Senior Data Scientist

Ignite Reading; United States; On-site; USD 148,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock Options

Medical Coverage

Dental Coverage

Vision Coverage

Short-term Disability

401(k) Plan

Paid Parental Leave

Unlimited Vacation

Technology Stipend

Wellness Stipend

Life Insurance

Professional Development

Job summary

Ignite Reading seeks a Senior Data Scientist to lead advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and ML-driven decision-making across partner-facing teams. You will apply AI/ML to optimize student reading outcomes and partnerships nationwide, leveraging Claude, Cursor, and related tools.

You will collaborate with Sales, Marketing, and CX to translate model outputs into actionable insights, mentor teammates, and build scalable AI workflows for a mission-driven organization focused on teaching kids

Qualifications

• 6-8+ years across ML lifecycle in production.
• Strong quantitative modeling and experimental design.
• Proficiency in SQL and Python.
• Hands-on experience building agentic workflows or LLM automations with Claude/Cursor.
• Familiarity with AI operating practices and guardrails.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Self-starter in a high-growth startup environment.
• Passion for teaching kids to read.
• Preferred: experience with education data and PII handling.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver end-to-end predictive models (e.g., churn, lead scoring, health scores).
• Develop attribution and marketing mix models to inform strategy.
• Apply statistical methods to identify drivers and communicate findings clearly.
• Own the full ML lifecycle from problem framing to deployment and monitoring.
• Establish repeatable standards for model development and validation.
• Identify opportunities to apply ML to new business problems and surface recommendations.
• Build and deploy agentic workflows and Claude Skills to automate tasks.
• Evaluate emerging AI tools and techniques relevant to analytics.
• Mentor the analytics team and promote AI literacy.
• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, and CX to translate model outputs into insights.

Skills

SQL

Python

ML lifecycle

Agentic workflows

Claude skills

AI tooling

Tools

Claude

Cursor

Job description

Today, 67% of students and 82% of low-income students can’t read at grade level by the end of third grade. That’s when students are supposed to go from learning to read to reading to learn. It’s America’s number one education crisis and we know how to fix it.

Ignite Reading delivers one-to-one virtual tutoring that teaches every student the foundational skills they need to become a confident, fluent reader. We pair students who need extra support with expert reading tutors who provide daily, 15-minute, Science of Reading-based instruction that rapidly closes their decoding gaps. We focus on the foundational reading skills—phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight words—kids need to master so they can decode a sentence. Students in Ignite Reading’s program achieve over 2 weeks of reading skills growth per week of instruction, and notably all students achieve the same outstanding results including students with IEPs, multilingual learners, students of color and those receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

Ignite Reading is a mission-driven public benefit corporation. We believe we can do well for our team members and shareholders while we solve one of the nation’s biggest challenges. We believe we will be more successful with a diverse team and are seeking candidates who have lived experience related to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Your Role

Ignite Reading's mission is to teach every kid to read — and turning data into decisions is one of the most powerful ways the organization advances that work. In service of that goal, the Senior Data Scientist supports our partner-facing teams (Partnerships/Sales, Marketing, CX) as the Data & Analytics team's primary practitioner of advanced analytics, statistics, predictive modeling, and machine learning. This role is a senior individual contributor who applies DS/ML to generate actionable insights for the business, directly shaping how the organization acquires, retains, and grows partnerships with school districts nationwide.

This person brings meaningful AI fluency to the team, using Claude, Cursor, and related tools to accelerate analytical workflows and build agentic workflows and Skills that extend the team's capacity. This role reports to the Senior Manager of Partner Analytics and works in close partnership with the broader Data & Analytics team. It is an exceptional opportunity for someone who wants to see their work make a real difference that changes lives.

Key Responsibilities

Advanced Analytics & Statistical Modeling

• Design and deliver end-to-end predictive models (including partner churn prediction, lead scoring, and partner health scores), translating complex business questions into rigorous, production-ready analytical solutions.
• Develop and maintain attribution, marketing mix models and other marketing analytics frameworks that inform resource allocation and campaign strategy.
• Apply statistical methods to identify leading indicators, drivers, and patterns across partner data; communicate findings and trade-offs clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Data Science & Machine Learning

• Own the full ML lifecycle, from problem framing and feature engineering through model training, validation, deployment, and monitoring, ensuring models remain accurate, interpretable, and maintainable over time.
• Establish and uphold repeatable standards for model development, documentation, and validation that enable consistent, trustworthy DS/ML output across the team.
• Identify opportunities to apply ML and data science techniques to new business problems and proactively surface recommendations to leadership.

AI Engineering & Agentic Workflows

• Build and deploy agentic workflows and Claude Skills that automate analytical and modeling tasks, accelerate DS/ML development, and extend the team's capacity.
• Evaluate and recommend emerging AI tools and techniques relevant to data science and analytics.
• Act as an AI resource and mentor for the broader analytics team, modeling effective AI-assisted development practices and actively contributing to a shared culture of AI literacy.

Collaboration & Communication

• Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, and CX stakeholders to understand business context, identify and execute high-value analyses, and translate complex model outputs into clear, actionable insights and business narratives that directly shape organizational strategy and operations.
• Bring structure, documentation, and process discipline to ambiguous technical domains, ensuring work is reproducible and knowledge is shared.

Qualifications

Required

• 6-8+ years of demonstrated on-the-job experience across the entire ML lifecycle, building and deploying in production the kinds of models this role requires: churn prediction, propensity/upsell scoring, health scores, lead scoring, media mix modeling, or closely analogous work.
• Strong quantitative foundation: proficiency in statistical modeling, experimental design, and analytical methods applied to real business problems.
• Highly proficient in SQL and Python for data manipulation, analysis, and modeling.
• Meaningful hands-on experience building agentic workflows, Claude Skills, or LLM-based automations using Claude, Cursor, or equivalent generative AI tools to accelerate analytical and ML workflows on the job.
• Familiarity with AI operational practices (prompt libraries, guardrails, output validation) that enable consistent and reliable AI-assisted work.
• A natural mentor and collaborator; a strong communicator who can explain complex technical concepts clearly to varied audiences.
• A self-starter who works independently, persists until the job is done, and stays calm and resourceful in a high-growth, startup-like environment.
• Passionate about our mission to teach kids to read.

Preferred

• Experience with student or education data and familiarity with PII handling requirements.

Compensation & Benefits

At Ignite Reading, we embrace transparent compensation for a few reasons: to promote fairness and equity, to reduce pay discrimination based on gender, race, or negotiation skill, and to build trust within our team. The same role receives the same compensation — no negotiation.

• Salary: $174,000
• Employee Stock Options - we want our success to be yours too
• Medical, Dental, and Vision plans to support you and your well-being (80% employee coverage, 70% dependent coverage)
• Short-term Disability (100% employer paid)
• 401(k) retirement plans with company contribution
• 12-weeks paid parental leave
• Unlimited vacation days (+ 12 paid holidays)
• Technology Stipend
• Wellness Stipend
• Voluntary Life Insurance
• Professional Development Stipend

We believe in building and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where all applicants are considered for employment without attention to color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often don't apply for roles if they don't meet all the criteria – unlike majority candidates meeting significantly fewer requirements.

We are seeking candidates who have lived experience related to social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are a virtual organization with headquarters in the California Bay Area.