Data Scientist, Lyft

Algorithms, Fulfilment

$124-155k

Python
R
MatLab
Junior and Mid level
New York

More information about location

3+ days a week in office

Lyft

Ride sharing company

Open for applications

Lyft

Ride sharing company

1001+ employees

B2CTravelTransportMobilityRidesharing

Open for applications

$124-155k

Python
R
MatLab
Junior and Mid level
New York

More information about location

3+ days a week in office

1001+ employees

B2CTravelTransportMobilityRidesharing

Company mission

To improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.

Role

Who you are

  • M.S. or Ph.D. in Statistics, Operations Research, Mathematics, Computer Science, or other quantitative fields
  • 2+ years professional experience
  • Passion for solving unstructured and non-standard mathematical problems
  • End-to-end experience with data, including querying, aggregation, analysis, and visualization
  • Proficiency with Python, or another interpreted programming language like R or Matlab
  • Willingness to collaborate and communicate with others to solve a problem

What the job involves

  • As a Data Scientist on the cross-functional team, you will work in a dynamic environment, tackling a variety of problems from shaping critical business decisions to building algorithms that power our products.
  • We seek passionate, driven Data Scientists to address some of the most interesting and impactful problems in ridesharing
  • As a Data Scientist specializing in Algorithms, you will develop mathematical models for the platform's core services, addressing diverse problems in optimization, prediction, machine learning, and inference.
  • On the Fulfillment team, you will report to a Team Manager overseeing Data Scientists, Data Analysts, Machine Learning Engineers and Software Engineers.
  • You will collaborate with cross-functional teammates and stakeholders to enhance algorithms for matching rideshare supply and demand in real time and develop product offerings to improve the experiences of Lyft Riders and Drivers
  • Partner with Engineers, Product Managers, and Business Partners to frame problems, both mathematically and within the business context
  • Perform exploratory data analysis to gain a deeper understanding of the problem
  • Construct and fit statistical, machine learning, or optimization models
  • Write production modeling code; collaborate with Software Engineers to implement algorithms in production
  • Design and run both simulated and live traffic experiments
  • Analyze experimental and observational data; communicate findings; facilitate launch decisions

Our take

Lyft has aimed for consistent growth, making sure to pitch itself as a more reliable and friendly ride-sharing option than its main competitor, Uber. Uber has a greater market share and operates globally, but Lyft hopes to compete by its focus on ride-sharing over Uber's more diversified business approach and as a more rider-friendly and greener alternative to Uber.

Operating only in the USA and Canada, Lyft is in a position of being less affected by global events than Uber but also more vulnerable to local conditions. As an example, while it doesn't face the regulatory hurdles around employment rights that Uber does, it is unable to balance out the cost of the unusually expensive US auto insurance across its operations.

In 2022, Lyft acquired PBSC Urban Solutions, a bike-share equipment and technology supplier, allowing Lyft to compete in new verticals and reaffirming its commitment to green transportation. It has also trialed and launched Lyft Assisted, where drivers help passengers from their door into the car to get to medical appointments. These developments chime well with Lyft's unique selling point as a friendlier and more environmentally aware ride-sharing app.

Steph headshot

Steph

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Insights

Top investors

Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks

-2% employee growth in 12 months

Company

Funding (last 2 of 14 rounds)

Jun 2018

$600m

LATE VC

Mar 2018

$200m

LATE VC

Total funding: $4.9bn

Company benefits

  • Great medical, dental, and vision insurance options
  • Mental health benefits
  • In addition to 12 observed holidays, salaried team members have unlimited paid time off, hourly team members have 15 days paid time off
  • 401(k) plan to help save for your future
  • 18 weeks of paid parental leave. Biological, adoptive, and foster parents are all eligible
  • Pre-tax commuter benefits
  • Lyft Pink - Lyft team members get an exclusive opportunity to test new benefits of our Ridership Program
  • Family building benefits
  • Lyft Pink - Lyft team members get an exclusive opportunity to test new benefits of our Ridership Program

Company HQ

China Basin, San Francisco, CA

Leadership

John Zimmer

(Co-Founder)

Originally an Analyst at Lehman Brothers, Zimmer then founded Zimride which was a private ridesharing company that pivoted into Lyft.

Logan Green

(Co-Founder)

Founded Zimride, a private ridesharing company which later pivoted into Lyft.

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