Staff Data Scientist - Experimentation & Measurement

Sony Interactive Entertainment; San Mateo (CA); Hybrid; USD 212,200 - 318,200; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401(k) Matching

Paid time off

Wellness program

Employee discounts

Bonus eligibility

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment is seeking a Staff Data Scientist in San Mateo, CA (Hybrid) to lead experimentation programs and causal analysis across PlayStation initiatives.

You will design experiments, partner with product and engineering teams, mentor peers, and help scale frameworks for rigorous data-driven decision making. Requires strong statistical methods and ML exposure.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
• 6+ years in a data science experimentation/causal inference role.
• Deep expertise in A/B testing and causal inference.
• Proficiency in SQL and Python.
• Broad knowledge of statistical techniques.
• Experience with ML modeling is a plus.
• Ability to influence product decisions through insights.
• Experience contributing to experimentation frameworks or internal tooling.

Responsibilities

• Design, execute, and interpret A/B tests and quasi-experiments.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to embed experimentation into workflows.
• Mentor other Data Scientists and provide technical direction.
• Set best practices for hypothesis, metrics, tests, and results communication.
• Help define centralized experimentation frameworks, tools, and documentation.
• Independently extract, transform, and analyze data using SQL and Python.
• Communicate findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Stay current on new methodologies in experimentation and causal analysis.
• Influence how PlayStation builds, markets, and evolves products.

Skills

A/B testing

Causal inference

SQL

Python

Statistics

Experimentation frameworks

Influence product decisions

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's or PhD in Statistics/Econometrics

Job description

Why Sony Interactive Entertainment?

Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting‑edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.

Staff Data Scientist – Experimentation & Measurement

San Mateo, CA (Hybrid)

Overview:

As a Staff Data Scientist on the Decision Science team at PlayStation, you will take a leading role in designing and interpreting experiments that evaluate the impact of key initiatives and programs. You’ll help shape how millions of players around the world experience PlayStation by bringing statistical rigor, clear measurement strategies, and deep causal inference expertise to some of the most critical initiatives across the company. This highly visible role will advance our experimentation practices and ensure that data-driven insights inform the way we build, market, and evolve our products.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Design, execute, and interpret A/B tests and quasi-experiments, and apply advanced causal inference methods when experimentation isn’t feasible.
• Partner with cross-functional teams (product, engineering, marketing) to embed experimentation into development and iteration cycles and communicate results with the company’s senior leadership.
• Mentor and guide other Data Scientists, providing thought leadership and technical direction.
• Serve as a thought leader on best practices for hypothesis development, metric selection, test structure, and results communication.
• Help define and contribute to centralized experimentation frameworks, tools, and documentation to scale best practices across the company.
• Independently extract, transform, and analyze data from complex systems using SQL, Python, and other analytics tools.
• Communicate findings clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders, helping drive business decisions with rigor and clarity.
• Stay current on new methodologies in experimentation and causal analysis, and bring fresh perspectives to the team’s work.
• Your insights will directly influence how PlayStation builds, markets, and evolves products across our ecosystem.

Basic Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
• 6+ years of experience in a data science experimentation/causal inference-focused role (4+ with PhD).
• Deep expertise in A/B testing and causal inference, including quasi-experimental methods.
• Proficiency in SQL and Python for data extraction, transformation, and analysis.
• Broad and applied knowledge of statistical techniques.
• Experience with machine learning modeling is a plus.
• Proven ability to influence product and business decisions through clear, actionable insights.
• Experience contributing to or developing experimentation frameworks, best practices, or internal tooling.

Preferred Requirements:

• Master’s or PhD in Statistics, Economics, or Econometrics. Other degrees in quantitative disciplines may be considered.
• Bonus: Interest in or knowledge of video games, gaming platforms, or player behavior.

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top-tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.

$212,200—$318,200 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity.

We encourage everyone to respond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.