Position Summary

Penn Foster Group has built out a modern Machine Learning platform that will affect change across all lines of business. To help accelerate this effort, Penn Foster is hiring for a hands-on Data Science professional looking to build out the predictive models that will drive the engine. Working closely with the Analytics and Data Teams, the Data Scientist will be focused on models to support Penn Foster’s acquisition and retention initiatives. The data scientist will become the thought leader for predictive/prescriptive analytics and will mentor other analytics professionals to level up their data science skills.

What You Can Expect Working With Us

• Mission-oriented culture, high-performing team and company, with opportunities for growth and development
• Partnership with a dedicated, experienced cross-functional team that emphasizes innovation and data-driven decision making
• Work that is interesting and ripe for analytics
• A fun place to work with smart people who like to win
• Interaction with executives on a regular basis

Essential Job Functions

• Partner with stakeholders across marketing and product teams to identify opportunities to apply advanced analytics to improve acquisition and retention efforts
• Enhance new and existing models, measuring efficacy through A/B testing and experimentation frameworks
• Develop predictive, prescriptive, and forecasting models across varied business domains
• Conduct exploratory analysis and feature engineering, incorporating both internal and 3rd-party datasets
• Leverage Databricks data lake to create data models for exploratory analysis and training
• Collaborate with ML engineers to maintain a robust centralized feature store and scalable model pipelines
• Monitor and evaluate model performance post-deployment, ensuring accuracy, fairness, and stability
• Ensure data quality, reproducibility, and proper documentation of models and analytical workflows
• Translate complex findings into clear business recommendations and present results to executives and cross-functional partners
• Stay current on the latest data science trends, tools, and ethical AI practices

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Must-Haves

• Undergraduate degree (Masters preferred)
• 3–5 years of hands-on experience in data science with focus on exploratory analysis and predictive modeling
• Proficiency in Python for predictive analytics, model tuning, and deployment
• Hands-on experience with:
  • SQL and Python programming
  • Machine learning algorithms (SciKit Learn, XGBoost, etc.)
  • A/B testing and core statistical concepts
• Experience analyzing large-scale consumer data, ideally in ecommerce or digital marketing
• Strong understanding of data visualization and storytelling (Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly, Tableau, or similar tools)
• Azure Databricks experience a plus
• Exceptional communication skills: simplifying complex analysis, providing clear recommendations, and influencing business decisions
• Demonstrated track record of initiatives that materially improved business performance

Nice-to-Haves

• Business acumen: deep familiarity with LTV/CAC, ROAS, contribution margin, payback, and funnel conversion
• Familiarity with digital analytics platforms and tooling: GA4, GTM, Amplitude/Mixpanel, Optimizely/LaunchDarkly, Salesforce, Segment/CDP, Snowflake/BigQuery, Airflow
• Time-series forecasting experience (e.g., ARIMA, Prophet, LSTM)
• Exposure to NLP methods for unstructured data (TF-IDF, embeddings, transformers)
• Knowledge of MLOps workflows: MLflow/model deployment, feature stores, drift monitoring
• Pricing & offers: elasticity modeling, discount strategy, cohort LTV uplift analysis
• Familiarity with causal inference methods (propensity score matching, uplift modeling, etc.)
• Exposure to recommendation systems (collaborative filtering, matrix factorization)
• Experience with big data processing frameworks (Spark, PySpark)
• Domain knowledge: online education, workforce pathways, or services marketplaces
• Understanding of responsible AI practices and model interpretability tools (e.g., SHAP, LIME)

About Us

At Penn Foster Group, we are transforming online learning to help learners by bringing together Penn Foster, CareerStep, Ashworth College, James Madison High School, the New York Institute of Photography, the New York Institute of Art and Design, and other education platforms. Together, we create an accelerated path to greater economic mobility through real-world skills and knowledge that enable learners to achieve long-term success in the workplaces of the future. Our history dates to 1890 when our founder, Thomas Foster, pioneered distance education by offering training by mail for coal miners to get the necessary skills for safer jobs. Today, with the partners who use our education and training programs, we continue that mission of providing accessible training and education for in-demand skills and are building a workforce that’s prepared for the future job market.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We strive toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Penn Foster Group by intentionally building diverse teams – in identities, lived experiences, and ideas – to create a culture where people feel connected to each other and have a sense of belonging. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion because it is the foundation that enables us to achieve what we set out to do as an organization – from maximizing the number of learners who can reach their goals while giving them the kinds of experiences we want them to have, to becoming the type of company we want to work in.

What We Offer

We offer a robust benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, flexible spending, generous paid time off, sponsored volunteer opportunities, a 401K with a company match, and free access to our online programs.