Senior Data Scientist, People Analytics

About the People Data Science Team

The People Data Science (PDS) team drives business outcomes through talent insights, spanning high-impact work across the employee lifecycle. We’re now in the early stages of evolving our function to be AI-native, and we’re looking for someone eager to explore, build, and shape what comes next.

About the Role

The Senior Data Scientist will play a foundational role in shaping how data, analytics, and AI power Talent decisions across Thumbtack.

You’ll partner closely with the People Team and the business to tackle high-impact questions, define success metrics, and deliver insights—while getting hands-on building the data foundations and products that make this work scalable. This is a high-visibility role with exposure to senior leaders, spanning a wide range of People topics and helping define what modern, analytically sound People Data Science looks like in practice.

What you'll do

• Tell clear, business-relevant stories about our talent using data and insights.
• Get hands-on with AI to explore where it meaningfully improves insight generation, decision support, and experimentation.
• Design, own, and evolve the People data foundation, including pipelines and BigQuery data models, in partnership with Data Engineering and HR Operations
• Build scalable analytics products and tools, including Tableau dashboards and AI-enabled products
• Partner cross-functionally with People Team and business leaders to identify and scope high-impact talent questions, analyze using quantitative methods, and translate insights into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Own initiatives end-to-end across the People Team (Recruiting, Talent Management, DEIB, and more).
• Foster a culture of data-informed decision-making across the People Team and the broader organization.

In order to be successful, you must bring

• BA/BS degree in quantitative field such as Economics, Statistics, or Psychology
• 4+ years of experience, with at least 1 year in People Data Science/ People Analytics
• Experience (and interest) in managing data pipelines and data warehousing
• Strong written and verbal communication skills: this role will require writing content and explaining results to a variety of audiences, including senior leadership
• Strong experience using SQL to query large datasets, proficiency with Tableau and familiarity with statistics/programming languages (e.g., R, Python)
• Demonstrated ability to self-motivate and drive projects independently as well as partner successfully with cross-functional teams 
• Strong prioritization and project management skills

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 $197,200 - $255,200.
• 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 $177,700 - $229,200.
• For candidates living in all other US locations, the expected salary range for this role is currently $167,500 - $216,700.

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.