Economist II - Machine Learning Science, Search & Recommendations

Who we are

Wayfair is an online retail platform with the mission to enable everyone to live in a home they love.  To do this, Wayfair builds and leverages cutting edge Machine Learning and AI products, and we are looking for talented individuals to join us.  We build our systems from the ground up with economic fundamentals in mind. Wayfair’s Search, Marketing, and Recommendations ML teams build algorithmic systems that drive our business, enhance customer experience, and improve customer loyalty, powering what our customers see on and off our site at web scale. You will be part of a high-leverage Sort MLS squad - a cross-functional, collaborative team driving development of world-class ML systems with company-wide impact.

What you’ll do

• Own the ranking algorithm and simulation engine that decides which of the millions of products we show to millions of Wayfair shoppers, improving customer satisfaction and company revenue.
• Design, build, deploy, and iterate large-scale decision systems including the sort algorithm, exploration strategies, predictive and counterfactual models.
• Redesign our two-sided marketplace and develop incentive-compatible sort algorithms.
• Partner with Engineering, Infra, and ML Platform teams to productionize and deploy scalable, reliable services following best practices (CI/CD, monitoring, A/B gating).
• Collaborate with Product, Data Science, and Business stakeholders to turn business opportunities into launched models and measure their impact.
• Discover new opportunities and levers through data exploration and simulation, and deliver end-to-end solutions from proposal to production to monitoring. 

What You’ll Need

• Ph.D. in Economics or a closely related field (e.g., Marketing, Finance, Operations Research, Statistics) with 0-3 years of experience.
• Expertise in marketplace dynamics, profit maximization, simulation, or causal inference.
• Experience with ML models and approaches (deep learning, tree-based models, exploration, bandit algorithms).
• Proficiency in Python or one other high-level programming language.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to synthesize conclusions for non-experts, and overall bias towards simplicity.
• Intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm about continuous learning.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Python ML ecosystem (mumpy, pandas, sklearn, XGBoost, etc.) and/or Apache Spark Ecosystem (Spark SQL, MLlib/Spark ML).
• Familiarity with GCP (or AWS, Azure), ML model development frameworks, ML orchestration tools (Airflow, Kubeflow, or MLflow).

Why You'll Love Wayfair: 

• Time Off:
  • Paid Holidays
  • Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Health & Wellness:
  • Full Health Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA)
  • Life Insurance
  • Disability Protection (Short Term & Long Term Disability) 
  • Global Wellbeing: Gym/Fitness discounts (including US Peloton, Global ClassPass, and various regional gym memberships)
  • Mental Health Support (Global Mental Health, Global Wayhealthy Recordings)
  • Caregiver Services
• Financial Growth & Security:
  • 401K Matching (Employee Matching Program)
  • Tuition Reimbursement 
  • Financial Health Education (Knowledge of Financial Education - KOFE)
  • Tax Advantaged Accounts
• Family Support:
  • Family Planning Support
  • Parental Leave
  • Global Surrogacy & Adoption Policy
• Professional Development & Recognition:
  • Rewards & Recognition 
  • Global Employee Anniversary Awards 
  • Paid Volunteer Work 
• Unique Perks:
  • Employee Discount 
  • U.S. Bluebikes Membership
  • Global Pod Outings
• Work/Life Balance:
  • Emphasizing a supportive & flexible work environment that encourages a balance between personal and professional commitments
    

Wayfair's In-Office Policy:

All Seattle-based interns, co-ops, and corporate employees will be in office in a hybrid capacity. Employees will work in the office on designated days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and work remotely the other 2 days of the week.

(Salary/Base Pay): "The salary range (or base pay) for this position is $185,000-190,500* however, base pay offered may vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Restricted stock units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered.