Senior Data Scientist, Performance Marketing

Root was founded on the belief that car insurance is broken, and we set out to change it. We’re harnessing the power of technology to revolutionize this archaic, complicated industry. Using machine learning and mobile telematic platforms, we’ve built one of the most innovative insurtech companies in the world.

The Opportunity

We believe that a disruptive insurance company must have a principled quantitative framework at its foundation. At Root, we are committed to the rigorous development and effective deployment of modern statistical machine learning methods to problems in the insurance industry.

At Root, the Quantitative Science team is responsible for the majority of all marketing capital allocation, using quantitative methods to test, maintain, and enhance our marketing strategies across numerous distribution channels. As a Senior Data Scientist on the Direct Marketing Data Science team, you will play a key role in building accurate predictive models of a competitive bidding environment and develop algorithms to create optimal bidding strategies.

You will help Root test and learn in new and existing bidding auctions, shepherding ideas and partners from R&D to production. Your success will be measured by your ability to generate and test effective bidding strategies and deploy to production. Thoughtful design and execution of targeting models and A/B tests, along with effective communication with stakeholders, will be key to your success.

Root is a “work where it works best” company, meaning we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US. We will continue to have our headquarters in Columbus to give more flexibility and more choice about how we live and work.

Salary Range: $126,000 - $157,500 (Bonus and LTI eligible)

Root is a “work where it works best” company. This means we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US.

How You Will Make an Impact

• Drive Root’s growth and profit by building and enhancing our marketing bid strategies
• Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on novel marketing strategies in the lower funnel
• Design time- and cost-efficient A/B tests that enable rigorous measurement of the incremental profit impact of marketing strategies
• Deliver clear and prompt communication of research results that drive action to leaders and stakeholders 
• Build data science pipelines to quickly iterate on research ideas and put them into production
• Take end-to-end ownership of new marketing channels and marketing approaches, continuously improving upon quantitative solutions

What You Will Need to Succeed

• Advanced degree in a quantitative discipline and 4+ years of applying advanced quantitative techniques to problems in industry
• Machine learning experience from ideation to production:
• • Build and deliver multiple ML models into production to drive KPIs
  • Monitor and test experience of production ML models
  • Understand the underlying business goals and drive solutions with stakeholders
• Technical skills:
• • Advanced programming skills with experience using modern packages in Python; expertise in databases and SQL; familiarity with version control (e.g. Git)
  • Experience with AWS (or analogous) utilities, e.g., EC2, SageMaker, S3, Athena
  • Strong business intelligence and visualization skills, with the ability to speak to many different audiences
• Ownership mentality: takes the initiative to identify, champion, and execute on the highest impact work
• Define the problem: Ability to consider problems from first principles, with the instinct to use expertise and prior experience to guide but not dictate the solution
• Preferred but not required:
• • Experience building and operationalizing predictive models and optimization strategies in competitive environments
  • Marketing industry experience
  • Insurance industry experience

As part of Root's interview process, we kindly ask that all candidates be on camera for virtual interviews. This helps us create a more personal and engaging experience for both you and our interviewers. Being on camera is a standard requirement for our process and part of how we assess fit and communication style, so we do require it to move forward with any applicant's candidacy. If you have any concerns, feel free to let us know once you are contacted. We’re happy to talk it through.

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