[Hiring] Staff Decision Scientist @Workiva Inc.

Role Description

As a Staff Decision Scientist, you will serve as a strategic thought partner to senior leaders across Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and Finance — owning ambiguous problems, uncovering causal drivers, and delivering recommendations that shape how Workiva operates and grows. You go beyond describing "what happened" to explaining "why it happened" and "what to do next," applying state-of-the-art analytical capabilities — including Snowflake Cortex and AI-powered tools — to surface insights at speed and scale, and to drive outcomes through clear, executive-ready communication.

This role reports to the Director of Decision Science within Workiva's Enterprise Data & Analytics function.

What You’ll Do

• Strategic Analysis & Insights
  • Lead rigorous, hypothesis-driven analyses — proactively framing the most important business questions, uncovering causal drivers, risks, and opportunities, and delivering clear "so what" recommendations that connect directly to strategic priorities and senior leadership decisions.
  • Leverage state-of-the-art analytical capabilities including Snowflake Cortex, AI-assisted workflows, and advanced statistical methods to develop and automate insights at scale.
  • Create and present compelling data narratives that make complex findings accessible and actionable for executive audiences.
• Metrics & Data Product Development
  • Act as the metrics and data product owner: translate new business models, go-to-market motions, and strategic initiatives into well-defined metrics, measurement frameworks, and self-serve data products that enable confident, consistent decision-making across the organization.
  • Partner with Data Engineering, Analytics Engineering, and BI teams to ensure metrics are reflected in scalable data models and delivered through self-serve data products — enabling business users to access, interpret, and act on trusted data independently.
  • Engage with Data Governance teams to ensure metric integrity, consistency, and compliance with data standards.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Partner with leaders across business functions to translate ambiguous business questions into structured analytical plans — building credibility through the quality of insights and influence without authority.
  • Facilitate cross-departmental data initiatives that break down silos and create a unified, strategic view of the business.
• Analytics Leadership & Ownership
  • Take ownership of outcomes — proactively managing stakeholder expectations, flagging risks early, and following through on commitments with accuracy and speed.
  • Drive analytical excellence across the team — establishing standards for hypothesis-driven analysis, reproducible workflows, and AI-assisted automation that raise the bar for how insights are developed and delivered.
  • Mentor and develop junior analysts and engineers, building a team culture where rigorous thinking, clear communication, and continuous learning are the norm.
  • Contribute to building Workiva's data culture and advancing data as a competitive advantage across the organization.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in decision science, data analytics, strategy analytics, or a related role within the technology sector.
• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field (e.g., Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, Business Analytics). Master's preferred.

Requirements

• Business Skills
  • Deep understanding of SaaS business models and how analytics drives business outcomes — with a track record of extracting actionable, forward-looking insights from complex data.
  • Exceptional communication and data storytelling skills — able to distill complex findings into clear, compelling narratives for executive and cross-functional audiences.
  • Advanced stakeholder management skills with proven ability to influence across organizational boundaries without direct authority.
  • Able to balance big-picture strategic thinking with rigorous attention to detail — from framing the right business question to ensuring accuracy in the final output.
  • Self-motivated and intellectually curious — thrives in ambiguous environments, brings investigative rigor to every problem, and stays current with emerging analytical methods, AI capabilities, and industry trends to continually raise the bar.
• Technical Skills
  • SQL & Data Manipulation: Expert-level proficiency across complex, multi-source datasets.
  • AI & Modern Analytics: Hands-on experience with Snowflake (including Cortex), Redshift, and AI-assisted tools to automate and accelerate insight generation.
  • Statistical Analysis: Proficiency in hypothesis testing, A/B testing, regression analysis, and causal inference.
  • Data Visualization: Ability to develop clear, compelling visual narratives using tools such as Sigma, Amazon QuickSight, Superset, or Python libraries.
  • Data Modeling: Solid understanding of data modeling concepts; dbt experience a plus.
  • Programming: Python for advanced analysis and workflow automation (preferred).
  • Data Governance: Working experience with data governance and metadata management tools such as Atlan or Alation — able to apply governance standards to metrics definitions, data lineage, and analytical outputs in day-to-day work.

Benefits

• Salary range in the US: $129,000.00 - $207,000.00.
• A discretionary bonus typically paid annually.
• Restricted Stock Units granted at time of hire.
• 401(k) match and comprehensive employee benefits package.