Lead Data Scientist, Ad Platforms

Ad Platforms organization within Disney Entertainment and ESPN Technology is fully responsible for building, enhancing and maintaining the high-performance, distributed, microservice-based Advertising Platform across all of Disney online properties, including Hulu and ESPN+. We build and maintain proprietary technology, ranging from ad serving and ad delivery, campaign management, reporting as well as all the integrations internal and external that come with evolving and maintaining a best-in-class video advertising business. 

The Ad Platform research team is under Ad Platforms and its mission is to transform advertising and Disney's Ad platform with AI, machine learning and data science. We build solutions to measure and optimize every aspect of the advertising life cycle. Our team is seeking a lead data scientist who will be an outstanding addition, leading data science analysis at research team. The right person for this role should be experienced in developing data science business solutions and building data models to drive data-driven decisions.  

WHAT YOU’LL DO 

• Drive ground-breaking innovation and apply data science and statistical analysis in a variety of areas to enhance every aspect of advertising, including inventory forecasting, ad experience, ad pacing, pricing, targeting, and efficient ad delivery. 

• Translate business questions into data science framework; develop data analysis and data models for complex ad challenges with fast turnaround. 

• Define and evaluate key metrics in various product areas.  

• Deliver data insights and provide data-driven recommendations to cross-team stakeholders.  

• Design and analyze A/B tests for machine learning algorithm iterations.  

• Establish strong partnership with stakeholders, including product managers, engineers and program managers, in a collaborative environment.  

• Mentor team members and support their technical growth.  

Minimum Qualifications 

• Bachelors Degree in computer science or related field of study 

• 7+ years of relevant industry experience in data science at leading internet companies. 

•  Solid knowledge of data science and statistics. Strong communication skills and business acumen.  

• Proficient in SQL, Python, Java, or R. Familiar with Tableau, and/or other visualization tools.  

• Passionate about understanding the ad business, applying data science to relevant business scenarios, and seeking innovation opportunities to enhance business effectiveness. 

• Passionate about technology and experienced in building data-driven services and applications. 

• A proven track record of thriving in a fast-paced, data-driven, and collaborative work environment is required. 

NICE-TO-HAVES 

• MS or PhD(preferred) in computer science, statistics or equivalent experience 

• Experience in the advertising domain is preferred.  

• Experience in digital video advertising or digital marketing domain 

• Experience with machine learning models.   

• Experience with Airflow, data warehouse, Databricks or Sagemaker.