Staff Scientist, Tech - Science
About the Role and Team
Being a Staff Scientist at Uber means solving the complex, global-scale puzzle of how millions of people and things move in the real world. You aren't just an individual contributor; you are a technical multiplier operating at the high-stakes intersection of digital systems and physical movement. Whether you are architecting next-generation marketplace mechanisms or defining the experimentation guardrails for a whole product area, you will be working where performance and scale can't be separated. This is a high-impact leadership role that requires navigating extreme ambiguity and making smart decisions with imperfect information. You won't just build models; you will set the scientific strategy for entire organizations, mentoring the next generation of scientists and influencing executive-level roadmaps. If you are a pragmatist who thrives on solving "unsolvable" problems and taking full ownership of outcomes in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment—this is where you'll make your mark.
Responsibilities
- Translate strategically important, unstructured problems into rigorous experiments and productionized solutions that move the needle for Uber's global business.
- Lead the architecture and design of next-generation algorithms, role-modeling coding best practices and promoting the adoption of key frameworks across the organization.
- Set the science strategy and experimentation standards across multiple teams, ensuring scientific rigor and driving organization-wide adoption of best practices.
- Act as a technical multiplier, identifying opportunities for better performance, efficiency, and reduction of technical debt in software, models, and processes.
- Influence executive-level roadmaps by presenting complex technical findings and long-term strategic recommendations to senior leadership.
- Own the technical trajectory of critical product areas, ensuring solutions are designed to be extensible, modular, and observable while balancing short-term needs and long-term productivity.
Requirements
- Ph.D., M.S., or B.S. degree in Statistics, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, Economics, or other quantitative fields.
- If M.S. degree, a minimum of 6+ years of industry experience required; if B.S. degree, a minimum of 8+ years of industry experience required.
- Deep expertise in statistical inference and experimental design (e.g., A/B, switchbacks, cluster-randomized trials).
- Proficiency in SQL and Python to work efficiently with large-scale datasets and distributed tools (e.g., Spark, Hive, Presto).
Preferred Qualifications
- Technical Vision: A track record of foreseeing architectural or scientific problems 12+ months out and addressing them before they impact the business.
- Impact & Scale: Experience leading multi-quarter, cross-functional initiatives that moved significant marketplace or financial metrics in production.
- Technical Brand: Recognized as a technical leader who can inspire and rally engineers/scientists around a vision while making tough trade-offs with a bias for action.
- Domain Mastery: Specialized expertise in Causal Inference at scale, Marketplace Optimization, or ML System Design for high-throughput environments.
Pay
For New York City, NY-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $216,000 per year - USD $240,000 per year. You may be eligible for bonuses, equity, and other compensation.
Benefits
- Participation in Uber's bonus program.
- Eligibility for equity awards and other types of compensation.
- 401(k) plan for full-time employees.
- Various benefits (health, wellness, etc.).
Schedule
Offices remain key to collaboration and Uber's culture. Unless approved for full remote work, employees must spend at least 50% of their time in-office. Some roles, like those at greenlight hubs, require full-time in-office presence. Ask your Recruiter for details about this role's requirements.