Senior Data Scientist

Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive. 
At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.
About us
We are the Data Team. A collective of specialists driven by our shared mission to help establish Xero as the most insightful and trusted small business platform. Our backgrounds and work are diverse—we work on data platforms, data modelling, application development, applied research, analytics, ethics, literacy, and strategy, to name a few. At the heart of our mission is helping our colleagues and customers get value from data responsibly, on robust data platforms, with robust methods. 
The Ecosystem Analytics function sits inside the wider Data Team. Our Data Scientists from the function work with cross-functional pods (engineers, designers, product managers, etc) in the Ecosystem Team to deliver on the mission to build a network of innovation for developers and small business on Xero.

What you'll do

• Gain a deep, intimate understanding of the dynamics of Xero’s ecosystem, as this domain knowledge will form the basis of how we work with and interpret the data.
• Immerse yourself in the often complex and messy data about participants in the ecosystem and their behavior.
• Continually provide feedback, plan and work with relevant Ecosystem pods to improve data quality and coverage, e.g., through improved instrumentation.
• Build out and continually refine analytics assets such as notebooks, reports and dashboards as required to support analysis and sharing and communication of findings.
• Participate in experiment design to inform the set up of online split testing to validate hypotheses about problems and potential solutions for the ecosystem.
• Look for ways to streamline analytics processes by abstracting and building out reusable or automatable components. 
• Promote consideration for relevant intricacies about the ecosystem and its participants within the wider Data Team’s work.
• Participate in co-discovery and inform roadmap items with outputs from analytics.
• Refine and translate requirements for analytics into distinct, manageable tasks and promote progress visibility.
• Contribute to prioritisation of analytics work to align with Ecosystem pods’ roadmaps as well as manage expectations of these stakeholders.
• Keep up-to-date with changes to the App Store and other developments in the ecosystem, and identify impact on the data we collect and validity of the findings we draw from them. 
• Contribute to ongoing education and evangelism efforts internal to Xero, supported by the broader Data Team, in particular on analytics practices within the Ecosystem Team.
• Participate in our recruitment processes, helping Xero grow diverse and world-class talent in Ecosystem Analytics.
• Represent Xero externally by speaking at public forums to raise awareness of the work we do and build our hiring brand.

About you

• You are trained in the sciences and have a good grasp of a range of fundamental and advanced concepts in statistics.
• You have spent at least three years as part of analytics or data science functions in online marketplaces or platform businesses.
• You have expert-level hands-on experience with data wrangling and statistical methods using SQL, Python, etc on relational DBs and data warehouses.
• You have extensive exposure to multiple data visualisation tools and understand their strengths and drawbacks.
• You have played a leadership role in the past in a cross-functional team that uses analytics to solve a customer or business problem.
• You enjoy the challenge of ensuring statistical rigour in practice in the face of real-world, large scale complex data.

What you'll bring with you

• Ability to decompose ambiguous or complex problems into easily understandable parts that make sense to stakeholders of different backgrounds.
• Strong systems thinking with a track record of approaching analysis and data solution design in complex business environments.
• Ability to identify tough problems that can benefit from scientific thinking and approach them as such.
• Willingness to share and to learn from people with different skill sets both within and outside of your immediate teams.
• Strong task management skills at the team level, especially when prioritising between competing demands and dealing with interdependencies.
• Ability to manage expectations and bring stakeholders along the journey from problem definition through to analysis output.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and working through data and other challenges associated with performing analytics in a rapid growth environment.
• Proficient in conveying, both oral and written, potentially complex ideas or charts simplistically or at the right level suited to the audience.
• Good grasp of statistics and the challenges associated with its application on user behaviour data in the wild.

Why Xero?
At Xero we support many types of flexible working arrangements that allow you to balance your work, your life and your passions. We offer a great remuneration package including shares plus a range of leave options to suit your well-being. Our work environment encourages continuous improvement and career development and you’ll get to work with the latest technology.  
Our collaborative and inclusive culture is one we’re immensely proud of. We know that a diverse workforce is a strength that enables businesses, including ours, to better understand and serve customers, attract top talent and innovate successfully. We are a member of Pride in Diversity, in recognition of our inclusive workplace. So, from the moment you step through our doors, you’ll feel welcome and supported to do the best work of your life.