Lead Data Scientist, Decision Sciences

NBCUniversal; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 145,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Bonus eligible

Long-term incentives

Job summary

NBCUniversal in New York's Media Group Decision Sciences seeks a Lead Data Scientist to build analytical solutions for NBCU's video streaming service, including recommender systems, automated marketing, personalized advertising, and revenue optimization.

Lead development of causal, reinforcement learning and ML models; collaborate with business partners and engineers to deploy real-time and batch analytics; ensure scalable data pipelines and robust ML lifecycle on Google Cloud using Python and

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a quantitative field (Statistics/CS/Data Science/Math/OR)
• 5+ years in statistical methods and machine learning in industry/research
• Knowledge of real-time/near real-time model training/testing complexity
• Experience with causal inference, Gen AI/LLM, or reinforcement learning
• Strong A/B testing, experimental design and analytics fundamentals
• Experience building scalable, distributed, highly available systems on Google Cloud
• Proficiency in Python and SQL

Responsibilities

• Lead development of analytical models using statistical, ML and data mining methods.
• Define feature engineering and data preparation procedures for modeling.
• Communicate goals, plans, and timelines to stakeholders.
• Proactively identify issues and propose solutions.
• Access data from big, relational, and non-relational sources; stay updated on data structures.
• Collaborate with software and data architects to deploy solutions into streaming/batch pipelines.
• Improve codebase and ML lifecycle infrastructure.

Skills

Statistical analysis

Machine learning

Communication

Problem solving

Education

Master's or PhD in Statistics/CS/Data Science/Math/OR

Tools

Python

SQL

Google Cloud

Job description

Overview

As part of the Media Group Decision Sciences team, the Lead Data Scientist will be responsible for creating analytical solutions for one or more verticals of NBCU’s video streaming service including, but not limited to, the recommender system, automated marketing, personalized advertisement, commerce and revenue optimization systems, customer journey and CRM solutions. In this role, the Lead Data Scientist will use advanced data science methodologies including causal discovery analysis, reinforcement learning, machine learning models, Bayesian analysis etc. and work closely with business owners, teammates and engineers to build a state-of-the-art real-time video streaming service.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of analytical models using statistical, machine learning and data mining methodologies. Advise, help to resolve issues and handle non-standard cases.
• Define procedures for cleansing, discretization, imputation, selection, generalization etc. to create high quality features for the modeling process.
• Effectively communicate with team members, project partners and business stakeholders on goals, procedures, timelines and expectations.
• Proactively anticipate/identify upcoming issues and take initiatives to provide solutions.
• Use big data, relational and non-relational data sources to access data at the appropriate level of granularity for the needs of specific analytical projects. Maintain up to date knowledge of the relevant data set structures and participate in defining necessary upgrades and modifications.
• Collaborate with software and data architects in building real-time and automated batch implementations of the data science solutions and integrating them into the streaming service architecture.
• Drive work on improving the codebase and machine learning lifecycle infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Advanced (Master or PhD) degree with specialization in Statistics, Computer Science, Data Science, Economics, Mathematics, Operations Research or another quantitative field or equivalent.
• 5+ years of experience in statistical methods and machine learning within industry and research.
• Understanding of algorithmic complexity of model training and testing, particularly for real-time and near real-time models.
• Has strong knowledge of causal inference techniques, Gen AI (LLM) implementation, or reinforcement learning.
• Solid technical knowledge of A/B testing methodologies, experimental design, statistics and other analytical concepts.
• Experience implementing scalable, distributed, and highly available systems using Google Cloud.
• Proficient in Python and SQL.

Desired Characteristics

• Knowledge of enterprise-level digital analytics platforms (e.g. Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics).
• Experience on implementing and owning end-to-end data projects with a diverse group of stakeholders.
• Experience with television ratings and digital measurement tools (Nielsen, Rentrak, ComScore etc.).
• Strong sense of curiosity, accountability, and ability to execute projects of all sizes with clear vision and purpose.
• Enthusiastic about video, TV, and streaming content.

Hybrid: This position has been designated as hybrid, generally contributing from the office a minimum of three days per week.

Salary range: $145,000-$175,000, bonus and LTI eligible

Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website.

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal'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.

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].