VP, Data Science

Invitation Homes•Dallas, TX

About The Position

The Vice President, Data Science will lead Invitation Homes’ data science function—owning the strategy, technical direction, and hands-on development of the quantitative models and machine learning systems that drive decision-making across marketing, resident acquisition and retention, customer experience, pricing, and portfolio performance. This is a hands-on leadership role split roughly evenly across three areas: partnering with senior leaders on strategy and roadmap, coaching and developing the team, and personally building and validating models. You will set the vision and standards for the team while staying close enough to the technical work to frame problems, build models, and shepherd them into production. You will partner closely with senior marketing, operations, and technology leaders to identify high-value opportunities, shape the analytics roadmap, and deliver scalable, reliable solutions that improve the speed, consistency, and quality of business decisions. You will lead a small, high-performing team of data scientists and machine learning engineers, dividing your time between coaching and developing talent and personally contributing to the most complex, highest-impact work. The ideal candidate is a proven technical leader who combines deep data science and machine learning expertise with strong business judgment and communication skills—someone who can translate ambiguous business problems into data-driven decision systems, mentor a growing team, and turn technical excellence into measurable business value.

Requirements

BA/BS degree with emphasis on a quantitative discipline (e.g., Data Science, Statistics, Economics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Operations Research) required; advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a quantitative or applied science strongly preferred.
10+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied analytics, including substantial hands-on ownership of model development and production machine learning systems.
5+ years of experience leading and developing data science or machine learning talent, with a demonstrated ability to build and mentor high-performing teams while remaining hands-on.
Demonstrated experience building, deploying, and operating machine learning or optimization systems in production, with accountability across the full lifecycle from design through deployment, monitoring, and retraining.
Demonstrated success applying predictive, prescriptive, forecasting, optimization, and segmentation methods to complex business problems.
Strong hands-on proficiency in SQL and Python (experience with R or other languages a plus).
Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, or Azure) and modern data technologies (e.g., Snowflake, Spark, or Databricks).
Expertise in data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau; Datorama a plus).
Experience accessing various APIs and scripting refresh/update and ETL/ELT processes.
Demonstrated success using performance-based / ROI analysis to drive decisions and recommendations for resident and business strategy.
Excellent verbal and written communication, with a proven ability to explain analytical concepts and results to senior business leaders.
Demonstrated experience analyzing customer behavior and creating customer segmentation.
Strong business judgment and the ability to shape strategy and lead cross-functional prioritization.
Ability to be at work on a regular and consistent basis.

Nice To Haves

Experience analyzing and assessing marketing channel performance—including digital ads, Google Ads, Facebook, and web analytics—a plus.

Responsibilities

Define and own the strategy and roadmap for Invitation Homes’ data science and machine learning capabilities, aligning technical priorities with the company’s most valuable business opportunities.
Partner with marketing, operations, revenue management, and technology leadership to identify, prioritize, and deliver analytical solutions with the greatest business impact—focused on resident acquisition, engagement, retention, and loyalty; customer experience; pricing; and long-term value.
Translate complex business challenges into clear roadmaps, delivery plans, and measurable outcomes, and curate a backlog that sets expectations on the timing of deliverables.
Represent data science in planning, prioritization, and investment discussions, and communicate findings and recommendations clearly to senior business stakeholders with supporting visualizations.
Dedicate roughly a third of your time to personal technical contribution—model development, experimentation, and validation—on the highest-impact work.
Set technical standards and direction across modeling, experimentation, deployment, monitoring, and governance for the team.
Provide leadership in advanced analytical methods including predictive modeling, forecasting, optimization, segmentation, and machine learning.
Persistently assess the status quo, looking for opportunities to simplify, optimize, and improve existing analytical constructs and solutions.
Evaluate and responsibly adopt emerging capabilities, including generative AI, where they create measurable business value.
Own the full analytical and machine learning lifecycle—from framing business problems and developing models through production deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Ensure analytical and machine learning systems are designed as reliable, reproducible, and auditable end-to-end decision systems.
Guide development of production-grade solutions on modern cloud-based data platforms.
Institutionalize the processes of aggregating, organizing, and preparing data for analysis, and create stable refresh processes that keep findings and insights fresh.
Advance modern engineering practices including version control, CI/CD, automation, and reusable delivery patterns.
Lead, mentor, and grow a small, high-performing team of data scientists and machine learning engineers, dedicating roughly a third of your time to coaching and developing talent.
Attract, assess, hire, and retain exceptional technical talent, and develop team members through coaching and structured development.
Establish a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Help upskill data and analytics expertise across the team and among business partners.
Establish high standards for reproducibility, data quality, code quality, validation, and production support.
Ensure analytical decisions are correct, explainable, and defensible before deployment.
Continuously improve the team’s operating model and delivery practices.
Work closely with the business intelligence team to create on-brand visualizations and management tools that improve performance related to customer acquisition and experience.

Benefits

Competitive pay and annual bonus program for all associates
Generous PTO including vacation accrual, sick time, volunteer time, and standard and floating holidays
401(k) with company matching contributions
Casual dress code and a genuinely great work environment
Team events, celebrations, and a culture that values connection
Employee Resource Groups: Together with Women, Asian Alliance, Black Collective, Juntos, Gen Next, and Open Invitation
Career growth paths and learning opportunities — we promote from within
Annual bonus program
Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
Long-term and short-term disability insurance
Generous paid time off plans include vacation accrual, sick time, standard holidays and floating holidays
401(k) with company matching contributions
Awesome work environment with casual dress
Team events and gatherings (Pre- and Post-Covid)