Senior Staff Data Scientist, Guest & Host Marketplace AI

Role Overview

Guest Experience is responsible for Search and Discovery, Merchandising, and end-to-end online software experience worldwide from top-of-funnel discovery through post-booking engagement. We are looking for a talented Data Scientist to join the Guest Data Science team. This tech lead will be at the core of using AI and causal inference to understand user behavior in our app, detect underlying intent, and build data products needed to provide a compelling and personalized experience.

As a Senior Staff Data Scientist, you will lead innovation efforts to build methodologies to identify and evaluate preferences important to every guest at every step of their online discovery funnel, shaping data strategy to drive guest conversion and regular engagement across Homes, Experiences, and Services verticals.

Responsibilities

• Learn: Develop deep understanding of how guests navigate and re-engage with our app via analysis, research, and by leveraging granular user action and sequence datasets.
• Partner: Drive technical frameworks and science leadership with product and engineering to explore innovative paradigms for detecting revealed preferences and quantifying online frictions.
• Build: Write code for prototypes to detect and quantify taxonomy of guest preferences via iterative development of data frameworks, models, and artefacts derived from AI toolkits.
• Evaluate: Assess assumptions and efficacy of derived guest preferences via measurement and validating hypotheses linked to online guest action and engagement. Set up experiments and data feedback loops.
• Influence: Regularly present findings and recommendations to leadership audiences to inform strategy and cross-functional deliverables.

Qualifications

• Causal inference expertise with marketplace experience.
• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, or a related field.
• 9+ years of industry experience with a PhD (or 12+ years with a Master's degree).
• Expert in at least one programming language for data analysis (Python or R) with familiarity in SQL.
• Comfort with developing proof-of-concept prototypes; passionate about AI with a learner’s mindset toward LLMs and dynamic systems.
• Strong communication skills with cross-functional partners in product, engineering, and design.
• Proven ability to succeed in both collaborative and independent work environments.
• Demonstrated track record of engagement with the technical community.
• Preferred domain experience in search, UX discovery, and personalized evidence systems.