Mid-Level Data Scientist / Quant - Risk & Trading

2K; Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas (WA, CA, CA, NV); Remote; USD 90,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in sports platforms is seeking a Data Scientist to enhance its pricing and exposure models. This role involves feature engineering, predictive modeling, and cross-functional collaboration, with flexibility in hours around peak sports events. Competitive salary and benefits are provided, reflecting a commitment to equitable pay.

Benefits

Competitive salary and stock options

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance

401(k)

Flexible working hours and remote-first culture

Clear paths for career growth and leadership

Qualifications

• 3-5 years in data science, machine learning, or quantitative research.
• Familiar with sports data and pricing/risk models.
• Fluent in Python and SQL, experience with modern ML tooling.

Responsibilities

• Own the pipelines that transform raw data into features for pricing models.
• Train, validate, and deploy predictive models.
• Collaborate with engineers to productionize models.

Skills

Python

SQL

Machine Learning

Predictive Modeling

Data Engineering

Tools

BigQuery

Grafana

Job description

About Sleeper

Sleeper is one of the fastest–growing sports platforms in the US. We build free‑to‑play fantasy titles and real‑money Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) games across the NFL, NBA/WNBA, MLB, NHL, EU football, and more. Our Risk & Trading team safeguards game integrity and optimizes profitability through data‑driven pricing and exposure management.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Feature engineering & model tuning – Own the pipelines that transform raw bet, player, and market data into features for our pricing and exposure models (BigQuery + SQLX, Python, Pandas).
• Predictive modeling – Train, validate, and deploy supervised and probabilistic models that forecast player performance, market volatility, and user value.
• Guardrail automation – Ship rule‑based limiters and anomaly‑detection jobs that run every few seconds, flagging and throttling outlier exposure before it becomes tail risk.
• Dashboards & alerting – Build Grafana dashboards and SQLX reports that surface live liability, promo uptake, and top‑line KPIs to trading and exec stakeholders.
• Light on‑call rotation – During peak sports windows, respond to automated alerts and, if necessary, execute a manual override (price suspension / limit change). < 2 hrs/wk on average.
• Cross‑functional collaboration – Pair with Backend & Data Engineers to productionize models, and with Product to iterate on game mechanics and promos.

Who You Are

• 3‑5 years in data science, machine learning, or quant research; comfortable owning end‑to‑end projects.
• Fluent in Python, SQL, and modern ML tooling (scikit‑learn, XGBoost, Airflow or similar).
• Familiar with sports data and the economics of fantasy / sportsbook markets; plus if you’ve built pricing or risk models.
• Systems thinker who anticipates failure modes and edge cases in real‑time environments.
• Willing to flex hours around major game slates; we’re a remote‑first team and optimize schedules for coverage & work‑life balance.

Nice‑to‑Haves

• Experience with BigQuery, Looker, dbt, or similar analytics stacks.
• Exposure to real‑time streams (Kafka, Pub/Sub) and event‑driven architectures.
• Prior work building user‑level segmentation or LTV models.

Compensation

In the United States, the reasonable base salary range for this role is $90 000 – $175 000 USD, plus equity and benefits (medical, dental, vision, PTO, 401k). Final offers consider experience, skills, and market data.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and stock options
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k)
• Flexible working hours and remote-first culture
• Clear paths for career growth and leadership

What we offer

Sleeper believes in quality over quantity, and intentionally keeps our team small as a result. In past roles, we found it very hard to make a big impact when companies grow too large in size, which has a detrimental effect on the product and the impact any single individual can have. Our team includes designers, engineers, product experts, and finance & operation focused on one thing — connecting people over sports. We believe in fair and equitable pay. Certain locations in the United States require job postings to include a reasonable estimate of the base salary range and/or a general description of benefits and other compensation applicable to the role.

Competitive salary plus benefits including Medical, Dental, PTO, 401k. Please note that The salary range for this role takes into account a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The policy of Sleeper is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, citizenship status, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status and to affirmatively seek to advance the principles of equal employment opportunity. Sleeper is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers, including job seekers with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access the Company’s career webpage as a result of your disability. You may request reasonable accommodations by sending an email to [e-mail].

Headquartered in Las Vegas, NV, Sleeper is backed by Silicon Valley’s top investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Expa.
To learn more, visit us online at: www.sleeper.com