Senior Data Scientist, Algorithm, Lyft Biz

Lyft; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Mental health benefits

Family building benefits

Child care & pet benefits

401(k) with match

Paid time off

Parental leave

Commuter benefits

Lyft credits & Pink

Job summary

Lyft is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to lead technical initiatives across the Lyft Business product suite. You will shape the technical vision, define algorithmic roadmaps, and drive production ML models, experimentation frameworks, and analytics for enterprise partners.

You will collaborate with Product, Engineering, Design, and Go-to-Market teams to accelerate growth, improve operational efficiency, and deliver measurable value, while mentoring others and upholding high ML standards.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree or equivalent in ML/CS/Statistics.
• 5+ years of production ML experience.
• Proficiency with Python and ML frameworks.
• Experience with distributed data systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead ML, AI, and causal inference initiatives across Lyft Business.
• Own end-to-end modeling lifecycle from problem to deployment.
• Collaborate with Engineering to scale production ML systems.
• Define offline/online metrics and A/B testing strategies.
• Improve model performance in latency, accuracy, cost.
• Drive algorithmic innovation with modern ML techniques.
• Translate business challenges into algorithmic solutions.
• Mentor junior scientists and uphold ML standards.

Skills

Machine learning

Experiment design

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Mentorship

Domain ownership

Education

Master’s or PhD in ML/CS/Statistics

Tools

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

scikit-learn

Spark

Snowflake

Databricks

Job description

At Lyft, our purpose is to serve and connect. We aim to achieve this by cultivating a work environment where all team members belong and have the opportunity to thrive.

Data Science is at the heart of Lyft’s products and decision-making. Data Scientists at Lyft operate in dynamic environments, moving quickly to build the world’s best transportation solutions.We tackle a wide range of challenges - from shaping long-term business strategy with data, to making critical short-term decisions, to developing algorithms and models that power both internal systems and customer-facing products.

Lyft Business builds products that help organizations move the people who matter most - employees, customers, patients, and guests - easily and efficiently. Our offerings include Business Travel, Lyft Pass, and Concierge (for healthcare and non-healthcare rides), enabling companies to manage transportation at scale through APIs, integrations (e.g., Concur, Expensify), and dedicated tools. These platforms power high-impact B2B use cases across corporate travel, healthcare access, customer experience, and community programs.

We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist to lead technical initiatives across the entire Lyft Business product suite. In this role, you will shape the technical vision, define algorithmic roadmaps, and drive execution for data science projects that accelerate growth, improve operational efficiency, and deliver measurable value to our enterprise partners. You’ll collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, Design, and Go-to-Market teams to build production ML models, experimentation frameworks, and advanced analytics that inform strategy and power product innovation.

This is a high-visibility, high-impact role with direct influence on Lyft’s enterprise offerings. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in algorithm development, machine learning, causal inference, and experimentation, alongside strong business acumen in B2B contexts and a proven track record of technical leadership in fast-paced, cross-functional environments.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Lead complex Machine Learning, AI, and causal inference initiatives across Lyft Business products (Business Travel, Lyft Pass, Concierge) in ambiguous, high-impact problem spaces.

• End-to-End Modelling: Own the complete lifecycle of algorithmic solutions—from problem formulation, data exploration, and feature engineering to deployment, monitoring, and iteration.

• Production Deployment: Partner closely with Engineering to build and scale production-grade ML systems, real-time inference services, batch pipelines, and feature stores.

• Experimentation & Rigor: Define offline/online metrics, evaluation frameworks, and A/B testing strategies to ensure algorithms are reliable, fair, and aligned with business outcomes.

• System Optimization: Continually improve model performance across latency, accuracy, cost, and reliability using advanced tuning and scientific rigor.

• Algorithmic Innovation: Drive scientific excellence by introducing modern techniques in ML, optimization, reinforcement learning, or graph-based methods to unlock new product capabilities.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Translate complex business challenges into concrete algorithmic solutions in close collaboration with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Science teams.

• Mentorship & Quality Bar: Mentor junior and mid-level scientists, providing technical guidance, conducting modeling critiques, and contributing to Lyft's broader ML standards and tooling.

Experience

• Master’s or PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Statistics, Optimization, or a related quantitative field (or equivalent applied experience)

• Industry Background: 5+ years of hands-on experience developing, deploying, and maintaining production machine learning models and optimization systems.

• Core Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of supervised/unsupervised learning, ranking/decisioning systems, probabilistic modeling, and causal inference.

• Technical Stack: Strong proficiency in Python, modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn), and distributed data systems (Spark, Snowflake, Databricks).

• Production ML Systems: Hands-on experience building end-to-end ML architectures, including online/batch pipelines, feature engineering, and automated monitoring frameworks.

• Experimental Design: Demonstrated track record of designing rigorous experimentation strategies, A/B tests, and offline/online validation methodologies.

• Domain Ownership: Proven ability to independently drive multi-project algorithmic scopes and navigate technical ambiguity from ideation to delivery.Communication & Leadership: Exceptional ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders, alongside a history of mentoring peers and raising technical bars.

Benefits:

• Great medical, dental, and vision insurance options with additional programs available when enrolled

• Mental health benefits

• Family building benefits

• Child care and pet benefits

• 401(k) plan with company match to help save for your future

• In addition to 12 observed holidays, salaried team members have discretionary paid time off, hourly team members have 15 days paid time off

• 18 weeks of paid parental leave. Biological, adoptive, and foster parents are all eligible

• Subsidized commuter benefits

• Monthly Lyft credits and complimentary Lyft Pink membership

Lyft is an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive workplace that fosters belonging. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by law. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

Lyft highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. This role will be in-office on a hybrid schedule - Team Members will be expected to work in the office 3 days per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Lyft considers working in the office at least 3 days per week to be an essential function of this hybrid role. Your recruiter can share more information about the various in-office perks Lyft offers. Additionally, hybrid roles have the flexibility to work from anywhere for up to 4 weeks per year. #Hybrid

The expected base pay range for this position in the Seattle area is $136,160 - $170,200, not inclusive of potential equity offering, bonus or benefits. Salary ranges are dependent on a variety of factors, including qualifications, experience and geographic location. Your recruiter can share more information about the salary range specific to your working location and other factors during the hiring process.