Director, Data Science - Sponsored Ads

Our Opportunity:

At Chewy, it is our mission to become the most trusted and convenient online destination for pet parents and our partners – vets and service providers – alike.  Our success is measured by the happiness of the people and pets we serve, not simply by the amount of pet supplies we deliver. That’s why we continue to think of outside-the-Chewy-box ways to delight, surprise, and thank our loyal pet lovers!

As part of our fast-growing Sponsored Ads team, we are looking for a Director, Data Science to lead a team of machine learning engineers dedicated to improving the customer experience for pet parents and optimizing the advertiser experience through the Chewy Ads platform. This leader will drive the overall Ads science strategy, influencing high-impact initiatives across Chewy’s advertising landscape.

In this role, you’ll join Chewy’s core leadership team, crafting technical strategy across onsite and offsite advertising, search and discovery, relevance and ranking, prediction, and auction for sponsored products! You'll leverage machine learning and deep-learning models to optimize product selection, relevance, ranking, click-through prediction, auction dynamics, keyword recommendations, campaign optimization, and other data-driven initiatives. Your work will span all stages of model development, directly impacting millions of customers who shop for their pets on Chewy.

What you'll do:

• Develop and deploy machine learning and data science solutions to simplify shopping for pet parents, enhance product reach, and create an ideal ecosystem for shoppers, brands, and Chewy.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering leaders to enhance selection, ranking, relevance, deal offerings, click-through prediction, dynamic bidding, and auction algorithms for Chewy’s advertising solutions.
• Lead end-to-end model development, from ideation to experimentation and production, to improve product offerings and expand applied science capabilities.
• Publish research in leading ML/AI/advertising conferences, solving large-scale challenges through innovative modeling.
• Set high standards for model performance, establish best practices for applied science implementation, and mentor junior scientists.
• Deploy solutions at Chewy’s scale to increase customer engagement and value for pet parents.
• Communicate proposals and findings clearly to Chewy Senior Leadership and business partners with varying technical knowledge, sharing insights and actionable recommendations.

What You'll Need:

• Advanced degree (M.S., PhD, or equivalent experience) in fields such as Search and Recommendation Systems, Personalization, Audience Management, Operations Research, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, or related areas, or 10+ years’ experience in designing large-scale optimization and machine learning solutions..
• Strong expertise in advanced mathematics and data science methodologies.
• Experience building and optimizing distributed pipelines.
• Proficiency in various modeling techniques, including Predictive Models (Time Series, Regression), Linear Programming, Classification, Search, Ranking, Personalization, dynamic auctions, audience management, large-scale embeddings, and LLM/generative AI.
• Ability to translate complex data sets and research into clear, actionable business insights.

Bonus:

• E-commerce or retail experience.
• Experience with ML Services in AWS (e.g., SageMaker, Personalize) or equivalent platforms.