Senior Data Science Manager, Lifetime Value

CURRENT ROOT EMPLOYEES - Please apply using the career page in Workday. This career site is for external applicants only.

The Opportunity

We believe that a disruptive insurance company must have a principled quantitative framework at its foundation. At Root, we are committed to the rigorous development and effective deployment of modern statistical machine learning methods to problems in the insurance industry.

As Senior Data Science Manager and head of our Lifetime Value (LTV) team, you'll drive Root’s strategic approach to modeling customer value throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Your team will deliver forecasting, scenario modeling, and analytical insights that influence key business decisions.

You will lead the development of a centralized framework to forecast and simulate how business decisions impact customer lifetime value. Your work will bring together data, experimentation, and business context to improve customer understanding and drive better decisions. You will partner with leaders in Marketing, Pricing, Product, and Finance to identify new opportunities and align the team’s priorities with Root’s most pressing business needs.

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. We will continue to have our headquarters in Columbus to give more flexibility and more choice about how we live and work.

Salary Range: $192,693 - $240,866 (Bonus and LTI Eligible)

How You Will Make an Impact

• Set the direction for Root’s LTV estimation framework to bring precision and rigor to Root’s critical strategic and financial decisions

• Define and maintain the LTV roadmap, evolving models alongside the business and delivering insights that guide both current and future decisions

• Lead a team of data scientists and analysts, developing talent, guiding execution, and fostering a culture of ownership, rigor, and collaboration

• Drive improvements in automation, maintainability, and reproducibility to support scale and cross-functional adoption of LTV tools

• Champion Forecast vs. Actual (FvA) analysis as a feedback loop for improving model accuracy and simulation fidelity over time.

• Partner closely with Marketing, Pricing, Product, and Finance to align priorities and translate modeling efforts into business impact

What You Will Need to Succeed

• Advanced degree in a quantitative discipline (PhD preferred) and 7+ years of applying advanced quantitative techniques to problems in industry

• 3+ years in a leadership role, with a track record of growing talent, scaling team impact, and delivering strategic outcomes

• Demonstrated experience building, validating, and applying statistical machine learning methods to industry problems

• Proven ability to work cross-functionally to drive alignment between data science priorities and high-impact business initiatives

• Fluency in Python and SQL, with experience in cloud-based environments and modern data science workflows (e.g., version control, workflow automation)

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences

• Ability to consider problems from first principles, combining critical thinking with domain knowledge to navigate ambiguity

• Ownership mentality: takes the initiative to identify, champion, and execute on the highest impact work

As part of Root's interview process, we kindly ask that all candidates be on camera for virtual interviews. This helps us create a more personal and engaging experience for both you and our interviewers. Being on camera is a standard requirement for our process and part of how we assess fit and communication style, so we do require it to move forward with any applicant's candidacy. If you have any concerns, feel free to let us know once you are contacted. We’re happy to talk it through.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Root, Inc., we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway!

At Root, we judge people based on the merit of their work, not who they are. If you are passionate about what this role entails and solving real problems, we encourage you to apply. We want to learn about you and what you can add to our team.

We’re harnessing the power of technology to revolutionize insurance. Using machine learning and mobile telematic platforms, we’ve built one of the most innovative FinTech companies in the world. And we’re just getting started.

Our success is in large part due to our unwavering standards in hiring. We recognize that our products are only as good as the people building and promoting them. We want individuals who find solutions by going through the cycle of ideation to implementation with curiosity, rigor, and an analytical lens. Ask anyone who works here and you’ll hear similar reasons for why they joined:

Autonomy—for assertive self-starters, the opportunities to contribute are limitless.

Impact—by challenging the way it’s always been done, we solve problems that have a big impact on our business.

Collaboration—we encourage rich discussion and civil debate at every turn.

People—we are inspired by the collection of crazy-smart people around us.