Senior Director, Data Science

Storytelling is, and will always be, the heart of what we do at Skydance.
Our vision is to build a thriving entertainment ecosystem where stories and worlds are imagined, brought to life and experienced. We create for every age and audience, anchored by the strength of our content and experiences and the depth of our connection with fans. We are creator-first, audience-focused, tech-forward, globally scaled.

 

Here, you’ll work with talented teams that move fast, think boldly and collaborate with purpose to deliver results. We aim high, champion the best ideas and win together, earning the trust of our employees, creators, partners and audiences every day.

 

If you’re energized by the opportunity to help build the next-generation global media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology, we’d be thrilled to welcome you aboard. LET’S GO!

 

Overview:

 

We are the Global Content and Lifecycle Analytics team, part of the Paramount Streaming, Data & Insights Group (DIG) team. DIG is a key connector among the Paramount Streaming verticals. The group consists of subject matter experts that prototype, build, and scale data infrastructure and products; assess, aggregate, and analyze data; and shape qualitative and quantitative based narratives and insights, providing stakeholders with decision support, performance clarity and business driving recommendations.

The User Lifecycle Analytics team works closely with Lifecycle Marketing, Product, Finance, and DTC Executives to drive subscriber growth and retention.

 

The Senior Director will report into the VP of User Lifecycle Analytics, and will support a wide range of initiatives, partnering with the Lifecycle Marketing and Product teams, DTC executives and Finance. This role requires the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable insights and strategic recommendations.

The ideal candidate will possess strong communication skills, an inquisitive nature, attention to detail, and a passion for media, ideally with experience in analyzing user journeys and advanced causal inference frameworks.

This role owns two core business questions:

 

1. What drives long-term subscriber health, and how do we use our levers (lifecycle, product, pricing, promotions) to encourage it? 
2. How are optimization efforts across content and the subscriber journey impacting the bottom line?

 

Responsibilities:

 

• Design and lead causal inference frameworks (quasi-experimental methods, uplift modeling, instrumental variables, matching, diff-in-diff). Find what truly drives retention and value.
• Work with Lifecycle Marketing and Product to turn causal findings into clear levers. These span content, onboarding, pricing, and promos to improve subscriber health.
• Own how we link content and journey optimization to outcomes like ARPU, survival, and LTV.
• Design, launch, and analyze A/B tests across the subscriber journey (acquisition, onboarding, involvement, win-back). Use sound design. Deliver clear results.
• Build and keep LTV and survival models with the causal drivers above. Finance and DTC teams can then use them.
• Lead subscriber journey mapping. Find where levers (lifecycle, product, pricing, promos) drive the most causal impact on retention and monetization.
• Run pricing and promo analyses to shape pricing and promo design. Weigh short-term conversion against long-term value.
• Explain technical findings clearly to non-technical teams, like DTC leaders and Finance.
• Manage, mentor, and grow a team of data scientists and analysts. Set technical standards and review methods.
• Work with Data Engineering and Product Analytics. Keep the data systems for causal analysis (experiment platforms, behavioral and billing data) reliable.
• Share findings with senior leaders to shape the roadmap. Guide where we invest across Marketing, Product, and Finance.

 

 

Basic Qualifications:

 

• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Data Science, or Computer Science).
• 10+ years in data science/analytics. This covers hands-on and team-leading work. It spans causal inference methods (diff-in-diff, propensity matching, instrumental variables, uplift modeling, synthetic control).
• Experience designing and analyzing A/B tests and experiments at scale, handling common pitfalls (novelty and network effects, selection bias).
• Built or run LTV, survival, or churn models. Turned them into financial metrics (ARPU, retention curves).
• Strong SQL skills and a stats language (Python or R) for causal modeling.
• A proven track record leading and growing a team of data scientists or analysts.
• A clear communicator who can present complex work to senior leaders and shape decisions.
• Experience working across Marketing, Product, and Finance teams.

 

Additional Qualifications:

 

• Know pricing awareness/elasticity work. Design smart promos.
• Skilled in subscriber/customer journey mapping.
• Skilled in Bayesian or ML-based causal techniques (e.g., double machine learning, causal forests).
• Familiarity with cloud data warehousing/BI tools (e.g., BigQuery, Databricks, Looker, Tableau).

 

About Skydance
Skydance is a next-generation global media and entertainment company, comprised of three business segments: Studios, Direct-to-Consumer, and TV Media. Skydance's portfolio unites legendary brands, including Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, CNN, CBS Sports, TNT Sports, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Food Network, BET, HGTV, and Comedy Central.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

Hiring Salary Range: $234,000.00 - 300,000.00. 

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing compensation, or a range thereof, for roles where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, external market data, internal equity, skill set, experience, training, education, and/or performance. Base pay is just one component of our total compensation package. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards.
This position is bonus eligible.

What We Offer:

• Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here.
• Generous paid time off.
• Complimentary subscriptions to HBO Max, Paramount+, and other Skydance streaming services and digital news products.
• Robust employee engagement opportunities, including access to exclusive screenings and events, speaker series, volunteer activities and more.

 

Skydance is an equal opportunity employer (EOE)

 

We embrace the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit. In line with the laws of the country or region in which the role is based, this includes consideration without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, religion or belief, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, physical or mental disability, genetic information, military or protected veteran status, union status or any other category protected by applicable law.

 

If you are a qualified individual with a disability, you may request a reasonable accommodation during the job application and/or recruitment process. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to paramountaccommodations@paramount.com. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.