Senior Research Scientist – Portfolio Construction @ Opendoor

Senior Research Scientist – Portfolio Construction

Posted on 2/2/2022

INACTIVE

Locations

United States

Experience Level

Entry

Junior

Mid

Senior

Expert

Desired Skills

Data Science

Requirements

5+ years of industry experience designing, developing and shipping ML systems post academia, with advanced degree in a quantitative field
Adeptness in working with any kind of data (structured, unstructured, scraping, database tables, etc.)
Ability to create machine learning models to solve business problems, applying excellent business judgment and orientation toward impact
Proficiency in a programming language to be able to solve a business problem in a full-stack, data-driven way (scraping data, ETL, web-hosted ML model)
Ability to quickly (1-2 weeks) build proofs of concept and identify the highest-leverage areas to iterate efficiently
Desire to identify, perform, and automate laborious work (e.g. hand-labeling 100 examples to understand the job at hand, then systematizing the process)
Strong knowledge of statistics
Highly effective verbal and written communication skills

Responsibilities

Build and evolve models that drive massive customer impact
Identify opportunities at all stages of the modeling lifecycle, including new models, new data sources, enhancements to models, and rapid feedback loops
Provoke trade-offs and prioritize work across a portfolio of potential projects based on impact and scope vs. effort and risk
Produce convincing structural and data-driven analyses to falsify ideas or move them forward
Clearly and concisely articulate the business impact of your work
Work pragmatically at a high cadence to ship modeling opportunities, such that we generate high learning throughput

Desired Qualifications

A risk-aware, investor's mindset (seeking out and placing bets on a portfolio of projects)
Proficiency in a relevant modeling or statistics specialization, such as macroeconomic modeling, portfolio optimization, stochastic modeling, or human-in-loop data enrichment
A public portfolio of full stack data products, demos, or blog posts

About Opendoor

Founded in 2014, Opendoor’s mission is to empower everyone with the freedom to move. We believe the traditional real estate process is broken and our goal is simple: build a digital, end-to-end customer experience that makes buying and selling a home simple, certain and fast. We have assembled a dedicated team with diverse backgrounds to support more than 100,000 homes bought and sold with us and the customers who have selected Opendoor as a trusted partner in handling one of their largest financial transactions. But the work is far from over as we continue to grow in new markets. Transforming the real estate industry takes tenacity and dedication. It takes problem solvers and builders. It takes a tight knit community of teammates doing the best work of their lives, pushing one another to transform a complicated process into a simple one. So where do you fit in? Whether you’re passionate about real estate, people, numbers, words, code, or strategy -- we have a place for you. Real estate is broken. Come help us fix it.

About the Team

As a Senior Research Scientist, you will demonstrate data breakthroughs for Opendoor. You will create and develop a diverse portfolio of proofs of concept, balancing project risk versus potential impact. You have a portfolio mindset, minimizing risk by exploring a variety of uncorrelated projects, rigorously prioritizing projects given the uncertainty, and working inside fast feedback loops. Projects can range from step-function algorithmic improvements due to integrating new data sources to partial- or fully algorithmic automation of human processes, driving leveraged operational efficiencies.

Our Teams:

Pricing Prediction - Responsible for all the core pricing prediction models, but in particular OVM (which predicts the value of a specific home right now) and HPA (which predicts the value of homes over time). If algorithmic pricing is the heart of Opendoor, this is the heart of algorithmic pricing.

Advanced Resale Optimization - Our ARO team optimally acquires an individual home and, once it’s acquired, will optimally resell an individual home given supply-demand, tradeoffs, etc

Portfolio Construction - Responsible for driving portfolio-wide optimization, including margin vs. revenue tradeoff, allocate fixed resources (e.g. marketing $$) to different markets, managing portfolio-wide risk given HPA forecast, etc.

