Senior Economist

About the role

The Senior Economist will drive causal inference and marketplace optimization at scale for Expedia Group's Economics and Experimentation Science team. They will tackle high-stakes problems such as measuring incrementality in two-sided marketplaces, quantifying long-term value of customer behavior signals, and evaluating product changes using quasi-experimental methods.

Responsibilities

• Build scalable econometric models (panel data methods, DiD, RDD, IV) to measure elasticity, changes in supplier behavior, and customer lifetime value in the presence of endogeneity, simultaneity, and platform dynamics.
• Establish the technical roadmap for long-term impact measurement, moving beyond short-term experiment metrics to quantify sustained effects on customer retention, partner engagement, and marketplace equilibrium.
• Design and execute causal measurement frameworks for marketplace interventions, including geo experiments, difference-in-differences, synthetic controls, and instrumental variable approaches, to isolate the true causal effect of product changes.
• Partner with ML teams to integrate causal inference into production systems, informing ranking algorithms, pricing optimization, and recommendation engines with econometrically validated insights.
• Mentor data scientists and economists across the organization, elevating the rigor of causal reasoning and experimental design.

Requirements

• PhD in Economics, Applied Economics, Econometrics, Statistics, or a related quantitative field
• 8+ years of relevant professional experience
• Solid foundation in microeconomic theory and applied econometrics, with the ability to apply appropriate causal inference techniques
• Demonstrated experience applying econometric methods to real-world business problems in tech, e-commerce, or marketplace environments
• Deep expertise in the causal inference toolkit: IV, DiD, RDD, synthetic controls, panel data methods, experimental design, metalearners, doubleML, causal forests
• Proficiency in Python or R with strong SQL skills to work with large-scale, noisy, real-world data
• Experience with marketplace or platform economics: two-sided markets, network effects, dynamic pricing, or general equilibrium modeling
• Experience integrating causal models into ML pipelines or production systems
• Familiarity with modern AI/ML workflows and LLM-assisted analysis tools
• Background in travel, e-commerce, or large-scale consumer marketplaces

Qualifications

• Exceptional communication skills: ability to explain econometric methodology, identifying assumptions, and business implications to non-technical executives
• Ability to work in a fast-paced business environment

Skills

• Rigorous econometric thinking
• Collaboration with ML engineers, data scientists, analysts, and product leaders
• Translating complex econometric findings into clear executive narratives

Benefits

The total cash range for this position in Seattle is $173,000.00 to $242,500.00. Employees in this role have the potential to increase their pay up to $277,000.00, which is the top of the range, based on ongoing, demonstrated, and sustained performance in the role. Starting pay for this role will vary based on multiple factors, including location, available budget, and an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experience. Pay ranges may be modified in the future.

Expedia Group is proud to offer a wide range of benefits to support employees and their families, including medical/dental/vision, paid time off, and an Employee Assistance Program. To fuel each employee’s passion for travel, we offer a wellness & travel reimbursement, travel discounts, and an International Airlines Travel Agent (IATAN) membership.