Senior Game Data Analyst

At A Thinking Ape, data is how we build and grow successful games. We’ve invested in self-service analytics so teams can independently access, explore, and act on data - primarily through Looker models/dashboards and SQL via BigQuery.

As the Senior Game Data Analyst embedded in the Live Ops Product team, you turn that capability into outcomes. You’ll deliver fast, high-quality analysis and clear recommendations that improve engagement, retention, monetization, and ROAS across our live portfolio. You’ll build and refine Looker explores and dashboards, validate hypotheses, measure feature and event impact, and produce BI that guides content cadence and major seasonal events. You balance enabling self-service (models, dashboards, documentation, office hours) with delivering bespoke BI and deep dives on complex questions that require targeted analysis. You’ll tackle complex, multi-stakeholder questions and deliver clear, actionable insights for non-data experts.

You are the dedicated analyst for Live Ops collaborating daily with product managers, designers, and live-ops owners to define success metrics, surface opportunities, and close the loop from insight to action. There is no direct people leadership in this role, however mentoring and guiding non-analysts will be essential.

Responsibilities

Data Foundations & Governance

• Define, document, and guard the Live Ops KPI metrics and leading indicators; ensure all dashboards reference canonical definitions.
• Partner with Data Engineering on telemetry schema design and upstream data models; review changes for semantic impact and flag risks early (no ETL/pipeline ownership).
• Maintain a metric catalog and usage docs; manage Looker permissions and privacy/access controls.

Self-Service & Looker Modeling

• Build/refine Looker explores, Looks, and dashboards atop BigQuery models to match producer and Live Ops workflows.
• Provide micro-training and short guides to increase data literacy and drive self-serve adoption.
• Track dashboard usage; consolidate redundant assets and retire stale ones.

Decision Support & BI Delivery

• Translate business questions into structured analyses and recommendations that drive engagement, retention, monetization, and ROAS.
• Produce weekly/monthly KPI readouts and executive summaries: what changed, why it changed, risk signals, and recommended actions.
• Build short-horizon forecasts for major tentpoles (retention/ARPDAU/revenue) and scenario “what-ifs”; compare actuals vs. plan and recommend next best actions.

Event & Feature Analytics

• Own pre-/post-mortems for seasonal events, sales, and feature launches; quantify impact vs. goals and propose next actions.
• Create reusable playbooks (metrics, methods, templates) for recurring event types and content beats.

Experimentation & Measurement

• Partner on experiment/holdout design, success metrics, and guardrails; check for SRM and apply variance-reduction where applicable.
• Analyze results with clear, non-technical takeaways, confidence levels, and recommended next steps; track longer-tail effects where relevant.
• Set up monitoring for experiment health and data quality; document assumptions and limitations.

Economy & Fraud Monitoring

• Establish economy baselines (currency sinks/sources, inflation/deflation, price elasticity, inventory growth) with thresholds and on-call playbooks.
• Partner with Live Ops and Engineering to implement and monitor fraud/abuse detection signals.

KPI Monitoring & Alerting

• Build alerts for anomalies in retention, ARPDAU, payer conversion, ROAS, and funnel health; investigate, triage, and escalate with recommended fixes.
• Maintain monitoring dashboards that distinguish signal from noise; tune thresholds to minimize alert fatigue.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Craft Leadership

• Work daily with product managers, designers, UA, and Live Ops owners; translate insights into backlog items, roadmap adjustments, and event tuning.
• Communicate trade-offs, risks, and assumptions; ensure stakeholders understand confidence levels and limitations.
• Provide mentorship on analytics best practices (SQL, Looker modeling, experiment design, data storytelling) to uplift the craft across the pod.

