Director of Data Science, Performance Marketing

Role Description

At Root, the Data Science team owns the majority of all marketing capital allocation, using quantitative methods to test, maintain, and enhance our marketing strategies across numerous distribution channels. As a Director of Data Science, Performance Marketing, you will:

• Drive continuous improvement of marketing strategies, channels, and operational processes while supporting the exploration of novel opportunities.
• Lead a team of data scientists, machine learning engineers, and marketing specialists who design, deploy, and evolve the systems that power Root’s performance marketing engine.
• Optimize bidding strategies, accelerate model iteration and deployment, and advance applied R&D to improve how we capture and convert demand at scale.
• Own the end-to-end measurement framework for performance marketing, ensuring rigorous measurement of business impact as media mix, partners, and tactics evolve.
• Continuously raise the ceiling on how effectively Root turns marketing spend into value while exploring new, deeper ways of engaging with marketing partners to unlock incremental performance.

Root is a “work where it works best” company, meaning we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US.

Salary Range: $250,000 - $300,000 (Eligible for competitive bonus and equity offering)

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a quantitative discipline (PhD preferred) and 8+ years applying advanced quantitative methods to drive significant business impact.
• 4+ years leading technical organizations, with a track record of developing leaders, scaling organizational impact, and delivering strategic outcomes.
• Experience building and deploying statistical and machine learning systems in production environments.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to drive alignment and influence decisions across executive and technical stakeholders.
• Proficient with AWS (or analogous) platforms and the infrastructure required to deploy and operate machine learning systems at scale.
• Ability to lead complex initiatives that span multiple teams, aligning priorities and driving execution toward shared business objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to identify high-value opportunities, establish direction, and drive execution through others.
• Ability to evaluate complex problems from first principles and develop practical solutions in unfamiliar domains.

Requirements

• Preferred but not required: Insurance industry experience.
• Experience driving performance in large-scale customer acquisition programs.
• Full funnel marketing experience: developing, executing, and measuring the impact of targeted, data-driven marketing strategies.

Company Description