Senior Data Scientist

Job description

Every developer has a tab open on Stack Overflow.

We are one of the most popular websites in the world - a community-based space focused on increasing productivity, decreasing cycle times, accelerating time to market, and protecting institutional knowledge.

Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We embrace collaboration, transparency, and believe in leading with empathy; creating an environment where every Stacker knows they belong. We embrace that the unique contributions and points of view of all Stackers contribute to our success.

We are a Best Company to Work For, in addition to being recognized for Best Company Leadership, Best Company Happiness, Best Company Perks and Benefits, Best Company Work-Life Balance, Best Company Compensation, and Best Company Outlook.

We are a remote-first company with Hiring HUBs based in the US, Canada, UK, and Germany.

At Stack Overflow, the Senior Data Scientist on our Data Team is a key driver of innovation, leading research and development initiatives that directly enhance the Stack Overflow experience.

You’ll operate in a highly cross-functional capacity, acting as a vital consultant and collaborator with our Software Engineers, Product Managers, and Data Engineers. Your primary focus will be on leveraging our rich dataset to research and build models that improve user engagement, content discovery, and overall platform functionality.

A significant part of your role will involve partnering closely with Product teams to identify and understand tactical challenges that can be solved through the application of data-driven insights, advanced statistical models, and Large Language Models (LLMs). You’ll translate these challenges into data science problems, design solutions, and contribute to their implementation.

What you’ll do:

Product Support (75%)

• Collaborate with Product Managers and act as a thought leader to understand the Product problems they are facing and identify if there are existing solutions that can help them, or work with the Director of Data Science to determine if a more robust solution is needed
• Translate customer requirements into actionable research questions and technical demonstrations
• Create technical analyses and proof-of-concepts (POCs) that demonstrate how our data can drive value with our partners
• Dive deep into data/ML/AI problems our partners are facing and make recommendations on where they should go to capture value and avoid pitfalls

Research (25%)

• Conduct experiments to quantify the value of Stack Overflow data when applied to various AI/ML applications including chatbots, assistants, copilots, and model-training
• Recreate research done by the open source community with our data demonstrating the value of our data
• Research industry trends and emerging use cases to identify new market opportunities for our trusted, accurate knowledge base
• Design and execute rapid offline experiments to understand data patterns and value propositions for AI tool development
• Package findings for internal teams and customers, focusing on learning about our data capabilities that accelerate productivity and innovation

Example Projects

• Analyze Q&A patterns from StackOverflow.com to help improve an AI Documentation Assistant explain complex API integrations
• Mine data from StackOverflow.com on code quality to improve an AI Code Review tool

What we expect from you:

• Proven track record of working with large-scale LLMs
• 4+ years of data science experience with a strong foundation in experimental design and rapid prototyping
• Proven ability to conduct independent research and translate findings into business insights for AI/ML applications
• Experience working in fast-paced environments, balancing research goals with business timelines
• Background in NLP, text analysis, and working with large-scale Q&A or developer-focused datasets
• Familiarity with developer tools, workflows, or technical communities preferred
• Comfortable with ambiguous requirements and iterative research approaches
• Strong technical communication skills for documentation and internal presentations
• Working within GMT-7:00 (US) to GMT+2:00 (Europe) time zones.

What you’ll get in return:

• Competitive Base Salary
• Generous paid vacation
• Generous parental leave (16 weeks at 100% pay), family care leave, and unlimited sick days
• Equity for all employees at all levels
• Industry-leading health benefits that are applicable per country of residence for all our full-time employees
• Company-paid Life Insurance
• Home Internet stipend
• Professional allocation for your growth and development
• One-time allowance to assist with your home office setup
• Company-paid access to Calm, Bravely, LinkedIn Learning, MyAcademy and Overdrive

Stack Overflow is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We value diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging and these pillars are at the heart of how we work together here at Stack. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying.

For individuals based in California, and other locations where required, we will consider employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.