Requirements

• Experience: 4+ years in game analytics or live-ops BI with a track record of influencing product decisions in F2P mobile.
• Tools: Advanced SQL (BigQuery) and Looker (semantic modeling + dashboarding); comfort with cohorting, funnels, payer segmentation, and revenue metrics.
• Methods: Experiment design/analysis, statistical reasoning, impact sizing, and data storytelling tailored to non-data audiences.
• Domain: Strong grasp of F2P KPIs (D1/D7/D30 retention, ARPDAU, payer conversion, LTV, ROAS), game economy mechanics, and seasonal event design.
• Nice to have: Python for analysis/automation; familiarity with UA measurement/attribution (MMPs, MTA/MMM concepts); exposure to fraud/risk signals and chargeback analysis.

Key Competencies

• Ownership & Accountability: Operates independently on ambiguous asks; manages priorities and communicates trade-offs and timelines.
• Collaboration: Embedded partner to Product/Live Ops; aligns stakeholders and drives insight-to-action.
• Speed & Rigor: Balances fast turnarounds with sound methodology; documents assumptions and limitations.
• Product Sense: Connects player behavior to roadmap, event design, and monetization strategy.
• Clarity: Crafts concise narratives and visuals that enable decisions for non-data audiences.

Success Criteria

• Time-to-Insight: SLA met for ad-hoc and planned product requests (e.g., 48–72 hours for standard deep dives).
• Self-Serve Adoption: ↑ monthly active users of priority Looker dashboards; ↓ bespoke requests where standardized views exist.
• Monitoring Coverage: ≥ X% of portfolio KPIs and economy loops covered by automated monitors with documented playbooks.
• Detection & Response: Critical anomaly ≤ X hours; business decision ≤ Y hours after detection.
• Fraud & Integrity: Reduced chargeback/refund anomalies; exploit time-to-containment ≤ Z hours; maintain acceptable false-positive rate.
• Benchmark Accuracy: Quarterly review of baselines/benchmarks; ≤ X% variance between forecast and actual for major events.
• Data Quality & Releases: Zero breaking KPI definition changes; LookML/dashboard releases documented with change notes and rollbacks available.
• Cadence: On-time delivery of event/feature post-mortems and quarterly KPI readouts.

What’s in it for you

At ATA you’re offered a flexible, safe, inclusive environment in which you have the autonomy to do your best work, surrounded by a strong team and with the encouragement of supportive leadership that doesn’t just care what you’re doing, but how you’re doing. You’re trusted, respected, listened to, cared for and valued.You take on thought-provoking projects and tackle fun problems alongside people who are equally invested in making meaningful contributions and seeing new ideas come to life. You know how your work aligns with the company’s goals. Your career is given the space and resources to progress. You accomplish things that make you proud.You are compensated competitively, your health and wellbeing are top priorities and you enjoy plenty of perks. You don’t just work for ATA, you are an integral part of ATA.

We’re building a distributed team across the province, work from anywhere in British Colombia! We’ll provide the equipment you need, and support setting up your home workspace. We’ll supply the equipment you need to do your work and to set up your work space. We have a flexible work schedule, three weeks of vacation, flexible sick days, and a generous health benefits package.

At A Thinking Ape, we believe in fairness and pay transparency. That’s why we offer a set salary for each level, ensuring that all employees in the same role are compensated equitably, regardless of negotiation skills or background. This means you’ll know exactly what to expect from the start, without the stress of back-and-forth negotiations. For candidates located in British Columbia, the salary is CAD$75,000 for Intermediate Game Data Analyst and $118,000 for Senior Game Data Analyst reflecting our commitment to competitive and fair pay.

Our commitment to inclusion

We build communities. To do this to the best of our abilities, we need a workforce that reflects the diverse player communities we serve. We believe a variety of perspectives and experiences allows us to make better decisions and understand the needs of our players. We work hard to create an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work and feel like they belong at ATA.Please consider applying even if you don't meet every qualification and let us know if you require any accommodations or support during the recruitment process.

Join our team and play a key role in shaping the future of mobile gaming! If you're passionate about data analytics and gaming, we want to hear from you. Apply now to embark on an exciting journey with us.