Applied Scientist, Customer Growth

About the Applied Science Team

The Customer Growth Applied Science team is responsible for delivering profitable growth to Thumbtack by developing and deploying state of the art Artificial Intelligence (AI) models in growth marketing and demand partnerships.

Challenge

At the core of our work lies vast amounts of user data. We focus on delivering scalable experiences for a diverse, often unknown, user base by developing in-app features for onboarding, engagement, and reactivation, with constant experimentation.

Beyond traditional growth challenges like customer lifetime value, media strategy, and personalized user experiences, we are pioneering the use of generative AI models and agentic systems to empower marketers.

What you'll do

• Initiate and drive applied science initiatives to completion, with a focus on the business impact
• Build and deploy AI systems to production, examples:
• Customer Lifetime Value
• LLM-powered agentic systems to generate ad copies at scale and understand campaign performance across various segments
• Recommendation systems to drive user engagement
• Next best action models to personalize communications
• Analyze a wide variety of data: structured and unstructured, observational and experimental to drive model development
• Maintain the right balance between speed of execution and scientific rigor when designing solutions
• Own the reliability and performance of deployed models, including monitoring and iterative improvement

In order to be successful, you must bring

• 5+ years of experience in applied AI / data science with demonstrated experience deploying models to production
• Ability to effectively read, write, and debug code in programming languages such as Python
• Familiarity with agentic software engineering tools like Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex
• Solid foundation in probability and statistics, including experimental design, predictive modeling, optimization, and causal inference
• Ability to drive technical and impactful roadmaps for the business
• Experience working through complex projects with cross functional execution
• Ability to break down complex problems rigorously and understand the tradeoffs necessary to deliver impactful projects
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively to cross functional partners of various technical levels

Expected salary ranges

• For candidates living in San Francisco / Bay Area, San Jose, New York City, or Seattle metros, the expected salary range for the role is currently $187,900 - $243,100.
• For candidates living in Austin, TX or Washington DC metros or in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Washington states, the expected salary range for the role is currently $169,200 - $218,900.
• For candidates living in all other US locations, the expected salary range for this role is currently $159,800 - $206,800.

Actual offered salaries will vary and will be based on various factors, such as calibrated job level, qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role.