Senior Data Scientist - Marketplace

About Motorway
Motorway is the UK’s fastest-growing used car marketplace – our award-winning, online-only platform connects private car sellers with thousands of verified dealers nationwide, ensuring everyone gets the best deal. Founded in 2017, our technology-led approach has redefined the experience of selling a car, generating thousands of monthly car sales and helping us to grow to a team of more than 400 people across our London and Brighton offices.

About the Role
We’re seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Senior Data Scientist to join our newly formed Marketplace team. This team is pivotal in driving Motorway’s next stage of growth by optimising our online auction platform and ensuring a smooth and efficient experience for both car sellers and dealers. You’ll play a key role in developing and implementing innovative data-driven solutions that directly impact the core of our business. This includes leveraging data-driven insights to refine our auction mechanics, building predictive models to predict outcome propensity, and enhancing the user experience through personalisation.

To succeed in this role, you’ll need a strong background in data science, statistics, predictive modelling, and (preferably) behavioural psychology; with demonstrable experience thinking creatively to create solutions that deliver significant business value at scale. While experience in an auction/ marketplace dynamic will help, whatever your background, you should be as excited as we are about the transformative potential of using data to optimise outcomes for the entire marketplace end to end.

Requirements

1. Develop, implement, and validate advanced predictive models to optimise auction dynamics, predict likelihood of auction outcomes, and improve consumer bidding strategies.
2. Conduct rigorous analysis of large datasets to identify trends, patterns, and anomalies in auction dynamics, translating findings into actionable insights for product and business stakeholders.
3. Collaborate cross-functionally with analysts, engineers, operations, and product stakeholders to design, implement, and test the performance of new product releases.
4. Contribute to the development and implementation of solutions to incentivise positive marketplace behaviour and enhance the fairness of our auctions.
5. Research and evaluate the potential of different auction formats and strategies, at the forefront of data, auction theory, and behavioural economics, to optimise auction efficiency and revenue generation potential.
6. Communicate complex technical concepts and findings clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

1. Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Data Science, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Economics, or a related field.
2. Demonstrable expertise in data science and machine learning with a proven track record of developing and deploying machine learning models in a commercial setting.
3. Strong programming skills in Python and experience with relevant statistics, machine learning, and visualisation libraries and frameworks (e.g., pandas, scikit-learn, stan, pyro, matplotlib, plotly, streamlit etc).
4. Ability to identify and utilise appropriate machine learning models to fit requirements (linear/logistic regression, RFs, xgboost, NNs etc). Experience with calibrated probabilistic models is a bonus.
5. Experienced in production MLOps & software engineering, including familiarity with git, CI/CD, testing and releasing.
6. Proven ability to work with large datasets and cloud-based platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP).
7. Self-sufficient with SQL, as well as experience with data pipelining & warehousing technologies. Experience with BigQuery and dbt is a bonus.
8. Experience with econometrics, bayesian ML, causal inference, and/or auction theory is highly desirable.
9. Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and critical thinking skills.
10. Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to effectively convey technical information to diverse audiences.

Bonus Points

1. Experience in the automotive or e-commerce industry.
2. Familiarity with A/B testing and experimentation frameworks (frequentist, bayesian, multi-armed bandit etc).

Benefits

1. Stock options – we succeed and fail together as a team, so we want you to be included in our success.
2. Annual learning budget – you can choose how you like to learn and find the best learning experiences to support your progression.
3. BUPA health insurance.
4. Discounted dental through BUPA.
5. Discounted gym membership through BUPA.
6. On-Hand volunteering membership + 1 volunteering day per year.
7. Hybrid working from home (approximately 1-2 days in the office a week).
8. Pension scheme.
9. Motorway car leasing scheme – lease a zero-emissions electric vehicle at a significant discount.
10. Cycle to work scheme.
11. Enhanced maternity/paternity leave.
12. Regular social events.

Equal opportunities statement
We are committed to equality of opportunity for all employees. We work to provide a supportive and inclusive environment where people can maximise their full potential. We believe our workforce should reflect a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives and experiences. Our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion is evident through our constant focus on recruiting, developing and advancing individuals based on their skills and talents.

We welcome applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

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