Principal Data Scientist, KAYAK

KAYAK

Location:
United States, Concord

Category:
IT - Software Development

Contract Type:
Not provided

Salary:

Not provided

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Job Description:

KAYAK seeks a resourceful, agile data scientist with a strong curiosity about solving challenging machine learning problems across a range of domains and modalities, from recommender systems to reinforcement learning to vision to natural language processing. This position focuses on experimental projects and innovation leveraging ML/AI, optimization, and KAYAK’s unique data assets. The role’s goal is to create novel, impactful products and improvements to delight users and distinguish the brand in the travel industry.

Job Responsibility:

Design and implement your own solutions to modeling problems to improve user experience and enhance business outcomes
conduct experiments and engage in rapid-prototyping of ideas, making creative use of the data and resources at your disposal
implement designs in a stable, maintainable, and scalable production-ready form
extract, process and leverage large data sets to drive successful projects
engage in group problem-solving, and collaborative team efforts
communicate and share results in a clear and concise manner
collaborate with strong researchers, product managers and engineers, and your work will have tangible impact.

Requirements:

Deep expertise in math, statistics, systems design, and coding sufficient to lead and solve complex industrial machine learning and data science challenges
a PhD or equivalent in an aligned quantitative field (computer science, statistics, mathematics, operations research, engineering, etc.) is preferred
proven experience applying core concepts and methods in machine/deep learning to real-world data science problems, with a strong track record of measuring and influencing impact at scale
proficient with current Python machine learning development ecosystems: PyTorch or TensorFlow, pandas/polars, scikit-learn, git, etc.

Nice to have:

Solid foundation in software engineering principles, with experience leading or mentoring in individual or team-based technical development
demonstrated success applying ML/AI in a business environment, including shaping high-level business problems into concrete modeling tasks
hands-on experience with data engineering practices, including ETLs, relational databases, and large-scale data frameworks such as Trino
prior experience with ML engineering and/or MLOps, including deploying, maintaining, and monitoring machine learning models in production environments.

What we offer:

Work from (almost) anywhere for up to 20 days per year
company-paid therapy sessions through SpringHealth
company-paid subscription to HeadSpace
company-wide week off a year - the whole team fully recharges
no meeting Fridays
paid parental leave
generous paid vacation + time off for your birthday
paid volunteer time
development dollars
leadership development
access to thousands of on-demand e-learnings
travel discounts
employee resource groups
competitive retirement and health plans
free lunch 2 days per week
fun quarterly events such as boat trips, arcades, ski trips, Thursday socials, and more.

Additional Information:

Job Posted:
June 19, 2025

Work Type:

Hybrid work

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Principal Data Scientist