Senior Research Data Scientist, Martech

Roku; Greater Manchester; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000

Job description

Teamwork makes the stream work.

Roku is changing how the world watches TV

Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform in the US and Mexico, and we've set our sights on powering every television in the world. Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. Our mission is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem. We connect consumers to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers unique capabilities to engage consumers.

From your first day at Roku, you'll make a valuable - and valued - contribution. We're a fast-growing public company where no one is a bystander. We offer you the opportunity to delight millions of TV streamers around the world while gaining meaningful experience across a variety of disciplines.

About The Team

Our Data Science team is an elite research team actively shaping the future of TV, using Big Data to build and enhance the user experience on the Roku streaming platform. Our production-level machine learning models and statistical solutions optimize the user experience across all of Roku's core business models and products, and our scientists engage closely with business, product, and engineering leaders to make material and measurable impacts on the success and growth of the platform.

About The Role

As a Senior Research Data Scientist on Roku's Data Science team, this is your opportunity to be at the forefront of machine learning innovation, developing advanced analytical solutions and production-ready systems with measurable impact. By analysing user behaviour, applying cutting-edge techniques from machine learning, operations research, and advanced statistics, and visualising complex platform dynamics, you'll help shape the future of the Roku platform.

This role focuses on transforming marketing across Media, Subscriptions, Devices, and Roku's Platform by designing intelligent solutions that optimise every aspect of campaign execution-targeting the right segments, tailoring messaging, selecting channels, and predicting the best timing. The work includes building a Machine Learning (ML) ecosystem to optimise campaigns across key business areas, developing algorithm-driven solutions to identify high-impact consumer segments, and enhancing cross-channel orchestration with unified strategies. It also involves creating recommendation systems for personalised messaging, offers, and content to drive engagement, designing ML-based bidding strategies to optimise performance in real-time auctions, and producing insights that refine and optimise marketing strategies.

Collaboration with engineering teams will be key to productionalising these ML models, ensuring scalability and seamless integration into the marketing technology ecosystem. This role suits a data scientist who thrives in a fast-paced, intellectually challenging environment and is passionate about solving complex problems, refining analytical methods, and leaving a tangible mark on the future of connected TV advertising.

What You Will Do

• Dive into large datasets, clean and interpret data, and derive insights to improve business and product performance.
• Research and develop new algorithms and techniques for ML-driven and AI systems.
• Build best-in-class algorithms to solve product and business challenges, defining problem statements and meeting technical and research objectives.
• Run live experiments to test and validate improvements.
• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to deploy scalable, production-ready data science products.
• Provide expert consultation across teams, including other data scientists within Roku.
• Contribute to the technical vision of the Data Science team.

We're Excited If You Have

• A PhD degree (or equivalent experience) in Machine Learning, Operations Research, Applied Mathematics, Economics, or a related field.
• Significant experience as an ML engineer, applied scientist, or research scientist, particularly in AdTech or MarTech, with a proven ability to drive measurable business impact.
• Expertise in causal inference, multi-armed bandits (MAB), reinforcement learning, control systems, and heterogeneous treatment effect estimation.
• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical abilities, combined with strong communication skills.
• Deep understanding of algorithms and data structures for optimisation.
• Proficiency in tools like Spark, SQL, Python, R, or similar.
• Experience with large-scale datasets (TB or PB) is highly desirable.

Benefits

Roku is committed to offering a diverse range of benefits as part of our compensation package to support our employees and their families. Our comprehensive benefits include global access to mental health and financial wellness support and resources. Local benefits include statutory and voluntary benefits which may include healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), life, accident, disability, commuter, and retirement options (401(k)/pension). Our employees can take time off work for vacation and other personal reasons to balance their evolving work and life needs. It's important to note that not every benefit is available in all locations or for every role. For details specific to your location, please consult with your recruiter.

The Roku Culture

Roku is a great place for people who want to work in a fast-paced environment where everyone is focused on the company's success rather than their own. We try to surround ourselves with people who are great at their jobs, who are easy to work with, and who keep their egos in check. We appreciate a sense of humor. We believe a fewer number of very talented folks can do more for less cost than a larger number of less talented teams. We're independent thinkers with big ideas who act boldly, move fast and accomplish extraordinary things through collaboration and trust. In short, at Roku you'll be part of a company that's changing how the world watches TV.

We have a unique culture that we are proud of. We think of ourselves primarily as problem-solvers, which itself is a two-part idea. We come up with the solution, but the solution isn't real until it is built and delivered to the customer. That penchant for action gives us a pragmatic approach to innovation, one that has served us well since 2002.

To learn more about Roku, our global footprint, and how we've grown, visit https://www.weareroku.com/factsheet.