Principal Data Scientist, Roblox
Discovery
$322.8-373.7k
+ Equtiy
More information about location
3+ days a week in office (San Mateo, CA)
Online gaming and entertainment platform
Open for applications
Online gaming and entertainment platform
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$322.8-373.7k
+ Equtiy
More information about location
3+ days a week in office (San Mateo, CA)
1001+ employees
Company mission
To connect a billion people with optimism and civility.
Role
Who you are
- Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in a quantitative field (Statistics, CS, Physics, Applied Math, or Economics)
- 10+ years of experience (or 6+ with a PhD) in Data Science, Economics, or ML Engineering, specifically within large-scale recommendation systems or UGC content platforms
- Expert in the modern data stack (Python, R, SQL, Hive, Spark, Airflow) and have a deep theoretical and practical understanding of Deep Learning
- Ability to design sophisticated experiments that account for the nuances of a two-sided marketplace and social network effects
- Ability to distill high-dimensional problems into succinct, actionable narratives for non-technical executive audiences
What the job involves
- The Data Science & Analytics organization's mission is to increase our speed, frequency and acumen of making decisions at scale by instilling a data-influenced approach to building products
- We cover a wide area of the data spectrum including analytical data engineering, product analytics, experimentation, causal inference, statistical modeling and machine learning
- Aligned and partnering with product verticals, we use this extensive tool belt to discover new opportunities and unmet use cases, influence and shape the product roadmap and prioritization, build data products and measure impact on our community of players and developers
- Roblox is not just a platform; it is a complex, two-sided marketplace where millions of creators meet over 70 million daily active users
- The Discovery Experiences team is the technical heartbeat of this ecosystem
- We own the surfaces—Home, Search, Matchmaking, and Notifications—that determine how users navigate the metaverse
- As a Principal Data Scientist, you will own the ranking initiatives that power these canvases
- You aren't just building models; you are building the economic and social frameworks that decide which experiences thrive
- You will report directly to the Senior Director of Data Science and serve as a high-visibility IC leader driving the roadmap for our most critical consumer touchpoints
- Algorithmic Vision: Lead the development of ML solutions and ranking frameworks that power our discovery canvases. You will move beyond local optimizations to solve for long-term ecosystem health and user retention
- Strategic XFN Partnership: Act as the primary scientific advisor to Product and Engineering leaders. You will use data to inform, drive, and accelerate innovations via deep-dive insights and ML prototypes
- Causal Inference & Experimentation: Leverage advanced causal inference methodologies to measure the effectiveness of platform initiatives (e.g., social features or site-wide events) that are often susceptible to complex network effects
- Foundational Scaling: Develop frameworks to scale the hypothesis generation process, ensuring that our experimentation velocity matches our massive growth
- First-Principles Problem Solving: Apply creative, first-principles reasoning to ambiguous problems, such as balancing the visibility of established "top tier" experiences with the discovery of new, niche UGC content
Our take
Online gaming may be a well-established space, but Roblox has distinguished itself as a leader by empowering its community to build, share, and profit from their own creations, turning game development into an accessible, rewarding ecosystem for millions of users.
In addition to standard games, the platform offers virtual worlds and other experiences to explore and interact with. Its platform provides an online ecosystem for millions to create, socialize, chat, and explore immersive experiences with friends. In fact, in the US its used by two-thirds of children aged 9 to 12.
While the platform does face scrutiny over users safety (particularly given its young audience) the company's efforts to strengthen parental controls and open dialogue through initiatives like its new Parents Council signal a growing commitment to addressing these challenges. At the same time, its financial performance and creator-focused investments underscore a business in very strong health. With record payouts to developers, an expanding older player base, and a platform that increasingly rewards creative talent, Roblox's trajectory remains one of innovation and impressive growth.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
25% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
Jan 2021
$520m
SERIES H
Feb 2020
$150m
SERIES G
Total funding: $922.8m
Company HQ
South San Mateo, San Mateo, CA
Leadership
David Baszucki
(Founder & CEO)Studied Electrical Engineering at Stanford before founding Knowledge Revolution in 1990, where they spent 9 years as CEO. They worked as VP of MSC.Software for 2 years, and started Roblox in 2005.
Salary benchmarks
We don't have enough data yet to provide salary benchmarks for this role.
Submit your salary to help other candidates with crowdsourced salary estimates.
Share this job
View 211 more jobs at Roblox