Staff Data Scientist

This role will report to the Director of Decision Science and is a part of the Data & Analytics organization within Business Technology (BT). BT powers Workiva’s growth, enhances the employee experience, and boosts organizational productivity with tech-driven transformation and innovative solutions. The Data & Analytics team drives data-driven decisions and innovations across Workiva.

As a Staff Data Scientist at Workiva, you will play a key role in driving data-driven innovation and strategic decision-making across the organization. Working as a senior member of our Decision Science team, you’ll solve complex business challenges, develop impactful data products, and influence high-level business initiatives. This role offers the unique opportunity to blend deep technical expertise with leadership responsibilities, enabling you to contribute significantly to our company’s growth and success.

You will take ownership of the full data science lifecycle—from data acquisition to deploying and monitoring models in production—while shaping our overall data strategy and fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making.

What You’ll Do 

Collaborate with Leadership: Partner with cross-functional leaders and product owners to understand business needs and translate them into data science initiatives that drive strategic decisions.

Design and Implement Solutions: Lead the design and implementation of data science solutions to address high-priority business challenges and deliver measurable impact.

End-to-End Data Science Ownership: Manage the complete data science lifecycle, including data acquisition, preprocessing, exploration, modeling, deployment, and ongoing performance monitoring of models in production.

Drive Actionable Insights: Translate complex data analyses into clear, actionable recommendations for business stakeholders, empowering data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Shape Data Strategy: Contribute to data strategy by collaborating with data engineering teams to define new data acquisition, instrumentation, metrics design, and platform technology choices.

Thought Leadership: Become a subject matter expert in both the technical and business domains, using data and insights to informing senior stakeholders on strategic goals related to product investment, revenue growth, and customer satisfaction/retention.

Foster Data Culture: Help cultivate a strong data-driven culture by actively contributing to the data and analytics community, mentoring junior team members, developing best practices, and improving team processes.

Innovate with AI & Machine Learning: Explore and apply cutting-edge techniques in AI, machine learning, and statistical analysis to stay ahead of industry trends and continuously innovate.

What You’ll Need

Minimum requirements

• 6+ years of experience in data science or related fields, complemented by a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related discipline

Preferred Qualifications

• Technical and Analytical Expertise:

  • Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and R
  • Experience with machine learning tools like Sagemaker, MLFlow, Metaflow, Keras, and/or PyTorch
  • Advanced SQL skills and experience with large-scale data analysis
  • Knowledge of machine learning techniques, including regression, cross-validation, boosting, decision trees, clustering, CNNs, RNNs, transformers, and GANs
  • Expertise in statistical methods such as hypothesis testing, A/B testing, and causal inference
  • Experience deploying machine learning models in production environments
  • Familiarity with cloud platforms like AWS and Snowflake, big data tools like Spark, and data visualization tools such as Quicksight, Superset, or Python libraries (e.g., Seaborn, Matplotlib)

• Practical and Strategic Experience:

  • Experience deploying and optimizing machine learning models to meet business objectives
  • Familiarity with instrumentation and product event logging using tools like Splunk and New Relic
  • Knowledge of SaaS products and business models, with a focus on using data science to enhance user engagement and retention

• Interpersonal and Problem-Solving Skills:

  • Strong problem-solving abilities to address complex challenges
  • Effective communication skills to present data findings to technical and non-technical audiences
  • Ability to balance priorities and deliver value efficiently
  • Analytical mindset with the ability to identify patterns and develop data-driven solutions
  • Demonstrated ability to collaborate across teams and organizational structures

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Embrace your inner wanderlust – expect up to 25% travel

• Stay virtually untethered with the power of reliable internet access, enabling you to work remotely from your chosen spot, whether that's your home office or a beachside café

How You’ll Be Rewarded

✅ A discretionary bonus typically paid annually

✅ Restricted Stock Units granted at time of hire

✅ 401(k) match and comprehensive employee benefits package

The salary range represents the low and high end of the salary range for this job in the US. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. The actual salary offer will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including your skills, qualifications, experience and other relevant factors.

Workiva is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer.  We believe that great minds think differently.  We value diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, and interests, and we recognize diversity as an important source of intellectual thought, varied perspective, and innovation.  Employment decisions are made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other protected characteristic.  We strongly encourage and welcome people from historically marginalized groups to apply.

Workiva is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. To request assistance with the application process, please email talentacquisition@workiva.com.
 

Workiva employees are required to undergo comprehensive security and privacy training tailored to their roles, ensuring adherence to company policies and regulatory standards.

Workiva supports employees in working where they work best - either from an office or remotely from any location within their country of employment.