Senior AI/ML Data Scientist, Sovrn
$165-195k
+ Bonus + Equity
Office located in Boulder, CO
Advertising tools & services for content creators
Be an early applicant
Advertising tools & services for content creators
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
$165-195k
+ Bonus + Equity
Office located in Boulder, CO
101-200 employees
Company mission
To empower independent content creators and publishers to grow their businesses and achieve the attention they deserve.
Role
Who you are
- This role requires a unique blend of strategic vision ("the art of the possible") and tactical execution ("think and execute tactically")
- This position requires technical excellence, business acumen, and leadership
- Proven ability to deploy autonomous agents to production including optimizing inference performance, managing latency/cost tradeoffs, and ensuring robust model evaluation at each stage
- Demonstrates prompt engineering discipline by systematically evaluating prompts across model families using quantitative evaluation
- Active use of AI tools in daily technical work — integrates coding assistants, orchestration frameworks, and search-augmented workflows in ways that accelerate prototyping and reduce iteration cycles
- Experience in data science and applied machine learning, with a strong record of delivering business impact
- Deep technical proficiency across classical ML (supervised/unsupervised), reinforcement learning, and deep learning, with a strong foundation in statistical modeling, A/B testing, and causal inference
- Proficiency with Python, SQL, cloud-based data ecosystems, modern AI/ML frameworks (e.g., Pandas, Scikit-Learn, PyTorch/TensorFlow, LangChain, Hugging Face, PydanticAI), experience with large-scale datasets and distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Spark, PySpark), and Databricks running on AWS Cloud
- Strong understanding of ad tech ecosystems (e.g., RTB, DSP/SSP workflows, auctions, and yield optimization) is a big plus
- Demonstrated ability to influence across technical and non-technical audiences, lead cross-functional initiatives, and work in a collaborative, agile environment (Scrum and Kanban)
- A strategic mindset with strong product intuition and experience working at scale
- Applicants need to be able to commute/travel to our Boulder location
- We understand that no candidate is perfectly qualified for any job. Experience comes in different forms; many skills are transferable; and passion goes a long way. Even more important than your resume is a clear demonstration of accountability and the ability to thrive in a fluid and collaborative environment. We expect you to learn new things in this role and encourage you to apply if your experience is close to what we're looking for
What the job involves
- The Senior AI/ML Data Scientist at Sovrn is a strategic technical leader who drives high-impact data initiatives across the organization
- You will solve ambiguous problems to deliver measurable business value and influence the future of data science in AdTech
- You will guide architecture, experimentation, and product design while ensuring scientific and technical rigor
- Operate at the frontier of applied AI as a hands-on practitioner — personally exploring, prototyping, evaluating, and deploying cutting-edge Agentic AI technologies to bring new, grounded insight into product, modeling, and optimization decisions
- Design, implement, and deploy advanced predictive models, algorithms, and experiments that drive core business outcomes, specifically optimizing ad performance, user engagement, and monetization strategies
- Analyze large-scale datasets to identify patterns, trends, and optimization opportunities, while maintaining and improving data pipelines and experimentation frameworks to support ongoing research
- Define and evangelize best practices in modeling, testing, measurement, and data governance, ensuring scientific rigor while balancing practical business constraints and timelines
- Collaborate cross-functionally to identify high-leverage AI/ML opportunities, translate them into actionable roadmaps, and deliver measurable outcomes
- Mentor other data scientists through code review, experiment design, and technical feedback and model what it looks like to stay current with fast-moving AI research in a production-focused environment
- Translate complex data problems into strategic decisions through compelling storytelling and clear communication of findings and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Application process
- Applications will be accepted until May 30, 2026
Our take
The monetization of online content creation can be very lucrative but requires time, resources and expertise outside of writing. Passionate writers who focus on storytelling and creating inspiring content may waste valuable time attempting to develop their business, and hiring somebody to do this is often too expensive for independent writers.
Sovrn tackles this in a smart way by providing writers with simple-to-use tools that take the stress out of monetization. It works with publishers and advertisers to provide opportunities to passionate writers, allowing them to focus on excelling at their job rather than dealing with distribution, monetization and operations - all of which Sovrn is able to handle.
The startup claims to be able to drive higher revenues and scale a publishing business, at the same time as allowing writers to focus on what they do best. It has seen significant investment that will enable it to pursue acquisitions and support the further expansion of its platform with more capabilities to be added in the future.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-19% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Aug 2022
$35.6m
LATE VC
Jul 2022
$36m
SERIES C
Total funding: $132.6m
Company benefits
- Work at a company that values your strengths. See the results of your actions. There are no barriers at Sovrn
- First-class health benefits, wellness options, and a host of life-improvement perks that help you be the best you
- Retirement benefits, 401k matching, and stock options show we’re equally dedicated to financial health
- In-house barista, catered lunches and breakfasts
- Volunteer opportunities
- Flexible vacation and a focus on mental and physical health mean you’ll have time for life outside the office
- Learn new skills. Pursue great ideas. Take on new opportunities and thrive in a workplace that rewards your efforts
Company HQ
Boulder, CO
Leadership
Walter Knapp
(CEO)Having studied at the University of Colorado, they worked as a Partner at Cambridge Technology, and Novell Ventures for a combined 6 years. They worked as SuSE Linux at Novel, COO of Lijit Networks, and COO of Federated Media Publishing before leaving in January 2014 to found Sovrn.
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