Principal, Insights & Innovation

Samba; California; On-site; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Wellness offerings

Retirement savings plan

Paid holidays and PTO

Life and disability insurance

Job summary

Samba is seeking a data-savvy professional to pair deep data and statistical expertise with strong business sense, developing new media intelligence solutions across targeting, planning, measurement, and optimization. You will craft personalized, interactive applications that move beyond one-size-fits-all interfaces and incorporate AI workflows.

You will collaborate with Sales to translate business needs into analytics concepts, monitor industry trends for leadership opportunities, and deliver

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field or equivalent practical experience.
• 4+ years in data science or analytics, building data-driven apps and presenting results to customers.
• Media, advertising, or measurement experience, ideally cross-channel with CTV focus.
• Proficiency in Python, SQL, descriptive/inferential/predictive statistics with solid model selection, and BI/data visualization tools.
• Experience building interactive applications in JavaScript and React.

Responsibilities

• Build Media Intelligence: design and build new media intelligence solutions using Samba data and external data sourced through licensing and partnerships.
• Discover With Sales: partner with Sales on customer discovery and solutions development, translating business needs into analytic concepts.
• Lead the Market: monitor industry trends and competitive landscape to identify leadership opportunities and support research.
• Apply Statistics: select and apply descriptive, inferential, and predictive methods with rigorous model selection and tuning.
• Build Interactive Deliverables: develop personalized, interactive client deliverables such as browser-based dashboards in JavaScript and React.
• Add Agentic Workflows: incorporate AI and agentic workflows into internal and external solutions, including embeddings, vector databases, and multimodal models.
• Prototype and Scale: prototype quickly, validate with customers, and scale proven solutions across the team.

Skills

Python

SQL

Statistics

Data Visualization

Storytelling

Education

Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field

Advanced degree a plus

Tools

Python

SQL

JavaScript

React

Tableau

Looker

Power BI

Job description

Samba connects the advertising industry. Today, a trillion dollars of media flows through platforms that don’t talk to each other, and each one measures its own results. We built the independent alternative: consented first-party data and AI that give the world’s biggest advertisers, publishers, and platforms one clear view across all of it.

The next era of advertising will run on AI agents, and those agents will need data they can trust. We’re building that foundation, and the agents that act on it. Join us and help build what the industry runs on.

About the Role

You pair deep data and statistical expertise with strong business acumen to develop new media intelligence solutions and thought leadership, from targeting to media planning, measurement, and optimization. Your solutions are personalized, interactive applications that move beyond one-size-fits-all interfaces and incorporate AI and agentic workflows, built toward where the market is headed.

What You'll Do

• Build Media Intelligence: Design and build new media intelligence solutions using Samba data and external data sourced through licensing and partnerships, spanning targeting, planning, measurement, and optimization.
• Discover With Sales: Partner with Sales on customer discovery and solutions development, translating business needs into well-scoped analytic and product concepts designed through select accounts but built for all customers.
• Lead the Market: Monitor industry trends and the competitive landscape to see where Samba can lead, and support thought leadership and partnership-based research.
• Apply Statistics: Select and apply the right statistical methods, including descriptive, inferential, and predictive techniques, with rigor in model selection and tuning, across billions of raw data signals.
• Build Interactive Deliverables: Develop personalized, interactive client deliverables, such as browser-based dashboards in JavaScript and React, that move beyond monolithic, one-size-fits-all platforms.
• Add Agentic Workflows: Incorporate AI and agentic workflows into internal and external solutions, including approaches such as data embeddings, vector databases, and multimodal models.
• Prototype and Scale: Prototype quickly, validate with customers, prepare proven solutions for scaling by the broader team, and pitch them to Sales, Product, Engineering, and Marketing when demand warrants.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field (analytics, statistics, data science, computer science, or mathematics), or equivalent practical experience; an advanced degree is a plus.
• 4+ years in data science, analytics, computer science, or applied research, ideally including building and shipping data-driven applications and presenting results to customers.
• Media, advertising, or measurement experience, ideally cross-channel with a focus on connected TV (CTV), addressable audiences, contextual targeting, attribution, and causal inference.
• Required: Python; SQL; descriptive, inferential, and predictive statistics with sound model selection; business intelligence and data visualization tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI, or similar); and interactive applications in JavaScript and React.
• Preferred: developing agents and agentic workflows, data embeddings and vector databases, and applications built on multimodal models.
• Curiosity paired with a bias to build, ownership and independence, customer obsession, a forward-looking mindset, and comfort amid ambiguity and rapid iteration.
• An exceptional storyteller and presenter who turns complex statistical work into compelling narratives for non-technical audiences, skilled at customer discovery, and able to influence without authority.

Compensation

$160,000 - $180,000 a year

Samba expects to offers On-Target Earnings (OTE) of $160,000 - $180,000 per year for roles to be performed in California, Illinois, or New York; actual base salary offered will depend on various factors, including but not limited to, location, experience, and performance. Base salary is just one component of Samba's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include bonuses, short-term incentives, and long-term incentives. In addition, Samba provides health insurance, wellness offerings, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and paid time off (PTO), and other employee benefits.

Samba is an equal opportunity employer.

Your personal information

We collect personal information directly from you when you apply. Where the law permits, we may also receive it from third parties, such as through background, employment, or reference checks. For details, see Samba’s Applicant Privacy Policy. For EU residents, Samba Inc. is the data controller.

Use of AI in hiring

We may use AI tools to help review applications, analyze resumes, or assess responses. These tools support our recruiting team. People make every hiring decision. To learn more about how we process your data, please reach out.