Lead Data Scientist, Ad Research
The Walt Disney Company · Seattle, WA · 2 mo ago
On-siteEngineering$156k–$209k/yrFull-time
About the role
The research/AI team is the dedicated AI/ML and data science arm of the Ad Platform organization. Its mission is to advance AI and machine learning capabilities across Ad Platform by delivering scalable, high impact AI/ML and data science solutions that enhance ad decisioning, forecasting, experimentation and ad experience.
Responsibilities
- Drive innovation and apply data science and statistical analysis in a variety of areas to enhance every aspect of advertising serving, including inventory forecasting, ad experience, ad pacing, pricing, targeting, advertising creation and enhancement, and efficient ad delivery.
- Translate business questions into data science framework; develop data analysis and data models for complex ad challenges with fast turnaround.
- Develop rigorous evaluation pipelines for generative AI technologies, including visual generations (image, video) and/or LLM-based agentic generations.
- Define and evaluate key metrics in various product areas.
- Partner closely with generative AI specialists to support the creation of datasets for generative AI modeling applications.
- Develop Standard Operating Procedures for human-driven evaluations or labeling.
- Deliver data insights and provide data-driven recommendations to cross-team stakeholders.
- Design and analyze A/B tests for machine learning algorithm iterations.
- Establish strong partnership with stakeholders, including product managers, engineers and program managers, in a collaborative environment.
- Mentor team members and support their technical growth.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's in computer science, statistics or equivalent experience
- At least 7 years of relevant industry experience in data science at leading internet or creative technology companies. Experience in the advertising domain is a strong bonus.
- Experience creating ML datasets and rigorous dataset labeling or evaluation processes for models.
- Strong interest to learn about generative mixed media, generative video, and diffusion-based technology.
- Solid knowledge of data science and statistics. Strong communication skills and business acumen.
- Proficient in SQL, Python, Java, or R. Familiar with Tableau, and/or other visualization tools.
- Experience designing and building machine learning models.
- Passionate about understanding the ad business, applying data science to relevant business scenarios, and seeking innovation opportunities to enhance business effectiveness.
- Interested in supporting rapid prototyping, generative AI, and creative technologies, including applications to advertisement creation and enhancement.
- Experienced building data-driven services and applications for production.
- A proven track record of thriving in a fast-paced, data-driven, and collaborative work environment is required.
Nice-to-haves
- MS or PhD in computer science, statistics or equivalent experience
- Experience in digital video advertising or digital marketing domain
- Experience in production-grade development, rapid prototyping, or generative AI related research using LLMs, generative imagery or video, or agentic flows. Otherwise a strong interest to learn.
- Experience with Airflow, data warehouse, Databricks or Sagemaker.