Summary
Gavin Masterson is a Senior Data Scientist with seven years of experience bridging ecological research and data engineering, currently delivering end-to-end analytics, pipelines, and dashboards for Fathom Data. He brings deep expertise in R, PostgreSQL, Git and Bayesian hierarchical modeling, honed through a PhD and published ecological research on reptile and amphibian populations. Prior to data science he led provincial conservation decision support in South Africa, performing Red List assessments for SANBI and IUCN—experience that informs his strength in turning complex, domain-specific problems into practical, auditable analyses. Comfortable switching between roles as data engineer, analyst and database manager, he combines scientific rigor with pragmatic engineering practices and a habit of self-teaching to rapidly adopt new tools. Based in Knysna, he has a track record of award-winning research and a practical focus on building reproducible workflows that stakeholders can trust.
6 years of coding experience
1 year of employment as a software developer
Master's Degree, Zoology, Ecology, Conservation, Master's Degree, Zoology, Ecology, Conservation at University of the Witwatersrand