Senior/Staff Data Scientist

About the role

Sovrn is an Advertising Technology Software and Data business that helps Open Web businesses remain independent. We help them understand their business better, operate more efficiently, and make and keep more money. As a Senior or Staff Data Scientist, you will be a strategic technical leader driving high-impact data initiatives across the organization. This role requires a blend of strategic vision and tactical execution to solve ambiguous problems, deliver measurable business value, and influence the future of data science in AdTech. You will guide architecture, experimentation, and product design while ensuring scientific and technical rigor.

Responsibilities

• Operate at the frontier of applied AI as a hands-on practitioner, exploring, prototyping, evaluating, and deploying cutting-edge Agentic AI technologies to inform product, modeling, and optimization decisions.
• Design, implement, and deploy advanced predictive models, algorithms, and experiments to optimize ad performance, user engagement, and monetization strategies.
• Analyze large-scale datasets to identify patterns, trends, and optimization opportunities while maintaining and improving data pipelines and experimentation frameworks.
• Define and evangelize best practices in modeling, testing, measurement, and data governance, ensuring scientific rigor while balancing business constraints and timelines.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to identify high-leverage AI/ML opportunities, translate them into actionable roadmaps, and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Mentor other data scientists through code review, experiment design, and technical feedback, modeling how to stay current with fast-moving AI research in a production-focused environment.
• Translate complex data problems into strategic decisions through compelling storytelling and clear communication to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

• Proven ability to deploy autonomous agents to production, including optimizing inference performance, managing latency/cost tradeoffs, and ensuring robust model evaluation.
• Demonstrated prompt engineering discipline by systematically evaluating prompts across model families using quantitative evaluation.
• Active use of AI tools in daily technical work, integrating coding assistants, orchestration frameworks, and search-augmented workflows to accelerate prototyping and reduce iteration cycles.
• Experience in data science and applied machine learning with a strong record of delivering business impact.
• Deep technical proficiency across classical ML (supervised/unsupervised), reinforcement learning, and deep learning, with a strong foundation in statistical modeling, A/B testing, and causal inference.
• Proficiency with Python, SQL, cloud-based data ecosystems, modern AI/ML frameworks (e.g., Pandas, Scikit-Learn, PyTorch/TensorFlow, LangChain, Hugging Face, PydanticAI), and experience with large-scale datasets and distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Spark, PySpark), and Databricks running on AWS Cloud.
• Strong understanding of ad tech ecosystems (e.g., RTB, DSP/SSP workflows, auctions, and yield optimization) is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to influence across technical and non-technical audiences, lead cross-functional initiatives, and work in a collaborative, agile environment (Scrum and Kanban).
• A strategic mindset with strong product intuition and experience working at scale.

We value diverse experiences and transferable skills. Passion and accountability are key, and we encourage you to apply if your experience aligns closely with our needs.

Location

Sovrn offices are located in Boulder, CO and New York, NY. In-person work is the default for employees near these offices, with flexibility for focused work or personal circumstances.

Pay

In Colorado, the annual base salary for the senior-level position is $155,000 to $185,000 and the staff-level position is $170,000 to $200,000. Individual compensation decisions are based on job-related education, experience, skills, and work location. This role may also be eligible for bonus opportunities, commission earnings, and/or equity awards.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Paid holidays and flexible paid time off
• Paid medical leave and parental leave
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• Life insurance
• 401(k) plan participation with company match
• Commuter benefits
• Wellness and employee support programs