Sr. Applied Scientist

About the team

As a Senior Applied Scientist on Zillow Group’s Conversion and Core Modeling team, you will help build a unified, observable, and explainable decision framework for Zillow’s core For Sale marketplace. This team sits at the center of revenue-driving experiences, where automated systems make confident decisions under uncertainty while balancing short-term transaction performance with long-term program value.

About the role

You are a systems thinker experienced in both optimization and production machine learning. You will build and scale routing and allocation decision systems that match Zillow consumers with trusted partners in our core marketplace, improving performance while increasing transparency and explainability in our automated systems.

You will get to:

• Iterate on optimization frameworks in constraint-driven, multi-objective environments to balance customer experience and long-term business value.
• Build and productionize ML-driven routing systems for large-scale marketplace decision systems, owning models across the full lifecycle from feature design through deployment and monitoring.
• Work directly with partner teams (such as product, engineering, and operations) to clarify system behavior, communicate tradeoffs, and align on decision policies.
• Uphold high standards for production quality, including reliability, observability (dashboards, diagnostics, automated monitoring), and operational readiness for critical decision services.

Who you are

• 5+ years of applied science experience (industry or equivalent), including work on optimization-driven or constraint-based decision systems such as dispatch, matching, scheduling, or routing, with measurable business impact.
• 3+ years owning production machine learning systems end to end, across the full model lifecycle from feature design and training through validation, deployment, and monitoring.
• Proficient in Python and SQL for building, evaluating, and deploying models in production environments.
• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a quantitative field (for example, Economics, Operations Research, Data Analytics, Statistics, or a related discipline), or equivalent practical experience in applied science or other data-intensive roles.
• Strong mathematical and algorithmic reasoning skills, including comfort working with multi-objective tradeoffs, constraints, and uncertainty.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including development best practices, testing, and operational rigor in production environments.
• Experience building transparent, explainable systems and clearly communicating decision logic to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• You pair curiosity with structured problem-solving to uncover new opportunities and areas of improvement and take initiative to develop practical, data-informed solutions.
• Here at Zillow - we value the experience and perspective of candidates with non-traditional backgrounds. We encourage you to apply if you have transferable skills or related experiences.

Nice to have:

• Experience building or optimizing large-scale marketplace decision systems (for example, rideshare, delivery, travel, e-commerce, or logistics platforms).
• Experience applying mathematical optimization techniques (such as constraint-based optimization, linear or integer programming, or stochastic optimization) in production decision systems.
• Experience designing and implementing observability for decision systems, including dashboards, diagnostics, automated monitoring, and alerting for model and business performance.

Los Angeles County applicants

Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Equal opportunity statement

Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law.