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Senior Data Scientist

It takes a blizzard to make a Blizzard game, and that level of effort doesn’t end once the game is released; we support our games for years after they’re in the hands of gamers worldwide. Global Insights works closely with the game development and business teams at Blizzard to produce insights and models that enable us to make the most epic player experiences. The machine learning & AI group within Global Insights is focused on building live products that apply the latest in key research areas to build lasting data products and tools for our game and business teams.

We are looking for a Data Scientist/Senior Data Scientist who specializes in Machine Learning to join our Global Insights team. Blizzard data scientists design and deploy data-powered products and services that scale to the terabytes of data that Blizzard games generate every day. The ideal candidate is passionate about the latest innovations in machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, and deep learning; has expertise in designing highly scalable machine learning algorithms; with strong programming skill to help deploy and maintain them.

Responsibilities

• Research and develop state-of-the-art machine learning solutions to enhance business and gameplay objectives.
• Design and develop innovative solutions to problems, with specialization in fields like reinforcement learning, content recommendation, procedural content generation, matchmaking, natural language processing, or others.
• Identify and advocate for novel applications of machine learning to Blizzard’s games, products and services.
• Work closely with data and software engineers to deploy, automate, and maintain models seamlessly on production systems.
• Establish scalable, automated processes for large scale data extraction, model development, model validation, and model implementation.
• Effectively translate findings into sustainable live data products or actionable recommendations for game design and business teams.
• Follow and disseminate engineering best practices among data scientists.
• Communicate about machine learning models and products to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborate with data scientists, data analysts, and engineers on the team.

Requirements

• Masters or Ph.D. with a specialization in deep learning, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision, statistics, applied math, algorithm design, or a related quantitative field.
• Able to invent and prototype novel machine learning algorithms from scratch.
• A minimum of 3 years’ hands-on applied or research experience developing machine learning models on large scale data sets.
• Proficient in one or more of the higher-level programming languages like Python, Java, C++, Scala, R, etc.
• Strong problem-solving, written and spoken communication skills.
• Passion for video games.

Pluses

• Experience with Blizzard Entertainment games.
• A proven track record of original contributions to machine learning or statistics.
• Expertise with Big Data and Hadoop tech stack (HDFS / Map Reduce / Mahout / Hive / Spark).
• Experience with SQL or NoSQL databases.
• Experience mentoring junior scientists or interns.
• Experience with data visualization tools like Tableau.

Required Application Materials

• Resume
• Cover Letter which should include:
  • Why you are interested in working at Blizzard
  • How you think data science can support game development
  • What games you like to play

**Submissions that do not contain Cover Letters will not be considered.

Blizzard Entertainment is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law, and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Blizzard Entertainment is a global company committed to growing our employees along with the business. We offer generous benefits and perks with an eye on providing true work/life balance. We’ve worked hard to foster an intensely collaborative and creative environment, a diverse and inclusive employee culture, and training and opportunity for professional growth. Our people are everything. Our core values are real, and our mission has never changed. We are dedicated to creating the most epic entertainment experiences…ever. Join us!