Lead Data Scientist (Forecasting)
Summary
Lead Data Scientist who owns and improves Guild Education's business-critical education benefit forecasting models: raising forecast accuracy via time-series and ML methods, backtesting and operationalizing models (Databricks/MLflow), building tooling and documented code, mentoring junior data scientists, and partnering with analytics, data engineering, and product teams.
- Guild is hiring a Lead Data Scientist, Forecasting to scale the impact of our Forecasting and Financial Analytics team. You’ll own and improve critical components of our most complex and most important forecasting model — working inside a modern, modular forecasting system and experimentation framework to drive step-change improvements in how well we forecast clients’ education benefit program
- Develop and improve the usage-based forecasting models for critical components of clients’ education benefit with Guild, using advanced statistical and machine learning techniques
- Raise forecast accuracy and shorten the monthly refresh cycle, using a backtesting and experimentation framework to test methodological changes with rigor. Build tooling and process to catch correctable model issues
- Transfer modeling logic out of individual heads into well-structured, documented, tested code, building redundancy on a business-critical forecast
- Partner cross-functionally with Analytics, Data Science, Data Engineering, Product, and Technology teams to improve the data, systems, and infrastructure the forecast depends on
- Mentor and guide junior team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation
- Produce insights, analyses, and recommendations to help internal stakeholders understand forecast drivers and the impact on client and internal business metrics
Benefits
- Well-rounded wellness benefits including free and low cost mental health resources and financial wellbeing support services
- Education benefits and tuition assistance to help your future development and growth
- Equity stake in the company providing ownership and a path to future earnings (when we succeed, we all benefit)
- free one-on-one coaching with a certified financial planner, a platform with budgeting tools, investment and equity management center and many more financial resources through Origin (we believe financial literacy not only supports you personally, but also has a lasting impact in creating positive generational wealth practices)
- Employee Assistance Fund for unforeseen crises, disasters, and/or personal hardships and you need a little extra financial support (funded by the company and fellow Guilders to create a community of support)
- legal support and resources to navigate complicated situations like estate planning name changes, immigration, and more
- 401(k) plan with a range of diverse investment options and personalized retirement advice
- Multiple paths to meet educational and professional goals
- Fertility benefits built into all of our medical plans
- A $10,000 family planning fund to take care of costs that aren’t covered by the medical plans like adoption, surrogacy, and egg freezing expenses
- 12-20 weeks of paid leave and a ramp-up program for Guilders to ease back into work after an extended time away
- An additional 3 weeks of paid leave if you are going through the adoption, surrogacy, or foster process to use prior to your child’s arrival/placement to prepare and attend necessary meeting
- Inclusive guidance and support as you go through your family planning journey through Cleo
- Our on-site childcare center, The Beehive, offering care for children 3 months-6 years of age for employees and their friends and family members located in Colorado
- Personalized 1:1 support for anyone on the parenthood journey with access to a network of clinicians, experts, and specialists through Cleo
- 80 hours of low cost ($2/hr) emergency backup care for times employees unexpectedly find themselves without primary care for the ones they are responsible for
- Dedicated support in finding background-checked care providers to assist with child care, elder care, and chronic care needs through Helpr
- The ability to bring an actively nursing child and companion on work related trips
- Inclusive, affordable medical and behavioral healthcare when you need it
- Open PTO is available so Guilders can rest, recharge, and bring their best selves to work
- 10 Holidays including a collective week off over the 4th of July plus 5 floating holidays for cultural and religious events you celebrate
- Our leave policies are there to support employees and offer 12 weeks of fully paid medical, non-birthing parent, and caregiving leave as of day one of employment while birthing parents receive 18-20 weeks of fully paid leave
- Up to 10 days of bereavement leave
- Once Guilders reach 4.5 years of service, they are eligible for a 5-week fully paid sabbatical leave
- Up to 10 days of jury duty
- 8 sick days
- Experience with Looker, Tableau, Omni, or similar data visualization tool
- 5+ years of total experience in analytics, data science, forecasting, or financial planning & analysis
- Experience operationalizing models — backtesting, validation, monitoring, drift detection, retraining — ideally on a platform such as Databricks with experiment tracking (e.g., MLflow)
- Proficiency in Python and/or R, with depth across time-series and machine learning forecasting methods and sound judgment about the tradeoffs among accuracy, interpretability, and stability
- The ability to translate forecasts, including their uncertainty, into clear recommendations for non-technical stakeholders
- Fluency with AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, or similar coding agents
- Strong experience with SQL and experience transforming and structuring large datasets into reusable formats
- A track record of getting productive quickly in an existing codebase and improving it collaboratively
- Posting Date: 10/26/26
- This role will stay open for a minimum of 3 days
