Data Science & Machine Learning Intern - Summer 2023

Program Dates: June 5, 2023 - August 11, 2023

Wayfair is seeking analytical and action-oriented candidates for the Data Science and Machine Learning Engineer intern opportunities starting in June 2023. The Data Science and Machine Learning team builds the algorithmic systems that drive our business. With 9 expansive workstreams (Search, Pricing, Personalization & Recommendations, Merchandising, Marketing, Measurement, B2B, Computer Vision, and Operations), and more than 20 specialized sub-teams, the projects that our teams work on directly impact our customers on a massive scale.  Our internship program is a 10-week, full-time position that will give you the opportunity of exploring core Wayfair business challenges and coming up with state-of-the-art solutions and taking them all the way to productization. You will work with great mentors who will be helping you all the way from defining the problem and identifying the potential solutions to planning the path to take it to product and potentially publishing your work in reputed AI/ML/DS venues. 

Who We Are | Data Science and Machine Learning at Wayfair

We work closely with stakeholders across the business to build scalable ML solutions and algorithmic platforms that drive incremental revenue, enhance customer experience, & improve customer loyalty. The projects that our teams work on are driven from the ground up – we look for entrepreneurial individuals who want to take ownership over their own agenda and thrive in a collaborative team environment. Take for example (1) Developing novel machine learning models to identify latent customer preferences so that the best products can be highlighted in real-time to our customers, (2) Optimizing profitability and business strategy by accurately forecasting future demand, costs and margin; Estimating the long-term impacts on customer behavior of short-term actions via experimentation, or (3) Creating machine learning solutions to detect product duplicates across the millions of products in our catalog and scaling the solution to handle real-time uploading of new products by partners. Data is at the heart of everything we do and there is very little at Wayfair that our Data Science and Machine Learning team does not touch. They work closely with various teams across the business to build and scale novel solutions to business problems via machine learning. With an in-house A/B testing platform and rolling code deployments, our team can quickly and clearly see the impact that its work has on the company at large and the algorithms you create will directly impact the customer’s experience.

What You'll Do | Responsibilities

• Own the full Data Science lifecycle from conception to prototyping, testing, deploying, and measuring its overall business value
• Develop and scale state-of-the-art machine learning methods and quantitative models to address core business problems
• Integrate your algorithmic solutions into our technical platforms to run at scale and directly change the experiences of customers on our site
• Drive measurable business value collaborating with business teams to change the course of Wayfair
• Pilot projects using new open source tools and packages to enable novel machine learning techniques across the company
• Uncover deep insights hidden in our vast repository of raw data and provide tactical guidance on how to act on findings
• Use data to improve the decision-making of our employees, and ultimately, to enhance the experience of our customers and our suppliers
• Work with a team of friendly and motivated scientists working together to build novel solutions to business problems
• Collaborate with data scientists and software engineers to create maintainable, scalable and debuggable code by bringing strong software development practices
• Drive any potential scientific publications based on the results in major Data Science and Machine Learning conferences or workshops
• Bonus: You will learn a ton and will have fun

What You'll Need | Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• Currently enrolled in a PhD/Masters degree program in a quantitative field (Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Statistics, Economics, etc.).
• Must be returning to the course of study following completion of the internship.
• Proficient knowledge of structured programming language(s) (e.g. Python, R)
• Some familiarity with regression and machine learning techniques, such as supervised/unsupervised learning, recommendation systems, reinforcement learning, deep learning, etc.

Preferred Qualifications:

• An affinity for data along with experience leveraging statistics and regression analysis
• Intuitive sense of how quantitative and technical work aligns closely with business priorities and business value
• Experience with programming skills relevant to data science such as Python and R. Very big plus for High comfort level with languages and tools such as Python, Pytorch/TF, Hadoop, github, pyspark, Docker, SQL, GCP.
• Familiarity with data structures, algorithms, OOP, and programming in a team environment
• Quick learner with an analytical approach to solving problems as part of a team who has good communication skills
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic environment where there can be degrees of ambiguity
• Ability to effectively work with technical leads: strong communication skills, ability to synthesize conclusions for non-experts and desire to influence technical decisions

You will have the opportunity to play a critical role in a growing company while also operating with a high level of executive visibility. The team is focused on creating strategic solutions that steer customer behavior, influence key decision making and quantify our impact within the e-commerce space. Our diverse and fun employees enjoy an environment of strong ownership and quick feedback from building, experimenting and iterating on high-impact work.

Wayfair’s Internship Program 

Our Summer Internship Program is a paid ten-week, full-time program in our Boston - Copley office for 10 weeks June-August. We have internship opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students. No matter who you are, we want Wayfair to be a place where you feel at home. We offer high impact-projects, mentorship, and community-building activities to all of our interns. Throughout the program, we provide interns with the opportunity to engage in social and community building activities including:

• Social events
• Skills-based training
• Dialogue events with senior leaders to provide a holistic view of all functions at Wayfair
• Coffee chat opportunities for interns to get to know one another 
• Volunteer opportunities
• Alumni networking events
• Intern-wide innovation project designed to teach interns skills for handling ambiguous business problems
• Intern Appreciation Day

Events throughout Boston allowing interns to explore what the city has to offer including a scavenger hunt, Red Sox game, and Duck Boat Tours

An Important Note about Wayfair's In-Office Policy:

All Boston-based interns, Co-ops, and corporate employees will be in office in a hybrid capacity. Employees will work in the office on designated days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and work remotely the other 2 days of the week. We are continuing to monitor the evolving COVID-19 pandemic in partnership with state and local governments. 

About Wayfair Inc.

Wayfair is one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home. Whether you work in our global headquarters in Boston or Berlin, or in our warehouses or offices throughout the world, we’re reinventing the way people shop for their homes. Through our commitment to industry-leading technology and creative problem-solving, we are confident that Wayfair will be home to the most rewarding work of your career. If you’re looking for rapid growth, constant learning, and dynamic challenges, then you’ll find that amazing career opportunities are knocking.

No matter who you are, Wayfair is a place you can call home. We’re a community of innovators, risk-takers, and trailblazers who celebrate our differences, and know that our unique perspectives make us stronger, smarter, and well-positioned for success. We value and rely on the collective voices of our employees, customers, community, and suppliers to help guide us as we build a better Wayfair – and world – for all. Every voice, every perspective matters. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or genetic information.

We are interested in retaining your data for a period of 12 months to consider you for suitable positions within Wayfair. Your personal data is processed in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Notice (which can found here). If you have any questions regarding our processing of your personal data, please contact us at dataprotectionofficer@wayfair.com. If you would rather not have us retain your data please contact us anytime at dataprotectionofficer@wayfair.com.