Senior Decision Scientist - Player Audience Strategy

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

Sr. Decision Scientist - Player Audience Strategy

San Mateo, CA [Hybrid]

About the Role

At PlayStation, every game has a unique audience waiting to be discovered. As a Senior Decision Scientist, you will play a pivotal role in defining the right player audience for every title—whether developed in-house or through strategic partnerships. Your work will ensure that games reach the right players before launch, optimizing player segmentation and leading to significant revenue impact.

By leveraging machine learning models, clustering techniques, causal inference, and behavioral analytics, you will develop data-driven strategies that increase sales through better audience identification—a transformational contribution to PlayStation’s success.

If you're a passionate data scientist with expertise in gaming audiences, marketing analytics, and in-game behavioral data, and you thrive on solving complex problems, this is the role for you!

Key Responsibilities

1. Player Audience Strategy & Optimization

• Define, optimize, and refine player segmentation for each PlayStation title well before launch to ensure targeted engagement strategies.
• Leverage ML models and clustering techniques to identify player cohorts with the highest likelihood of engagement and purchase.
• Develop data-driven methodologies to predict game adoption and optimize pre-order strategies.
• Partner with game studios and marketing teams to align audience insights with game positioning and messaging strategies.

2. Advanced Analytics & Data Science

• Develop and implement predictive models, audience clustering, and causal inference methods to refine player targeting.
• Analyze in-game telemetry data and behavioral signals to uncover deep player insights.
• Utilize AI-driven analytics tools (ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, Perplexity, and others) to enhance research and presentations.
• Apply A/B testing frameworks and experimental design to validate audience selection strategies.

3. Collaboration & Thought Leadership

• Act as a thought leader for offshore analytics consultants, providing strategic direction and ensuring alignment with PlayStation’s goals.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing, Data Science, and Game Studios to integrate audience insights into broader business strategies.
• Communicate insights effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Required Skills & Experience

• 8+ years of experience in analytics, preferably in gaming, tech, entertainment, or consumer insights.
• Deep expertise in machine learning models, clustering techniques, audience segmentation, and causal inference.
• Strong background in SQL, Python, R, and experience working with large datasets.
• Expertise in A/B testing, experiment design, and marketing KPI evaluation.
• Experience analyzing in-game telemetry and behavioral data to understand player actions.
• Strong storytelling and data visualization skills—ability to translate complex models into actionable insights.
• Experience leading offshore consultants and driving analytics best practices (but no direct team management).

Bonus Skills

• Passion for gaming and knowledge of PlayStation titles, player behaviors, and industry trends.
• Experience working with AI-driven analytics tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, Perplexity).
• Understanding of PC and console gaming markets.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond. 

PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.