Director of Data Science

Birchbox is beauty made easy. Founded in 2010, we redefined the way people shop for beauty and grooming by pairing a monthly delivery of personalized samples with original content and a robust e-commerce shop. We partner with the best brands in the industry, from mainstream favorites to niche up-and-comers, and use a proprietary algorithm to send the right products to the right people, based on their profiles and preferences.

At Birchbox we are changing the way people shop for beauty & grooming products through personalized discovery. We are looking for an experienced Data Scientist to lead the Data Science function at Birchbox. A deeply technical individual, with strong leadership skills, and a love of creating rewarding customer experiences. At Birchbox our data scientists use their skills in statistics, machine learning and operations research to contribute directly to the Birchbox customer experience.

• Manage, coach, and grow a team of young and high performing analysts of various levels, and create a collaborative, motivating, and challenging team environment
• Set the vision for the function and the roadmap to execute effectively, including reporting and communication for how information is disseminated and acted upon
• Develop a clear perspective on how data science can better serve Birchbox and contribute to the strategic direction of the company
• Create a collaborative and effective working relationship with functional leaders to understand business challenges and prioritize solutions that will enable the success of these functions
• Demonstrate thought leadership as it relates to data science, and actively seek ways to build Birchbox’s “data expertise” reputation externally (white papers, speaking panels, etc.)

Current projects include:

• Monthly box personalization: tailoring the selection of samples sent to each Birchbox subscriber
• Product recommendation: based on purchasing history, samples received, reviews, profile, browsing data, etc.
• Improvements to product and content search
• Prediction of subscriber churn, purchase, “happiness”, etc.
• Insights to inform major product and business decisions
• Improvements to reporting of key metrics via data warehousing

Requirements:

• 5+ years experience working as a Data Scientist
• Deep working experience applying statistics and machine learning techniques to real-world data
• Fluency in a scripting language such as Python or Ruby, for fast prototyping
• Ability to write complex SQL queries in short order
• Experience with Map/Reduce tools (e.g. Hadoop, Pig, Hive)
• Solid understanding of a wide range of open source data mining / machine learning software packages (e.g. Weka, scikit-learn, MyMediaLite, Scalding)
• Outstanding executive communication skills
• Management Experience strongly preferred
• PhD in a relevant discipline or equivalent skill set

Pluses:

• Proficiency in R, Matlab, or another mathematical language
• Experience with integer programming
• Experience with search technologies (e.g. Solr, ElasticSearch)
• Experience modeling data and designing feature sets
• Knowledge of distributed algorithms and how to analyze them
• Java and/or Scala know-how