Senior Data Scientist

At Mojang Studios, the creators of Minecraft, we are on a mission to build a better world through the power of play.  

Why play? Well, play is at the heart of everything we do. It’s the blocky backbone of our games, the core of our development philosophy, and even the origin of our name. From the relentless experimentation of our endlessly inspiring community to the classrooms where Minecraft has become an essential teaching tool, play is the bedrock of our existence. 

We enable millions to create and play together, connect people across the globe, and foster a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world. Our community is global and incredibly diverse. When we are developing anything within our franchise, we keep this in mind. We want everyone to not only feel included in Minecraft, but also to see themselves in what we make. Our goal is for the Mojang Studios team to be as diverse as our community. 

The Minecraft Player and Data Insights (PADI) team is looking for a Senior Data Scientist  to span the creator, subscription, monetization and gameplay areas of business, plan analytical projects with stakeholders, deliver strategic insights, and help shape the future of the Minecraft franchise.  

In your product analytics role, you will focus on practical applications of visualizations, statistics, and machine learning to influence product strategy with key decisionmakers in areas including user generated content and multiplayer experiences. On the PADI team, you will be responsible for identifying opportunities to improve player and creator experiences from telemetry using big data tools, and partner independently and seamlessly, aligning and influencing to create action on insights. You will design analysis and machine learning models to uncover actionable insights about enabling new content, highlighting player journey moments, and sizing opportunities available. You will bring engagement, revenue, and player perspectives, while coaching the stakeholders to use data to move franchise objectives. PADI’s goal is to be the most impactful data team in games!  

In the end, it’s the people of Mojang Studios that make this place truly special. When you join, you’ll find yourself in the company of incredibly bright, warm, and creative individuals – all united and working toward a single goal. Come help us reach it! 

Responsibilities

• Grow relationships across teams in Minecraft, enhancing quality of collaboration, with insights to promote more data integration partnerships.  

• Evaluate business impact of potential projects. Leverage understanding of data to influence business decisions and own & advocate for analysis results.  

• Brainstorm with stakeholders to direct ambiguous questions into hypotheses and impactful analysis plans.   

• Use a variety of data science methods like time series and statistics. Good undertanding in adhoc queries.  

• Strength in story telling data to stakeholders through visualizations, and dashboard & live services reporting.  

• Articulates drivers and strategies from a perspective that combines analytical and product expertise.  

• Work environment is fast-paced and requires flexibility and adaptability to align to rhythm of business.  

• Build games industry expertise. Become a Minecraft player. Gain experience with creators, mods, user generated content.  

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

•  Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 1+ year(s) data science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) 
  •       OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics,                                                Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)  
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience   
  • OR equivalent experience.  

• 3 years of experience with SQL
• 3 years of experience with statistical programming in languages such as Python

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) 

• OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) 

• OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 7+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)) 

• OR equivalent experience.  

• Games industry knowledge, subject matter expert preferred. 

• Track record of influencing partners across complex organization dynamics to act on insights.  

• Good undertanding in live reporting and dashboarding such as PowerBI.  

• Experience using big data tools such as Spark (PySpark), Databricks.  

Data Science IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $117,200 - $229,200 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $153,600 - $250,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 23, 2024.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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