Lead Data Scientist

FanDuel • New York, NY

70d • Hybrid

About The Position

FanDuel is looking for a Lead Data Scientist who specializes in customer behavior modeling and personalization to join our team. In this role you will develop and implement advanced recommendation and ranking models that power personalized Sportsbook and Casino experiences, and build a deep understanding of customer behavior through the marketing, product, and analytics lens. This role requires a strong background in data science, modern deep learning, and large-scale customer analytics. You will own open-ended, ambiguous problems end-to-end—from ideation and problem formulation, through model research and offline evaluation, to partnering with ML Engineering on production deployment and post-launch iteration.
In addition to the specific responsibilities outlined above, employees may be required to perform other such duties as assigned by the Company. This ensures operational flexibility and allows the Company to meet evolving business needs.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a highly numerate field (Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, Economics, or related).
• 7+ years of applied data science experience (or equivalent research/industry combination) creating and deploying models in production environments.
• Hands on experience working in customer personalization and a strong understanding of the technical elements required in building and maintaining advanced models
• Strong practical experience with modern deep learning for personalization, including embeddings, sequence models, and transformers (experience with CNNs or other neural architectures is a plus).
• Experience in experimentation to validate models' impact and ability to quantify that impact
• Experience using user behavioral, promotional and marketing data in model building
• Proficiency in SQL and Python
• Experience with tech stacks such as MLFlow, Spark, and Databricks
• Can write production level code, understand principles of programming
• Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity

Nice To Haves

• MS or PhD in a relevant field strongly preferred:
• PhD candidates: demonstrated research in deep neural networks (e.g., representation learning, sequence modeling, transformers) and applications to recommendation / ranking or related problems.
• MS candidates: substantial industry experience working with Engineering and Product to design, ship, and iterate on machine-learning-powered products.
• Interest in Sports and/or Sports Gaming preferred

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy large-scale recommendation, retrieval, and ranking models (e.g., deep learning with embeddings and transformers) to drive personalized Sportsbook and Casino experiences across business units.
• Define and evolve the technical architecture for modern personalization systems (feature pipelines, candidate generation, ranking, feedback loops), partnering closely with ML Engineers and Data Engineering.
• Perform analysis on large and complex data sets utilizing relevant tools (SQL, Python, Spark) and provide strategic contributions
• Use statistical and machine learning techniques to segment users and predict future behaviors, developing automated logic and decision algorithms to deliver a better experience to the customer
• Lead projects from start to finish, set proper expectations, and collaborate with other data scientists, ML engineers, and product managers to communicate technical findings and support data driven decision making
• Oversee the integration and deployment of cross-functional and cross-organizational projects, developing process improvements and technical leadership
• Stay up to date on the latest advancements in data science and leverage cutting edge technology
• Mentor, brainstorm with, and enable others within the DS team and broader Data organization

Benefits

• We offer amazing benefits above and beyond the basics. We have an array of health plans to choose from (some as low as $0 per paycheck) that include programs for fertility and family planning, mental health support, and fitness benefits.
• We offer generous paid time off (PTO & sick leave), annual bonus and long-term incentive opportunities (based on performance), 401k with up to a 5% match, commuter benefits , pet insurance, and more - check out all our benefits here: FanDuel Total Rewards.
• Benefits differ across location, role, and level.
• This role may offer the following benefits: medical, vision, and dental insurance; life insurance; disability insurance; a 401(k) matching program; among other employee benefits.
• This role may also be eligible for short-term or long-term incentive compensation, including, but not limited to, cash bonuses and stock program participation.
• This role includes paid personal time off and 14 paid company holidays.
• FanDuel offers paid sick time in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level