Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to large, Fortune 100 enterprises with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.

Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.

The Analytics, Data Science, and Economics team is looking for an experienced Director of Data Science to guide strategy and decision-making across the company across a variety of teams and levels. Data Scientists at Upwork work to uncover insights through machine learning techniques and turn them into relevant recommendations, driving decisions for all areas of the organization. This is a unique opportunity to build a function from an early stage.

Your Responsibilities:

• Use quantitative analysis and the presentation of data to see beyond the numbers and understand what drives our business
• Lead a team to develop models that provide insights to help business and product leaders understand marketplace dynamics, customer value, user behaviors, fraud activities, and long-term trends
• Hire, scale, and develop a team of data scientists 
• Establish robust processes to select models to pursue in partnership with the business, drive follow through, and establish an operating rhythm to revisit and retrain models
• Collaborate with our machine learning engineering and data platforms teams on tooling and shared feature stores
• Get hands on to deploy prototype models into production that customize product experiences
• Evangelize data science techniques within the broader Analytics, Data Science, and Economics team and mentor others seeking to develop more advanced capabilities

What it takes to catch our eye:

• A degree in Math, Physics, Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, or a similar domain
• A strong track record of managing data science teams
• Experience working with user segmentation, cohort analyses, mix modeling, random forest, regression models, and other advanced techniques
• The insight to take ambiguous problems and solve them in a structured, hypothesis-driven, data-supported way
• Passion for getting into the details
• Proficiency in Python
• Previous experience in a two-sided marketplace or ecommerce business

The annual base salary for this position in California and Washington ranges from $217,000 - $275,000. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals.  While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also support hiring of corporate full-time employees in 19 states in the United States. Please speak with a member of our recruitment team to determine whether you are located in a state in which we are hiring corporate full-time employees. 

At the core of our vibrant culture are shared values that form the foundation of our organization. These values revolve around trust, risk-taking, customer focus, and excellence. Our overarching mission is to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster an environment where individuals are encouraged to bring their authentic selves to work, nurturing personal and professional growth through development opportunities, mentorship programs, and participation in Upwork Belonging Communities.

We take pride in providing exceptional benefits to our employees. These include comprehensive medical insurance coverage for both you and your family, unlimited paid time off, a 401(k) plan with matching contributions, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. To explore these benefits in detail, as well as gain insights into our company values, working principles, and the overall employee experience, we invite you to visit our Life at Upwork page.

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

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