Principal Data Scientist

Job description

Who we are
Yoodli is a venture-backed company building an AI Platform for Human Skills, helping people get measurably better in their careers by supporting them in the flow of work.
Our team includes former employees from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Tableau, and beyond, united by a passion for empowering people using AI. We're headquartered in the heart of Seattle, and we're having a lot of fun along the way. Our culture is built on failing fast, iterating constantly, and taking bold bets. We value humility, a bias for action, and the belief that we win together.
We've raised $60M, including a $40M Series B led by WestBridge Capital, backed by Madrona, Neotribe, Cercano, and incubated at the Allen Institute for AI. We're valued at $300M and grew revenue 900% year over year.
Our customers include Google Cloud, Snowflake, Databricks, RingCentral, SAP, FranklinCovey, Korn Ferry, Sandler Training, Toastmasters, and many more, with learners in over 150 countries. Google Cloud certified 15,000+ reps without scaling headcount. Snowflake recovered 1,200+ manager hours per quarter. Harness cut training review time by 75%.
We've been featured in TechCrunch, Axios, The Information, Forbes, Fast Company, and more. Try the platform free at yoodli.ai.
What we are hoping you will bring
You believe in the mission and care deeply about helping people achieve more by communicating better. As our most senior data scientist, you will own the data function end to end: the infrastructure, the standards, and the judgment calls that decide what we build next.
This is a principal-level, high-autonomy role. You'll set the measurement strategy for a product whose core output is generated by LLMs, which means defining what “measurable skills development” means in numbers and then proving we move it. You'll be the person leadership turns to when a decision needs evidence, and the person the product team turns to when a metric looks wrong. You'll also help our customers quantify their own impact with Yoodli, which makes this work directly commercial.
You won't have a team to start, though you may build one over time as the role evolves. Either way, you'll raise the data bar for everyone here by example.
This role is hybrid with an expectation of 3 days a week in the office — you'll need to be based in the Greater Seattle Area.
What you'll do
Own the measurement strategy for the platform: define the metrics that say whether learners are actually improving, and hold the company to them
Design and run the experimentation program — A/B tests, holdouts, and rigorous LLM evaluation — and set the standards other teams build on
Build the data foundation: pipelines, semantic layer, dashboards, and models that serve both internal decisions and customer-facing analytics
Partner with product, design, and engineering to turn ambiguous questions into analyses that change what we ship
Work directly with customers' BI and enablement teams so they can tell the story of impact with Yoodli inside their own organizations
Build models that turn communication signal into product value — scoring, skill progression, benchmarking, and churn or expansion prediction
Translate analysis into a clear recommendation for executives and the board, and defend it
Set the technical bar for data at Yoodli: review others' analyses, mentor engineers and PMs on experiment design, and lay the groundwork for a team
What you'll bring
8+ years in data science, product analytics, or a closely related field, including time as the most senior data person on a product or business line
Deep expertise in SQL and Python, and comfort shipping production-grade analytical code
A track record of running an experimentation program, not just individual tests — power analysis, sequential testing, guardrail metrics, and the discipline to call a result null
Experience evaluating LLM or other generative systems: building eval sets, designing rubrics, measuring quality when there is no clean ground truth
Fluency with modern data stacks (dbt, Snowflake, BigQuery) and BI tooling (Looker, Mode, Hex, or similar), and the judgment to choose what a company this size actually needs
Demonstrated influence on product strategy at the exec level — you can show a decision that went a different way because of your analysis
Excellent communication skills, and the ability to be the clearest thinker in a room full of opinions
Nice to have: speech analytics, NLP, or conversational AI; embedded or customer-facing analytics; early-stage startup experience
Ability to be on-site at our Seattle,WA office M, T, and TH
Why Yoodli
Mission-driven company helping millions improve how they communicate
The data function is yours to define, with executive visibility from day one
Collaborative, inclusive team with room to grow
Competitive compensation and meaningful equity
Base Salary: $200k – $220k
Flexible work environment
Startup culture
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