Lead Data Scientist

Great Purpose. Great People. Great Opportunities.

At Imagine Learning we empower potential by creating educational solutions that inspire boundless possibilities for every student, every day. We are passionate about innovating together to support educators in creating those special moments when students experience the joy of learning at its best.

We also empower our team through a strong culture focused on career growth and development, flexible work from home arrangements, interesting and meaningful work, and a supportive and connected team. As a remote-friendly company, hybrid and remote team members work from states across the U.S. and internationally. The majority of our US employees enjoy the opportunity to work from home, or in a hybrid capacity in our offices in Tempe, AZ (headquarters), Austin, TX, Petaluma, CA, Rock Rapids, IA, Grand Rapids, MI, or Bloomington, MN.

Imagine Your Impact.

The Lead Data Scientist will help transform education by transforming data into insights and insights into action. This role will help drive our thought-leadership around the intersection of data, machine learning, generative artificial intelligence, and education.

For more information on what it’s like to work at Imagine Learning, including our culture, benefits, and products, visit us HERE.

To learn more about a typical applicant journey at Imagine Learning, click HERE.

Position Information: This is a regular, full-time position, reporting to Director of Engineering.

Compensation: Base pay is anticipated to be between $117,438.00 and $170,000.00 per year. Eligible employees may also receive incentive/commission/annual bonus pay based on individual and/or company performance. Compensation may vary based on factors such as, but not limited to, individual skills, experience, training, education/certifications, geographic location, internal equity, and local market conditions.

Location: In this US-based position your location will be remote.

Benefits: Imagine Learning provides a comprehensive benefits program to eligible employees, including:

• Multiple health, dental, and vision plans, including medical plans with zero employee premiums
• 401k plan with a company match
• 16 paid holidays, which include 2 floating holidays and a winter shutdown from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day
• Paid Time Off
• Comprehensive maternity and fertility/family building benefits
• Paid bonding leave when a new child joins your family
• Access to on-demand mental health resources
• Life and short and long-term disability insurance
• Pre-tax savings plans
• Paid volunteer time off
• A wide variety of professional development programs, including tuition reimbursement
• Work from home opportunities that foster work/life balance

Envision Your Experience.

In this role you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Conduct in-depth analysis of structured and unstructured data to build, deploy, and optimize machine learning models and statistical methods that directly support key business objectives—such as efficacy, learning outcomes, and product innovation.
• Partner closely with content, product, assessment, and engineering teams to uncover opportunities, explore new data sources, and deliver scalable insights that enhance product quality, user experience, and overall organizational performance.
• Work with the VP of Product Management (AI Initiatives and Data) to integrate data science into the company’s broader data strategy, contributing to and delivering on the AI and Machine Learning roadmap to create measurable business value.
• Acquire in-depth knowledge of various product and business areas to effectively support and lead diverse projects, ensuring that data science solutions align with Imagine Learning’s strategic goals.
• Translate complex analytical findings into clear, actionable recommendations for technical and non-technical audiences—including senior leadership—driving data-informed decision-making and product features across the company.
• Collaborate with data engineering teams to implement and maintain robust data pipelines, integrations, and model deployments that ensure reliable, real-time delivery of insights and analytics across our product portfolio.
• Develop compelling visualizations that distill complex data into easily understood trends, dashboards, and metrics, empowering stakeholders to quickly identify opportunities and drive change.
• Stay current on the state-of-the-art data science tools, libraries, and methodologies—experimenting and iterating to refine best practices and position Imagine Learning as best in class for the use of data to drive learning outcomes.
• Other duties as required.

Share Your Expertise.

Experience, education, and qualifications essential for success in this role, include:

• Master's degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years in a data science role focused on developing and deploying practical machine learning solutions; or an acceptable combination of education and experience.
• Experience with common data science technologies, such as Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, etc.) R, and SQL.; excellence in at least one of these is highly desirable.
• Experience with big data tools and platforms such as Spark, Hive, Snowflake, and AWS Redshift.
• Strong statistical modeling skills (regression, classification, time series, forecasting, etc.)
• Familiarity with data visualization tools like Tableau or Power BI
• Excellent communications to present findings to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder management capabilities
• Self-stater with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving, capable of working with minimal oversight.
• Eager to bridge the gap between exploration and productization; interested in real-world applications over academic research.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB+).

Diversity and inclusivity strengthen our Imagine Learning team, enrich our lives, and help us design equitable educational experiences where learners see themselves and can also learn about people, cultures, experiences, and perspectives different from their own. We strive to hire, develop, and retain talented people who represent the diversity of the districts we serve. By developing initiatives that focus on the needs, expectations, and lives of our people, we’ve created an inclusive environment where all employees can contribute to their fullest potential.

Imagine Learning is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a diverse workforce, providing equal employment and advancement opportunities to qualified individuals. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, transgender status (including whether or not you are transitioning or have transitioned), sexual orientation, marital status, religion (including religion dress and grooming practices), age 40 and over, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information (including results of genetic testing and characteristics), veteran and/or military status, or service in the military, and any other basis or status protected under applicable federal, state, or local laws. 

To all recruitment agencies: Imagine Learning does not accept agency resumes. Please do not submit candidates for consideration via our online application system, to Imagine Learning employees, or to any other organization location. Imagine Learning is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.