Data Scientist - Academics

At AoPS, data sits at the heart of how we grow and deliver our mission. We serve tens of thousands of students around the world, generating data about how families discover us, how students learn, and how our operations scale. Yet, like our curriculum and teaching, the true value of our data comes from how well we can translate it into actionable insight.

AoPS is unique because it brings together academics, operations, and technology under one roof. We design our own curriculum, run physical academies, deliver online courses, and build the platforms that power it all. This created a rich and complex data environment--one that grew organically as the business grew and we are working on creating a more cohesive stack so every business line runs on the same system. Your job will be to turn raw data into clear, actionable insights, while proactively identifying areas for improvement.

We are hiring a Data Scientist to support our Academics department and course experience team with learning research, advanced analytics, and experimentation. In this role, you will bridge the gap between the data that our curriculum developers and customers generate and the evidence we need to improve learning outcomes, instructional design, and student experience. You will own analytic frameworks, build statistical and machine learning models, and collaborate closely with curriculum developers, product teams, and senior academic leadership.

The Data Scientist (Academics) will:

• Take ownership of learning analysis and applied research for the Academics department, ensuring analyses, models, and data tools are accurate and aligned with strategic goals.
• Partner with stakeholders to translate academic, curriculum, and product questions into testable hypotheses, measurable outcomes, and business decisions.
• Work with the data team to define, govern, and validate the metrics, features, and data structures needed to support consistent, science-driven analyses.
• Use SQL and Python to power analyses, modeling, reproducible research, and data-driven recommendations.
• Proactively investigate patterns and anomalies in learning data to uncover meaningful trends, identify drivers of student outcomes, and separate actionable insights from background noise.
• Champion data literacy and effective analytic practices across the organization.
• Completes other tasks and responsibilities, as assigned.

The ideal candidate has:

• 2-4 years of experience in data science, applied statistics, quantitative research, or similar analytical role with a track record of driving meaningful impact.
• Proficiency in Python for data analysis, statistical modeling, and machine learning (using packages like pandas or polars for data manipulation, scikit-learn or statsmodels for model development, and PySpark or Dask for distributed computing).
• Experience using tools and best practices for reproducible research (e.g., version-controlled analysis, environment management, documented workflows) and with MLOps to ensure analyses and models are stable, repeatable, and maintainable.
• Strong understanding of concepts relevant to learning research, such as experimental design, hypothesis testing, feature engineering, regression modeling, causal inference, clustering, and evaluating data quality in educational or behavioral datasets.
• Experience using SQL data warehouses such as Redshift, Snowflake, or BigQuery to gather and transform data for analysis. We use Redshift and dbt.
• Experience using data visualization or BI tools like Lightdash, PowerBI, Tableau, or Looker. We use Lightdash.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to gather requirements from stakeholders, prioritize potential projects, and translate complex quantitative findings into actionable insights for the academics team.

Why Join AoPS:

This is a hybrid full-time position based at our headquarters in San Diego, CA. The full salary range for this position is 137.8k - 169.6k. Here are some things you can look forward to:

• Impact: Transform learning data into evidence-based insights that help us create more effective courses and better outcomes for the next generation of problem solvers.
• Flexibility: Casual work environment with a hybrid work week and flexible scheduling
• Benefits: Multiple options for Medical, Dental and Vision plans
• Future Planning: 401K with company match
• Quality of Life: PTO Plan and supportive leadership that gives you the work-life balance you deserve
• Ease of Transition: Relocation bonus (if currently located outside of San Diego)

Background Check:

Please note that employment is contingent on the successful completion of a background check.

Work Authorization:

Please note that in order to be considered for this position you must be legally authorized to work in the US. We are unable to offer sponsorship, including STEM-OPT and H-1B.

About AoPS:

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is on a mission to discover, inspire, and train the great problem solvers of the next generation. Since 2003, we have trained hundreds of thousands of the country's top students, including nearly all the members of the US International Math Olympiad team, through our online school, in-person academies, textbooks, and online learning systems. While our primary focus has been math for most of our history, through the years we have expanded our unique problem solving curriculum into more subjects, such as language arts, science, and computer science.