[Remote] Lead Data Scientist at Scribd

Canada

Scribd Logo
Not SpecifiedCompensation
Senior (5 to 8 years), Expert & Leadership (9+ years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Technology, Media, PublishingIndustries

Requirements

  • Expertise in translating product goals into metrics and owning measurable outcomes across recommendation surfaces
  • Experience leading roadmap bets and shipping lifts in business results
  • Proficiency in defining offline/online contracts end-to-end, designing and running experiments, diagnosing variant performance, and building prototype models
  • Ability to partner with Engineering to productionize models
  • Skills in mapping goals to metrics with clear success criteria, opportunity sizing, and measurement
  • Knowledge of applying an AI lens (LLMs, embeddings) to improve retrieval, ranking, or understanding
  • Capability to set north stars and guardrails, create leading indicators for long-term outcomes, and build measurement architecture (identity, attribution windows, metric contracts, drift/leakage checks)
  • Experience accelerating decision velocity with stop/go criteria, power checks, and concise decision memos including trade-offs and risks
  • GRIT: Ability to set and achieve Goals, deliver Results, contribute Innovative ideas/solutions, and positively influence the Team

Responsibilities

  • Opportunity mapping: Size and prioritize new recs surfaces, intents, and cohorts; trace the funnel and analyze by slice (cold items, long-tail users, platform) to steer the roadmap
  • Own the evaluation framework: Define north star & guardrails (e.g., diversity, novelty, duplication, safety); set thresholds and tradeoffs, and publish the Objective & Eval Contract per surface
  • Offline/Online alignment: Quantify correlation between offline IR metrics (e.g., NDCG@K, MAP, MRR, coverage, calibration) and online KPIs by surface/cohort; publish error bounds and monitor metric drift
  • Create leading indicators: Develop short-horizon metrics that predict long-term outcomes (e.g., trial to bill-through); backtest and run post-hoc causal checks, report findings

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

Data ScienceRecommendation SystemsMetricsAnalyticsMachine Learning

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the work arrangement or location policy for this role?

Scribd offers Scribd Flex, allowing employees to choose their daily work-style in partnership with their manager, balancing flexibility with community connections. Occasional in-person attendance is required for all employees to build collaboration, culture, and connection, regardless of location.

What does GRIT mean in Scribd's hiring process?

GRIT stands for setting and achieving Goals, achieving Results within job responsibilities, contributing Innovative ideas and solutions, and positively influencing the Team through collaboration and attitude. It's the standard Scribd holds for employees, inspired by passion and perseverance toward long-term goals.

What key responsibilities does the Lead Data Scientist role involve?

The role involves owning measurable outcomes across recommendation surfaces, translating product goals into metrics, leading roadmap bets, designing and running experiments, building prototype models, and applying AI like LLMs and embeddings to improve retrieval and ranking.

What skills or experience are essential for this position?

Essential skills include expertise in defining metrics and experiments, opportunity sizing, model prototyping and productionizing with engineering, and applying AI techniques like LLMs and embeddings for recommendation systems.

What makes a strong candidate for the Lead Data Scientist role?

A strong candidate demonstrates GRIT by setting and achieving goals, delivering results, innovating solutions, and collaborating positively with the team, with hands-on experience in data science for recommendations, experimentation, metrics, and AI applications.

Scribd

Digital library and e-book subscription service

About Scribd

Scribd is a digital library and e-book subscription service that provides users with access to a wide variety of reading materials, including e-books, audiobooks, magazines, and documents. Users pay a monthly subscription fee to enjoy unlimited access to this extensive library, which features bestsellers, classic literature, and academic papers. Scribd stands out from competitors like Amazon's Kindle Unlimited and Audible by offering a more diverse range of content types and a user-friendly interface that enhances the reading experience. Additionally, Scribd fosters community engagement through features like ScribdChat, allowing interaction between authors and readers, as well as curated reading lists that highlight relevant content. The company's goal is to serve a broad audience of readers, from casual readers to professionals, by providing a rich and varied digital content library.

San Francisco, CaliforniaHeadquarters
2007Year Founded
$102.9MTotal Funding
LATE_VCCompany Stage
Consumer Software, EntertainmentIndustries
201-500Employees

Benefits

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - A robust Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program that includes company-wide training, equitable hiring best practices, Employee Resource Groups, and company-wide goals.
Scribd flex - We embrace flexibility as a key principle and will allow employees, in partnership with their manager, to choose the workstyle that best suits their individual needs and preferences.
Health, Dental, Vision, Life & Disability - We offer comprehensive healthcare plans and cover premiums for employees at 100%. PPO, HMO, and High Deductible Health Plans are available so you can choose whichever coverage supports your lifestyle best.
Matching 401(k) - Easily save for retirement with our 401(k) plan and take advantage of up to 3% company match with no waiting period.
Paid Time Off - A generous paid time off program that includes vacation time, personal days, sabbaticals, volunteer time, winter break, sick time, and more.
Paid parental leave - We provide paid time away from work for our new biological, adoptive, or foster parents.
Wellbeing - Resources, workshops & events to support your wellbeing journey: Mind, Body & Soul.
Curated Career Paths and Continuous Learning - The power to explore career paths & possibilities, and the tools to support your growth. From continuing education, degrees, or certifications, we support our employee’s career journeys.

Risks

Credit-based model may alienate users preferring unlimited access.
Spotify's competitive pricing could draw subscribers away from Scribd.
New CEO may disrupt Scribd's current business model and market position.

Differentiation

Scribd offers a diverse range of content types beyond just e-books.
The platform includes features like ScribdChat for author-reader interaction.
Scribd's user-friendly interface enhances the overall reading experience.

Upsides

Tony Grimminck's appointment as CEO suggests potential strategic expansions.
The credit-based model could attract users seeking flexible content access.
Growing audiobook demand presents a market opportunity for Scribd.

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