Senior Manager, Data Science

INTRO

We’re looking for an inspirational leader that understands and respects the honorable burden of leading fellow brilliant minds. Someone that will have a say in how our data science team executes and how we stay true to our values.

Your mission will be to run a world-class, highly efficient, and business-impact-driving data science team. Under your leadership, this team will balance:

Delivering applicative DS models that power our market-leading innovative products.

Research Lab functionality through DS, allowing the Data Org’s proactive identification of thematic opportunities for the business.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the strategy, methodology, and execution patterns of this vital data function. And lead the team and data culture at a global, data-driven company that creates worlds beyond gameplay and brings communities together.

EXPECTATIONS

• Serve as a Heart-First, People-First, Leader
• Exemplify the values we live by. Know and care for the people in your teams out of the understanding that, as a leader, you work for them.
• Nurture a blameless culture. Inspire, develop, and guide your team members to be the best that they can be.
• Formalize your team’s identity to one everyone wants to be a part of.
• Excel as a Senior Manager
• Build the processes that make us run efficiently. That automates the ordinary so we can focus on the extraordinary.
• Be a champion of best practices for project management, and find the right recipe that makes your teams demonstrate high performance.
• Prioritize pragmatically, communicate effectively, and know when to juggle and when to focus.
• Business & Data Focus
• Know the data - Ask ALL the whys, relentlessly, until you know it inside-out. Instill that same rigor in your teams and push context to the entire Data Org.
• Bring Business Value - Obsess about designing DS products that serve the business needs and provide empirical lasting value. You’re not here to produce models but to create measurable quality and impact.
• Be the Face of Your Teams
• Create strong bonds & true partnerships with your stakeholders at the product, company leadership, and data leadership level.
• Translate DS needs from strategic conversations to the day-to-month actions your teams will take.
• Tell the stories of your teams’ deliverables, know how important it is to create awareness, and bridge the gap between non-technical people and what your team does
• Leadership Team Member
• Demonstrate a servant-leadership mindset. Passionately deliver people, process, and culture-enabling products to our team members. Consistently.
• Be willing and able to continuously be expected to learn and improve as a leader and a manager. Challenge and be challenged to develop together.
• Be deliberate about our leadership team’s culture. Spend time with your fellow leaders, laugh together, cry together, and be who you really are.

Requirements

EXPERIENCE

• Data Science Lifecycle
• You have experience in building towards the bigger picture of the ecosystem you’re working in: adding to Data Quality, Monitoring/Observability tools, etc. You know your code will not exist in a void.
• You’ve participated in shaping a CI/CD process of a data science portfolio before. It’s not only about taking a model to production; it’s about maintaining many of them in a constant optimal state.
• You’ve learned and have honed your method of how you pragmatically identify and prioritize the most promising hypotheses.
• You have examples of every business metric you’ve moved through DS, as this is the best way you’ve learned to measure your impact.
• Science Hands-On
• You have a rich experience with many EDA techniques. You know how to use the right one for a specific problem.
• You have a track record of end-to-end model delivery by yourself. Developing, training, deploying, you’ve been through it all and know how to navigate the lifecycle efficiently.
• You have a large toolbox you’ve been assembling for years, from R/Python, through SQL, statistical methods, distributed "big data" technologies (e.g., Spark, Hive, BigQuery, redshift), GCP/AWS/Azure ecosystems and their different SaaS experience. And you know when to use the right tool for the job and not the other way around.
• Stakeholder management
• You are proficient in translating data science efforts into business language, you understand that “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t really understand it”
• You spent your time and energy creating strong relationships with other teams. Whether they were in product or internally in analytics, you can speak the language that will create bonds. And have a track record to show it.
• Progression of Champions
• A history of experience through the trenches: growing up in statistics, analytics, and DS, serving as a tech lead, leading scientists, Seniors, and Staff scientists.
• You wore different hats, and you’ve walked a mile in different shoes.

TRAITS

• You like to have a good time while getting things done. When we say a “team player,” we mean it - you have a crisp high-five and funny stories to tell. You have your team’s back, and the team has yours.
• You love learning new things: You know that there’s always more to learn. You’re up-to-date on new trends in data – you know who’s using what to solve various problems and are excited for the next release of your favorite tool.

• Past experience in the Esports/Gaming/Betting/Events industry would be a great asset.
• You make the time to cheer and enjoy the ride.