Lead Data Scientist, ML & Personalization Platform

The Walt Disney Company; Glendale (CA); On-site; USD 156,000 - 209,000; Full time

Job summary

The Walt Disney Company seeks a Lead Data Scientist for the N&E ML Platform in Glendale, CA. You will bridge data and product decisions, conduct EDA, design experiments, and define success metrics with ML Engineers to deliver personalized experiences across ABC News, National Geographic, Marvel, and Disney Studios.

You will collaborate with product, design, and engineering teams, leveraging Python, SQL, and PySpark on large-scale datasets and cloud platforms to drive measurable business impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a quantitative field
• 7+ years of experience in data science, analytics, or related field
• Strong Python, SQL, and PySpark skills
• Experience with cloud data platforms (AWS, Databricks, Snowflake)
• Statistical analysis and experimentation, including A/B testing
• Ability to perform Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) and translate patterns into insights
• Experience defining success metrics and measuring model performance with ML Engineers
• Ability to translate data insights into product recommendations
• Experience with Adobe Analytics or similar analytics platforms
• Experience with large-scale content/media platforms
• Experience with AWS services like Step Functions, Lambda, Glue, SQS, SNS, Personalize
• Data visualization tools such as Tableau or Looker
• Strong communication and collaboration in Agile environments

Responsibilities

• Conduct exploratory data analysis across user, content, and engagement data to uncover patterns and insights
• Design, implement and evaluate A/B tests to validate personalization changes with solid statistical methods
• Define success metrics and evaluate model performance in partnership with ML engineers
• Collaborate with ML engineers on feature design, drift detection, and model evaluation
• Translate data insights into actionable product recommendations for stakeholders
• Perform statistical analyses using Python, SQL, and PySpark on large datasets and leverage analytics tools
• Bridge data and product decisions to drive measurable business impact for Disney's News & Entertainment portfolio

Skills

Python

SQL

PySpark

AWS

Databricks

Snowflake

Tableau

Looker

Adobe Analytics

Data Visualization

Agile/Scrum

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Statistics/Math/Economics

Tools

AWS

Databricks

Snowflake

Tableau

Looker

Adobe Analytics

Job description

The Walt Disney Company seeks a Lead Data Scientist for the N&E ML Platform in Glendale, CA. You will bridge data and product decisions, conduct EDA, design experiments, and define success metrics with ML Engineers to deliver personalized experiences across ABC News, National Geographic, Marvel, and Disney Studios.

You will collaborate with product, design, and engineering teams, leveraging Python, SQL, and PySpark on large-scale datasets and cloud platforms to drive measurable business impact.