (MWD) technology, it is possible to have terabytes of petrophysical and fluid information using data mining techniques to characterize the reservoir better.

Top Recruiters

• Indian Oil Corporation
• ONGC
• Bharat Petroleum
• Reliance Petroleum Limited
• Essar Oil Limited
• Cairn India
• Gas Authority of India
• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Our Data Science Courses Recommendations –

• Data Science for Engineers from IIT Madras on NPTEL (Duration – 8 weeks)
• Executive Data Science Specialization by Coursera (Duration – 2 months)
• The Data Scientist’s Toolbox by Johns Hopkins University via Coursera
• Applied Data Science with Python Specialization by the University of Michigan on Coursera (Duration – 5 months)
• Python for Data Science from IIT Madras on NPTEL (4 weeks)
• Applied AI with DeepLearning by IBM on Coursera (Duration – 22 Hours)

With technology and globalization dominating the job markets today, data science will remain job-relevant for years. If you have a penchant for patterns, numbers, and analytics and have the right skill sets, these data science jobs are for you!

Also Read – Top Data Science Interview Questions