Manager Data Science at Udacity

At Udacity, the Data Team is deployed to inform and empower the business with insight, and we use machine learning to help more students have a delightful experience reaching their learning goals. We are looking for a Data Science Manager to help advance that vision as both the leader for our data science group and a practitioner of Machine learning techniques including: Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Recommendation Systems, and Computer Vision. You will manage a growing team of data scientists to partner with Product and other business stakeholders to develop predictive models and algorithms to power data products.  You will provide direction & thought leadership to continuously increase the quality & impact of our data science efforts. This is a chance to improve lives and transform talent around the world at Udacity, and your success as part of a world-class analytics organization will be visible up to the highest levels of the company.
Your Responsibilities:

You will report to Udacity’s Head of Data (based in California) as the owner of Udacity’s Data Science function, part of the larger central Data Team consisting also of analytics, data engineering and BI. You will work closely with business leadership to ensure that your team’s work supports business objectives and growth.
The ideal candidate is excited to be a player/coach at this stage of our Data Science team’s growth.  

Be a leader.  Form a vision & roadmap for how data science will create value.   Identify priorities and overcome blockers.  Drive quality project delivery, engage with senior business partners and enforce best practices.  Manage, develop and grow a team of high performing data scientists.
Be a productive data scientist.  Explore data, develop models, deploy to production, monitor & measure the impact.  Enhance our ML platform and system designs with the aim of bringing together various open-source and in-house tools to streamline ML workflows.

Influence and execute Udacity’s strategy for an AI-powered personalized talent platform.  Address machine learning problems around recommendation engines, personalization, and other classification/regression problems.
Work cross functionally with other data functions and leadership to contribute to our team and company culture.
Drive ML projects from end to end. Translate a business need into a framework, effectively collaborate with stakeholders, deliver a robust solution and drive measurable impact & adoption.
Identify new opportunities to experiment and build new algorithmic capabilities from the ground up.

What we value:

Bring 6+ years of professional data science or related experience and a team-player attitude.  You have experience with both leading people and collaborating with a global team.
You have advanced programming experience (Python, R, SAS, Matlab). Familiarity with Sagemaker is a plus.
You have advanced database knowledge (SQL, Redshift, Postgres, Presto, AWS).
Experience with machine learning frameworks including scikit-learn, TensorFlow and Pytorch.
Experience deploying machine learning models into production.
You have superior critical thinking skills to develop novel data solutions, and you’re able to both produce immediate value while still keeping an eye on long-term strategy and scalability.
You are an excellent leader, having proven your ability to direct teams and apply best practices of project management, and you have effective communication and influence skills with both technical and business personas.
You take ownership seriously and hold yourself accountable to always deliver in a reliable manner. You thrive at a fast pace and managing multiple work streams.

Preferred Experience:

Experience deploying ETLs with Airflow and/or Spark.
As an inspiring data scientist, you apply business understanding to deliver truly impactful data solutions.
You are a curious self-starter, driven to solve problems and find answers. You take charge and flourish when meeting a challenge.
You are excited to ask questions, push boundaries and follow where data leads in pursuit of new opportunities.
You enjoy working in a highly dynamic environment where your decisions have a significant impact.
Knowledge of Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning or Self Learning.