Manager, Applied Data Science

Appfolio; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 167,000 - 209,000; Full time

Job summary

AppFolio, a technology leader in real estate, seeks a senior data scientist to own signal modeling and the Next Best Action layer for GTM teams. You will lead data science services, forecast automations, and ensure adoption and explainability across business units.

You will guide end-to-end model development, deployment, monitoring, and retraining, while mentoring a team of data scientists and collaborating with Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Finance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field with 8+ years building and deploying predictive models in production for business stakeholders.
• 2+ years leading data scientists as a people manager or technical lead.
• Strong programming background with Python and SQL; experience bringing models to production.
• Experience developing, deploying, monitoring, and retraining end-to-end classification and propensity models.
• Experience building and evaluating LLM-based products in production (agents or NLP analytics).
• Experience with cloud data warehouses and orchestration tools (Snowflake, dbt, Airflow) and CRM data like Salesforce.

Responsibilities

• Own signal modeling and scoring logic for all AppFolio products and co-create Next Best Action recommendations.
• Own shared data science services, forecasting automations, and partner adoption & explainability.
• Set coding standards for the Cerberus model fleet and manage deployment, monitoring, and retraining.
• Review pull requests and ensure quality and risk of models, analyses, and automations.
• Coordinate with Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Finance to set priorities and drive roadmap execution.

Skills

Python

SQL

People management

Model deployment

Experiment design

LLM products

Airflow

Snowflake

dbt

Education

Bachelor’s degree in STEM

Tools

Snowflake

dbt

Airflow

Salesforce

Job description

AppFolio is more than a company. We’re a community of dreamers, big thinkers, problem solvers, active listeners, and multipliers. At every opportunity, we set the pace while delivering innovation built to carry real estate into the future. One in which every experience feels effortless, yet meaningful. Where customers are empowered to take on any opportunity. We show up as one team, connected by our values to be a force for good. Because together, we have the power to create extraordinary outcomes for our customers, our communities, and ourselves.

Your Impact

• Own signal modeling and scoring logic for all of AppFolio’s products, and co-create the Next Best Action layer for GTM teams that gives each account ranked recommendations per persona
• Own shared data science services for the business, forecasting automations, agentic data access and partner with the business to ensure adoption and explainability.
• Own coding standards for the Cerberus model fleet: coding standards, review gates, deployment, monitoring, retraining, and outputs published to the governed Data Marts with the access controls and audit logging the Business Data Platform requires.
• Review every pull request and deliverable the team ships, and own the quality and risk of its models, analyses, recommendations and automations.
• Coordinate delivery with Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Finance leaders: set priorities with them, hold Data Science & Analytics’ seat on the cross functional working groups, and run the team’s operating rhythm so that urgent requests and the roadmap both get delivered.
• Set the direction for applied AI/ML in Data Science & Analytics with department leadership.
• Manage and grow a team of Data Scientists: 1:1s, coaching, performance reviews, hiring, and a growth path for each person.

Must Have

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field and 8+ years building and deploying predictive models in production for business stakeholders, including sales, marketing, or customer success teams.
• 2+ years leading data scientists, as a people manager or as the technical lead who set direction, reviewed the work, and coached the people doing it.
• Strong programming background, with Python and SQL required. You have taken models you built from raw tables to production yourself and expect to keep building alongside your team.
• Experience developing, deploying, monitoring, and retraining classification and propensity models end to end, bonus points for designing next-best-action or recommendation systems that arbitrate across several models.
• Experimental design fundamentals, including holdouts, control groups, power, and honest measurement of incremental lift rather than model accuracy alone.
• Experience building and evaluating LLM-based products in production, such as agents or natural-language analytics, including the accuracy and coverage checks that gate their use.
• Experience with a cloud data warehouse such as Snowflake, dbt, an orchestration framework such as Airflow, version control, and CRM data such as Salesforce.
• A record of setting priorities with senior leadership: turning ambiguous questions into repeatable models, communicating recommendations they act on, and saying no when the data does not support the ask.

Compensation & Benefits

The base salary that we reasonably expect to pay for this role is: $167,200 - $209,000

The actual base salary/hourly wage for this role will be determined by a variety of factors, including but not limited to: the candidate’s skills, education, experience, etc.

Please note that base pay is one important aspect of a compelling Total Rewards package. The base pay range indicated here does not include any additional benefits or bonuses/commissions that you may be eligible for based on your role and/or employment type.

Regular full-time employees are eligible for benefits - see here.

About AppFolio

AppFolio is the technology leader powering the future of the real estate industry. Our innovative platform and trusted partnership enable our customers to connect communities, increase operational efficiency, and grow their business. For more information about AppFolio, visit appfolio.com.

Why AppFolio

Grow | We enable a culture of high performance, where delivering results is recognized by opportunities for growth and compelling total rewards. Our challenging and meaningful work drive the growth of our business, and ourselves.

Learn | We partner with you to realize your potential by investing in you from the start. We're cultivating a team of big thinkers through coaching and mentorship with our best-in-class leaders, and giving you the time and tools to develop your skills.

Impact | We are creating a world where living in, investing in, managing, and supporting communities feels magical and effortless, freeing people to thrive. We do this by innovating with purpose while cultivating a culture of impact. We learn as much from each other as we do our customers and our communities.

Connect | We excel at hybrid work by fostering an environment that feels flexible, personal and connected, no matter where we are. We create space to fuel innovation and collaboration, and we come together to celebrate, connect, and succeed.

Paddle as One. Learn more at appfolio.com/company/careers

Statement of Equal Opportunity

At AppFolio, we value diversity in backgrounds and perspectives and depend on it to drive our innovative culture. That’s why we’re a proud Equal Opportunity Employer, and we believe that our products, our teams, and our business are stronger because of it. This means that no matter what race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, or medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected by law, you’re always welcome at AppFolio.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible candidate experience. If you need a reasonable accommodation at any point in the application or interview process for a disability, pregnancy-related condition, or religious practice, please contact us at [e-mail] or [phone]. You do not need to use any particular wording.

Compensation Range: $167.2K - $209K