About the role

  • Lead Data Scientist driving innovation in personalization and data insight generation for ESPN's streaming products. Providing technical leadership and overseeing data science projects in a collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

  • Provide technical leadership for the data science team, guiding junior and mid-level data scientists through best practices in experimentation, modeling, analytics, and data storytelling.
  • Identify, analyze, and deliver high-impact insights for ESPN personalization—including user behavior trends, recommendation system performance, and content engagement patterns—to influence product decisions.
  • Design and analyze large-scale A/B and multivariate experiments using rigorous statistical methods, power analysis, variance reduction techniques, and causal inference frameworks.
  • Lead the design of automated dashboards, visualizations, and decision-support tools, while partnering with Data Engineering to build durable, production-ready data pipelines and science workflows.
  • Own end-to-end delivery of complex data science initiatives by collaborating with Product, Engineering, Content Programming, and Executive stakeholders, translating technical findings into actionable recommendations.

Requirements

  • 7+ years of experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or a related field
  • Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or a relevant field or equivalent industry experience
  • Proven track record of delivering high-quality experimentation analyses and actionable insights that influenced product strategy
  • Deep expertise in statistical testing, causal inference, and experiment design (A/B testing, power analysis, sequential testing, etc.)
  • Strong proficiency in Python, SQL, and modern ML/statistics libraries (pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch/TensorFlow optional)
  • Experience working with large-scale datasets in distributed computing environments (Spark, Databricks, Snowflake, etc.)
  • Strong familiarity with data engineering best practices and building durable data science assets on top of production-grade data
  • Demonstrated success with dashboarding tools (Tableau, Looker, Mode) and crafting data stories for a variety of stakeholders
  • Experience applying automation and AI-driven tools to streamline workflows, improve standardization, and optimize productivity
  • Exceptional communication skills, especially in translating technical analyses into compelling stories for product managers and executives
  • Ability to lead projects with high ambiguity and cross-functional complexity.

Benefits

  • A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package
  • Full range of medical benefits
  • Financial benefits

Job title

Lead Data Scientist

Job type

Experience level

Senior

Salary

$155,700 - $218,700 per year

Degree requirement

Bachelor's Degree

Location requirements

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