[Hiring] Staff Data Scientist @Apartment List

Role Description

Apartment List is looking for a Staff Data Scientist to help us attract and match the right renter with the right property at the right time.

In this role, you’ll work on some of the most important data science problems across Apartment List:

• Demand-side renter acquisition and marketing models like User Value Modeling
• Supply-side partner models like Supply Value Score
• Ranking, personalization, renter intent, and emerging Pathmaker AI work that coordinates the renter journey in real time

Our Data Science team has a strong foundation, delivering 40%+ incremental revenue growth through rigorously A/B tested machine learning models.

What you’ll do:

• Deeply understand customer, marketplace, and business problems through the lens of data, translating that understanding into clear ML objectives, features, models, and measurement plans.
• Deliver and deploy end-to-end machine learning models, from problem framing and feature engineering through model development, experimentation, launch, monitoring, and iteration.
• Build zero-to-one models in areas where heuristics or business rules are still in place, and improve existing production models across demand, supply, ranking, personalization, renter intent, and marketplace optimization.
• Apply a strong statistical mindset to model development, experimentation, causal inference, tradeoff analysis, and decision-making.
• Lead ambiguous, high-leverage technical work: define scope, evaluate approaches, manage tradeoffs, and align stakeholders around a clear path forward.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Design, Analytics, Marketing, GTM, and Growth to build ML systems that drive renter value, property partner success, and business performance.
• Communicate ML opportunities, tradeoffs, and results clearly to technical and non-technical audiences, including senior stakeholders.
• Mentor and collaborate with other data scientists, helping raise the quality of our modeling, experimentation, and analytical practice.
• Thoughtfully leverage modern AI tools to improve productivity across coding, analysis, documentation, and workflow automation.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of industry experience, or equivalent experience, developing, deploying, and iterating on machine learning models in production.
• A degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Physics, or a related quantitative field.
• Deep proficiency in Python and SQL, with comfort working across the full model development lifecycle.
• Familiarity with standard ML libraries and frameworks such as scikit-learn, XGBoost, TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar tools.
• Experience working with cloud platforms; GCP experience is preferred but not required.
• Experience with a broad set of statistical and machine learning methods to solve and optimize critical business problems and metrics.
• Strong technical and theoretical grounding in statistical learning, modeling, experimental design and analysis, and causal inference.
• Strong ability to work through feature engineering, feature selection, hyperparameter tuning, model evaluation, and model optimization.
• Ability to quantitatively research opportunities, define technical strategy, set clear scope, manage timelines, and drive measurable outcomes.
• Comfort communicating and collaborating with cross-functional audiences across Product, Engineering, Design, Analytics, Marketing, GTM, and Growth and senior business stakeholders.
• Curiosity, judgment, and a hunger to dig into uncharted territory and make a meaningful impact.

Requirements

• Experience optimizing within a two-sided marketplace or similarly complex multi-stakeholder environment.
• Background in recommendation systems, ranking, personalization, search, or matching.
• Experience with performance marketing models, paid acquisition, supply-side optimization, or marketplace incentives.
• Familiarity with MLOps practices, ML engineering workflows, model monitoring, Airflow, dbt, or similar infrastructure.
• A master’s degree or PhD in a relevant quantitative field.

Benefits

• Competitive Compensation: Including annual salary, pre-IPO stock options, and other financial compensation (if applicable).
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage: 100% of premiums covered for you AND all of your dependents.
• Unlimited Flexible Time Off: Unlimited FTO in addition to 12 company holidays per year, quarterly “recharge” days, and a week-long holiday break.
• Home Office Reimbursement: To cover home office furniture and supplies, monthly home internet, and monthly cell phone (if applicable).
• Health & Wellness Reimbursement: To cover monthly gym membership or other qualifying expenses.
• Parental Support: Generous parental and family leave, fertility benefits, and employer-sponsored stipends towards family forming services.
• 401k Plan: To support you in your individual retirement goals.
• Team Events: Frequent team-building events, fun team off-sites, and bi-annual company meetups.
• Commitment to DEI: To prioritize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within our workplace and to stay true to our values and mission.
• Mentorship and Training: To get you onboard quickly, learn new professional skills, and invest in your career development.
• Impact and Visibility: To expose you to and provide the opportunity to work on highly strategic initiatives that will transform the business.
• Encouragement and Empowerment: To explore and adopt new technologies and drive meaningful decisions and outcomes.