Senior Data Scientist

Haystack News, the number one destination for news on streaming platforms, is looking for a Sr Data Scientist to join our team. Haystack is trusted by over 30 million viewers and is among the fastest-growing TV news companies in the world.

Join our team at Haystack News as a Senior Data Scientist and become a pivotal force in redefining user experiences through cutting-edge algorithm enhancements. In this role, you'll leverage your advanced statistical analysis, modeling, causal inference, experimental design (A/B testing) and data analytics expertise to drive substantial improvements in user engagement and retention, directly impacting our product's success. This is an exceptional opportunity to showcase your robust problem-solving capabilities and to thrive in a collaborative environment, working alongside a team of passionate professionals dedicated to innovation and excellence. Be part of a dynamic workplace where your contributions make a meaningful difference and help shape the future of news consumption.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• PhD or M.S. in Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Economics or Operations Research with 5+ years of professional experience in data science, machine learning or related quantitative field
• 3+ years of professional experience with large-scale online ranking/recommender systems (for news feeds, shopping, ads, music, etc).
• Deep expertise in statistical inference and experimental design: hypothesis testing, power/sample size calculations, variance reduction, etc.
• Proficiency in causal inference methods to measure product impact.
• Proven ability to translate offline analysis into product decisions and measurable improvements in online metrics.
• Fluency in the Python analytics stack (pandas, NumPy), statistical modeling (statsmodels or scikit-learn) and machine learning packages such as LightGBM and XGBoost.
• Strong experience with SQL (e.g. postgres, snowflake, etc).

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience working on consumer-facing products with millions of users.
• Hands-on experience with orchestration/transformation tools (e.g. dbt and Airflow).
• Experience with deep learning and being familiar with tools such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Hands-on development of products/tools incorporating GenAI, LLMs, RAG, and/or Agents.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build statistical and machine learning models to improve content discovery and user engagement.
• Work closely with ML engineers to translate models and insights into production systems.
• Have curiosity and apply analytical skills to dive deep into data to find key insights that would impact the business.
• Apply causal inference methods to understand the impact of potential product changes.
• Define and build new ML features using text and multimodal embeddings and GenAI.
• Validate offline learnings with online outcomes through AB testing. Design, execute, and analyze experiments to prove product change attribution.