Rory Wilson | Applied Data Scientist

About

I work on applied machine learning and analytics problems to help shape better decisions. I enjoy turning messy data into models and experiments that help teams understand behavior, test ideas, and build AI-driven systems.

Projects

🛒

Cognira | MIT Capstone

Cannibalization Effects in Retail Promotions

Applied ML and causal inference to identify and quantify promotion-driven cannibalization, improving forecast accuracy for retail pricing optimization.

22% Forecast Improvement

Causal ML Forecasting Python

PDF

View Report

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Adecco Group | MIT Sloan

Dynamic Pricing Tool for Sales Reps

Built a dynamic pricing tool enabling Adecco sales reps to price contracts and negotiate with client companies, with risk-sensitive intervals that improved margins.

9.5% Margin Improvement

Pricing Optimization Risk Modeling

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MIT 15.072

Spoiler Alert: Movie Review Classification

Compared BERT, XGBoost, GPT, and Hierarchical Attention Networks for spoiler detection in movie reviews.

76% AUC Score

BERT NLP Transformers

PDF

View Report

Echo Chamber: News Source Identification

Deep learning project using CNN, RNN, and Transformers to identify news article sources.

CNN LSTM NLP

78% Top-5 Accuracy

Minimizing Carbon Footprint Through Diet

Optimization project using Julia and Gurobi to design carbon-efficient diets.

Optimization Julia Gurobi

58% Emission Reduction

ASL Recognition: Real-Time Translation

LSTM networks and MediaPipe for real-time American Sign Language to text translation.

LSTM MediaPipe CV

90% Recognition Accuracy

Prescriptive Airline Maintenance Scheduling

Predictive maintenance using ML to prescribe optimal decisions.

Prescriptive ML Optimization Python

28% Cost Reduction

Experience

Data Scientist, Advanced Analytics

Oct 2024 - Present

Taxwell (TaxAct & Drake Software) · Boston, MA

$36M ad spend optimized ~5% retention increase

Developed revenue-per-start predictive model to optimize allocation of annual ad spend
Built churn prediction model projected to increase retention (~$400K impact)

Python ML A/B Testing

Data Science Intern

Feb - Aug 2024

Cognira (MIT Capstone) · Atlanta, GA

22% forecast accuracy gain

Applied ML and causal inference to quantify cannibalization from retail promotions
Partnered with Product & Engineering to integrate model into pricing software

Causal Inference Forecasting Python

Analytics Lab Team Member

Fall 2023

The Adecco Group (via MIT Sloan) · Cambridge, MA

$3.3M potential annual profit 9.5% margin improvement

Built dynamic pricing tool reducing prediction error from 11% to 7%
Introduced risk-sensitive negotiation intervals for sales reps

Pricing Optimization Risk

Research & Markets Intern → Risk Analyst

Sept 2021 - May 2022

Abbey Capital Ltd · Dublin, Ireland

€8bn fund AUM

Delivered client reports and market analyses for managed futures fund
Promoted to Risk Analyst during period of significant AUM growth

Finance Risk Research

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Master of Business Analytics (MBAn)

GPA: 5.0 / 5.0 · 2023 - 2024

Focus: Machine learning, AI, optimization, and advanced analytics

University College Dublin

BSc Economics & Finance, First Class Honours

GPA: 3.93 / 4.20 · 2019 - 2023

Focus: Mathematics, statistics, and economics

Entrance Scholar · Ad Astra Academic Scholar · First Year Top of Class

Contact

Boston, MA

Open to Data Science, ML Engineering, and Forward Deployed roles.

Rory Wilson.