Role Responsibilities

Build and evolve models that drive massive customer impact
Identify opportunities at all stages of the modeling lifecycle, including new models, new data sources, enhancements to models, and rapid feedback loops
Provoke trade-offs and prioritize work across a portfolio of potential projects based on impact and scope vs. effort and risk
Produce convincing structural and data-driven analyses to falsify ideas or move them forward
Clearly and concisely articulate the business impact of your work
Work pragmatically at a high cadence to ship modeling opportunities, such that we generate high learning throughput

Skills Needed

5+ years of industry experience designing, developing and shipping ML systems post academia, with advanced degree in a quantitative field
Adeptness in working with any kind of data (structured, unstructured, scraping, database tables, etc.)
Ability to create machine learning models to solve business problems, applying excellent business judgment and orientation toward impact
Proficiency in a programming language to be able to solve a business problem in a full-stack, data-driven way (scraping data, ETL, web-hosted ML model)
Ability to quickly (1-2 weeks) build proofs of concept and identify the highest-leverage areas to iterate efficiently
Desire to identify, perform, and automate laborious work (e.g. hand-labeling 100 examples to understand the job at hand, then systematizing the process)
Strong knowledge of statistics
Highly effective verbal and written communication skills

Bonus points if

A risk-aware, investor’s mindset (seeking out and placing bets on a portfolio of projects)
Proficiency in a relevant modeling or statistics specialization, such as macroeconomic modeling, portfolio optimization, stochastic modeling, or human-in-loop data enrichment
A public portfolio of full stack data products, demos, or blog posts

For CO Residents Only, and in accordance with C.R.S. Sec. 8-5-101 et seq., the estimated base salary range for this role is $132,000-$171,000 per year. The estimated range is meant to reflect an anticipated salary range for the position in question based upon market data and other factors, all of which are subject to change. Individual pay is based upon location, skills and expertise, experience, and other relevant factors. For questions about this, our pay philosophy, and other available benefits, please speak to the recruiter if you decide to apply for the role and are selected for an interview.

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More About Us

To learn how we are reinventing the Real Estate industry check out our website, to hear about our culture directly from team members visit The Muse and to discover what we are building for our customers read our blog posts.

We Offer the Following Benefits and Perks

• Full medical, dental, and vision with optional 85% coverage for dependents

• Flexible vacation policy

• Generous parental leave

• Paid time off to volunteer

Please note that these benefits and perks are available only to Full Time team members and do not apply to contract roles.

Opendoor Values Openness

Our team celebrates our diverse backgrounds. We believe that being open about who we are and what we do allows us to be better. Individuals seeking employment at Opendoor are considered without regards to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or other protected status under all applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. For California residents: for more information about the categories of personal information that we collect for recruiting purposes, please see our personnel Privacy Policy.

1,001-5,000 employees

Website

Leading digital platform for residential real estate

Company Overview

Pendo is on a mission to elevate the world's experiences with software

Benefits

Happier workdays - Add a little fun to your workday with Pendo board game night, team karaoke, ping pong, or enjoy a local brew on our rooftop deck.
Health and wellness benefits - Generous health and wellness plans designed to meet the needs of you and your family, including medical, dental, and vision benefits.
Paid parental leave - Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave, and a flexible schedule upon your return to help you make the most of those special moments.
Learning and development - In-house management development classes, guest speaker lunch and learns, and select conferences help keep talent sharp.
Flexible work hours and PTO - Enjoy the benefits of a flexible time off policy, flexible work hours, and paid parental leave.
Global offices - Work across the globe in the cities that we love like Raleigh, San Francisco, New York, Herzliya, Tokyo, London and Sheffield.

Company Core Values

Respect our lives outside of work - We bring our whole selves to work and celebrate what makes each other unique.
Be direct & transparent - As individuals we are timely, candid, and respectful in providing feedback–even when it’s hard to do so.
Maniacal focus on the customer - If there’s an opportunity to improve the customer experience, we do it.
Bias to act - We take initiative to get things done, collaborate, and go above and beyond the call of duty.
Show me the data - No matter what the decision, data should be the primary input for decision making.
Act like owners - We use good judgement in our actions & decisions and implicitly have the trust from our colleagues to be able to do so.
Win together - We succeed together & challenge each other to grow. We collaborate & support one another as a team.