Senior Decision Scientist (Experimentation & Decision Enablement)

About the role

Vanguard is advancing decision optimization capabilities to improve the quality, transparency, and impact of business decisions. This role plays a critical part in that effort by generating high-quality evidence on what works and ensuring those insights are effectively applied within a decision product used by business leaders.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute experiments to evaluate the impact of business and operational decisions
• Apply structured analytical approaches, including quasi-experimental methods where appropriate, to generate evidence in real-world settings
• Partner with stakeholders to identify high-impact opportunities for testing and learning, prioritizing where evidence will reduce decision uncertainty
• Input assumptions, parameters, and experimental findings into the decision product to inform model outputs
• Interpret decision outputs generated by the analytical engine and translate them into clear, actionable guidance for business users
• Communicate results, including implications, trade-offs, and uncertainty, in a way that builds trust and supports decision-making
• Partner with Data Scientists to ensure experimental insights and learnings are incorporated into the evolution of the analytical engine
• Ensure decision outputs are aligned to real-world workflows and are usable within business planning and operational contexts
• Balance statistical rigor with operational feasibility when designing and executing experiments

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree (or equivalent experience) in a quantitative field; advanced degree preferred
• Experience designing, executing, and analyzing experiments or structured analytical studies in business environments
• Familiarity with causal inference concepts, including quasi-experimental approaches, or demonstrated ability to develop these skills
• Strong understanding of experimental design, statistical inference, and measurement frameworks
• Proficiency in Python, R, or similar tools for data analysis
• Able to interpret analytical outputs and translate them into actionable business insights
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence decision-making
• Comfort working in ambiguous, real-world environments where trade-offs between rigor and practicality must be managed