Senior Data Scientist, Causal Inference + Experimentation

EngineersOfAI; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 221,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Discord is hiring a Senior Data Scientist for the Experimentation Platform to ensure sound statistical underpinnings of product experiments and to raise the rigor of causal inference across the company.

You will collaborate with engineering and product teams, lead education efforts, and empower a 50+ member Data Science team to adopt robust experimental methods and data-driven decision making.

Qualifications

• > Proven experience designing and validating statistical methodologies for experimentation platforms or similar systems, ensuring accuracy and reliability of results.
• > MSc in statistics, economics, psychology, or related fields with 2+ years of experimental/causal inference work.
• > Ability to evaluate and recommend statistical approaches to improve experimentation frameworks.
• > Strong communication to explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
• > Experience developing training content to promote data literacy across teams.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to improve reliability and scalability of experimentation at Discord.
• Provide statistical leadership and ensure methodologies align with best practices in causal inference and experimental design.
• Lead initiatives to educate cross-functional teams on experimental design and causal inference concepts.
• Develop workshops and materials to demystify statistics and promote data-driven decisions across the company.
• Mentor a 50+ person Data Science team to apply rigorous causal inference methods and advance research priorities.

Skills

Statistical methods

Causal inference

Experiment design

Education/training

Python

SQL

R

Communication

Education

MSc in a quantitative field

PhD (bonus)

Tools

Python

SQL

R

Job description

Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games.

Discord is looking for an experienced, proactive, and self-driven Senior Data Scientist to join our Experimentation Platform team.The Experimentation Platform puts data at the heart of the company’s decision-making and growth by enabling rapid and accurate product experimentation. Discord runs hundreds of experiments on any given day, turning experiment results into business decisions. As a Data Scientist on this team, you will ensure that the statistical underpinnings of our experiments are sound, that experimenters are able to design experiments with high rigor, and that Discord makes the best business decisions on the basis of these experiments. We are a small and quickly growing team; you will be presented with significant leadership opportunities as we evolve.

Our team directly impacts the strategy and roadmaps that improve Discord for its more than 90M daily active users! If helping make Discord an even better place to hang out with your friends sounds like an exciting challenge - we'd love to chat with you! Check out our blog about how our team informs strategy & innovation at Discord here!

What You'll Be Doing

• Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to improve the reliability and scalability of experimentation at Discord.


• Provide statistical expertise, ensuring that all statistical choices, methodologies, and frameworks are sound and aligned with best practices in causal inference and experimental design.


• Lead initiatives to educate and train cross-functional teams on best practices in experimentation design, statistical methodologies, and causal inference, ensuring a deep understanding of the principles that drive sound decision-making under uncertainty.


• Develop and deliver engaging workshops, training sessions, and educational materials that demystify complex statistical concepts and promote data-driven decision-making across the company.


• Empower our Data Science team (50+ members) to use more rigorous causal inference methods.


• In addition to consulting within the wider Data Science team (50+ members), lead and conduct causal inference research of your own on important Discord priorities.

What you should have

• Proven experience in designing and validating statistical methodologies for experimentation platforms or similar systems, with a focus on ensuring the accuracy and reliability of experimental results.


• MSc in a quantitative field (e.g. Statistics, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, etc.) and 2+ years of experience designing, implementing and analyzing experiments or causal inference projects.


• Ability to critically evaluate and recommend statistical approaches and methodologies that enhance the integrity of experimentation frameworks.


• Strong passion for education and the ability to communicate complex statistical and experimental design concepts clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.


• Demonstrated experience in developing and delivering training programs or educational content related to experimentation, causal inference, or statistical analysis, with a track record of fostering a culture of data literacy within an organization.


• Proficient with Python, SQL, R, and other statistical programming languages.

Bonus Points

• PhD in a quantitative field


• Interest in conducting literature reviews, translating and championing best scientific practices to a wide range of functions across the company.


• Track record in using causal inference methods that translated into business decisions and outcomes.


• Passion for Discord or gaming.


• Causal inference related publications.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $220,500 to $245,000 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant educ