Data Science at Everstream Analytics: Meet Omar Qusous

Some people find their professional direction early. Others realize later that they need a career change. Omar Qusous, a senior data scientist with Everstream Analytics, is one of the latter group.

“My background is slightly unconventional because I originally trained and worked as a structural engineer before moving into data science and artificial intelligence,” he explains.

Although the industries are different, Omar notes that there is a common thread between structural engineering and using data science for supply chain risk management software.

“They both involve understanding complicated problems, working with imperfect information, and building solutions that people can trust. Today, instead of designing physical structures, I help design intelligent systems that support Everstream’s supply chain risk intelligence.

“While working as an engineer, I became increasingly interested in programming and the possibilities of using data to solve problems. I enjoyed the analytical side of engineering, but I found that coding gave me the opportunity to build solutions more quickly, test new ideas, and work on a much wider range of challenges.”

Making the Career Change 

Changing careers, says Omar, was “scary at first.” Not only was he leaving behind his former professional life, but he also moved from the United Kingdom to the United States to pursue his studies.

“Towards 2018, I decided to switch and I did some research into different career paths. I found a school in New York that did a boot camp to teach you coding. So, I went there.”

While Omar’s initial plan was to become a software engineer, a pivotal moment happened during a graduate presentation day at the boot camp.

“They had software engineers, data scientists, and cybersecurity graduates showing off their projects. I went to the data science section, and I was like, ‘Wow, what is going on here?’

“One of the projects that I remember was someone who took the speeches of all the U.S. presidents and was able to extract the themes and what words they repeated the most or talked about the most. I thought that was really cool. How can you extract this information from just these files? And I switched on that day to start data science instead.”

Omar continued his education and completed a master’s degree in data science at George Washington University. Since then, he has focused on natural language processing, generative AI, and systems that can understand, research, and organize large amounts of information.

The Power of AI for Sub-Tier Mapping

This focus made Omar a natural fit for one of the early projects he worked on at Everstream Analytics – identifying and mapping sub-tier suppliers for clients.

To do this, Omar needed to work across a large number of data sets, including incomplete or inconsistent public sources, as well as proprietary internal data.

Sub-tier mapping helps clients get a clear picture of the risks their sub-tier suppliers may introduce into their business, including compliance violations.

“That’s really important for things like the UFPLA, or other ESG policies that our clients are pursuing. They can make sure that those sub-tier suppliers are complying with what they expect them to do.”

Ensuring Data Accuracy

Omar is currently focused on a continuous improvement project to optimize data accuracy.

“My job is to develop AI workflows that can research information, compare the available evidence, and produce reliable results,” he says.

To do this, he uses a number of AI agents that work as a coordinated team of research assistants.

“Rather than asking one AI model to provide an immediate answer, we divide the work into a series of controlled steps,” he explains. “This makes the process more dependable and easier to evaluate.”

One of the biggest challenges is that real-world information is rarely clean or consistent.

“The difficult part is not finding information. The difficult part is determining which information is reliable.

“That is why we focus heavily on evaluation, evidence, and safeguards. Building the AI workflow is only part of the job. Proving that it performs reliably is equally important.”

Human intelligence and oversight are critical, he explains.

“The goal is not to remove people from the process. It is to allow AI to perform more of the repetitive research while people establish the standards, evaluate performance, and focus on cases requiring judgment.”

A Typical Day

“My typical day usually includes a combination of development, analysis, and collaboration,” says Omar.

“I may start by reviewing how the AI system performed on a recent set of records. I look for patterns in the cases it handled well and investigate the cases where the result was incomplete or uncertain.

“Part of the day may be spent improving the workflow, testing a new approach, or developing better ways to evaluate its accuracy. I also work closely with colleagues from data science, engineering, platform, and business teams to make sure the solution fits into Everstream’s wider systems and addresses a genuine operational need.”

While Omar is excited about the possibilities AI presents, he wants to ground his work in solving real-world problems.

“AI is developing extremely quickly, and there is a great deal of excitement around it. What I enjoy most is seeing AI move from an interesting idea into something that solves a real business problem.

“At Everstream, I can look beyond that excitement and ask practical questions: Can we measure its performance? Can it operate reliably at scale? Will it provide meaningful value to our customers?”

The Satisfaction of a Job Well Done

One of Omar’s favorite parts of his job is thinking of smart ways to solve problems more quickly and efficiently.

“If I figure out a way to solve a problem quicker than before, or improve it, it brings a lot of satisfaction. And the best feeling is when you’re evaluating these models or these agents, and you get awesome metrics like 90% accuracy or something like that. It’s a great feeling, honestly. It feels like scoring a goal when you’re playing football – it’s exhilarating.”

Outside of work, Omar is “a bit of a geek,” he says.

“I like video games; I like watching movies; and I like going to comic conventions and things like that. This work I’m doing really suits me. Computers, finding out about how to build computers, models, and how to improve things.”

But he also enjoys swimming and cycling. “I love taking my bike and cycling outdoors, going on cycling tracks, and getting around. I enjoy that a lot as well.”