Lead Data Scientist

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k)

Tuition reimbursement

Discounts and perks

Job summary

Versant Media seeks a Lead Data Scientist to steer the Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes analytics organization. You’ll build models, frameworks, and processes for data products, owning segmentation, customer lifetime value, retention, and forecasting.

You’ll set the methodological standard for experiments and bring AI leadership to analytics, as a senior IC with organization-wide influence. You will mentor teams, ship durable analytics, and partner with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Finance

Qualifications

• What you’ll bring: degree in a quantitative or technical field or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years in data science or analytics with leadership as IC and strategic influence.
• Hands-on modeling and ML experience including segmentation, lifetime-value, and forecasting.
• Strong experimentation/causal-inference standards and organizational rollout.
• Expert SQL and a modern data science toolkit with pipelines and data modeling.
• Technical leadership including AI leadership and measurable impact.

Responsibilities

• Lead core modeling work: segmentation, lifetime-value, forecasting.
• Set methodological standards for experiments and causal inference.
• Develop scalable data products and self-service analytics for stakeholders.
• Mentor analysts/scientists and raise technical capability across teams.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Finance.

Skills

Data science

Predictive modeling

Machine learning

Experimentation

SQL

AI leadership

Cross-functional

Communication

Mentoring

Education

Quantitative degree

Equivalent practical experience

Tools

Python

Spark

Airflow

Job description

• Business Segment: Versant Revenue & Digital

Company Description

VERSANT (Nasdaq: VSNT) is an industry-changing media and entertainment business and home to trusted brands that shape culture, inform audiences, and build lasting connections. It operates across four core markets: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf, and sports and genre entertainment. These markets are served through a powerful portfolio of iconic and innovative brands, including CNBC, MS NOW, USA Network, Golf Channel, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Versant's sports division USA Sports, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and GolfPass.

Job Description

About the role

We’re looking for a Lead Data Scientist to be the senior technical leader for our Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes analytics organization. You’ll build the models, frameworks, and processes that transform how we deliver data products to the business. You’ll own our core modeling work: segmentation, customer lifetime value, retention, and forecasting. You will set the methodological standard for how we run experiments. You’ll also bring modern AI technical leadership to how we build and ship analytics. This is a senior individual contributor role with organization-wide influence and no direct reports, reporting to the head of the Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes Analytics..

What you’ll accomplish

• The business can act on who its customers are. Your segmentation work becomes how Product, Marketing, and Content target, personalize, and prioritize.
• We invest against long-run value. Your customer lifetime value models let the business weigh acquisition spend, retention investment, and content decisions against what a customer is actually worth.
• We can predict who stays and who leaves. Your retention modeling gives the organization a forward-looking view instead of a rear-view mirror.
• The business can plan with confidence. Your forecasts come with clear assumptions, drivers, and accuracy.
• Our experiments are statistically sound. You own the methodology and causal-inference standards, so the conclusions we draw hold up.
• Every team member gets better. The frameworks, reusable models, and standards you build raise the rigor and speed of the entire team's work through your mentorship.
• We ship data products, not one-off analyses. You change how we deliver to stakeholders, moving toward durable, scalable, self-service products people trust and adopt.
• AI meaningfully changes how we work. You identify where AI can redesign analytical workflows, build those solutions, and deliver measurable gains in speed and quality.
• We do this responsibly. You champion sound AI practices, risk assessment, and bias mitigation.

Qualifications

What you’ll bring

• A degree in a quantitative or technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years in data science or analytics, including leading technical work as an individual contributor and guiding data-informed strategy.
• Hands-on expertise in predictive modeling and machine learning, with experience building segmentation, lifetime-value, and forecasting models.
• Strong command of experimentation and causal inference, and experience setting those standards for an organization.
• Expert SQL and a modern data science toolkit, with a solid grasp of pipelines and data modeling.
• Technical leadership experience, including AI technical leadership. You’ve integrated AI tools to redesign workflows and drive measurable impact.
• Proven success working across Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Finance.
• Exceptional problem framing and communication. You turn complex modeling into recommendations senior leaders act on.
• A track record of mentoring and raising the technical capability of other analysts or scientists.

Preferred

• Experience in media, streaming, entertainment, or consumer subscription and transactional businesses.

Additional Information:

• Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week. Subject to change based on business need. This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks.
• Salary information: $170,000 - $190,000 (bonus eligible)

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with a VERSANT Media employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. VERSANT Media's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

For LA County and City Residents Only: VERSANT Media will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [e-mail] .

VERSANT Media is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. We include a good faith pay range for each position to comply with applicable state and local pay transparency laws and to promote equity across our organization. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location and may include additional forms of compensation and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, etc.