About this role.
Quora is hiring a Staff Data Scientist to lead ambiguous, high-impact product and business analyses for its Quora platform. The role centers on measurement design, randomized experiments, causal analysis, product strategy, and diagnosing changes in core metrics. This senior individual contributor will partner closely with product, design, engineering, and leadership while mentoring data scientists and improving analytical practices. Strong Python or R, applied statistics, experimentation, executive communication, and ideally recommender-systems experience are required.
Role DNA
A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.
Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
4/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.
Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would explain the decision context, define the primary and guardrail metrics, describe the experimental or quasi-experimental design, and quantify the result and uncertainty. I would also address how I translated the finding into a concrete product decision and monitored longer-term effects.
I would first validate the metric definition and data pipeline, then segment the movement by platform, geography, cohort, traffic source, and product surface. I would correlate the timing with releases and external changes, form prioritized hypotheses, and use targeted analyses or experiments to isolate likely root causes.
I use a layered metric framework: relevance and engagement metrics for short-term quality, satisfaction or retention measures for longer-term value, and guardrails for content quality, diversity, latency, and negative user outcomes. I validate offline metrics against online outcomes before relying on them for model selection.
I match the level of rigor to the decision's reversibility, impact, and risk. For low-risk decisions, I use lightweight directional analysis; for high-stakes changes, I use pre-registered metrics, robust experimental designs, sensitivity checks, and clearly communicate uncertainty rather than creating false precision.
I focus on increasing their judgment and leverage rather than simply reviewing outputs. This includes coaching on problem framing, metric design, stakeholder management, and communication, while establishing reusable standards such as analysis templates, experiment reviews, and peer-learning sessions.
[Quora is a privately held, “remote-first” company. This position can be performed remotely from multiple countries around the world. Please visit careers.quora.com/eligible-countries for details regarding employment eligibility by country.]
About Quora:
Quora’s mission is to grow the world’s collective intelligence. To do so, we have two platforms:
Quora: a global knowledge sharing platform with millions of monthly unique visitors, bringing people together to share insights on various topics and providing a unique platform to learn and connect with others.
Poe: a cloud workspace where millions of users run multiple AI agents on shared context and tools. One subscription, every frontier model, and the collaboration layer that makes them work together.
Behind these products are passionate, collaborative, and high-performing global teams. We have a culture rooted in transparency, idea-sharing, and experimentation that allows us to celebrate success and grow together through meaningful work. Join us on this journey to create a positive impact and make a significant change in the world.
This role will be working on our Quora product.
About the Team and Role:
The Data Team is highly empowered at Quora, helping navigate complexity and influencing product and company strategy directly. Quora’s outsized commitment to data is visible in everything we do, from our sophisticated experimentation processes to the backgrounds of our leaders. With this emphasis on data and empirics, we aim to balance rigor and pragmatism, searching for scrappy solutions in pursuit of our mission. In joining Quora’s strong data team, you’ll both benefit from and help advance our culture of rational decision making.
As a member of our team, you’ll work closely with product managers, product designers, engineers, and other cross-functional partners to devise appropriate measurements and metrics, design randomized controlled experiments, build visualizations, and tackle hard, open-ended problems that uncover usage patterns and opportunities across Quora. Quora has a wide range of rich data, giving you ample room for exploration and creativity.
Data scientists at Quora work across multiple domains, including user growth, content quality, monetization, personalization, marketplace dynamics, and long-term company strategy. Example projects include modeling long-term growth, improving the relevance and personalization of the homepage feed, analyzing drivers of user engagement and question-asking behavior, optimizing marketplace efficiency, and evaluating the effectiveness of monetization initiatives.
Responsibilities:
Own ambiguous, high-impact problem spaces across product and business domains, from question framing, to devising and conducting the analysis, to developing and implementing solutions with cross-functional partners
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders and company leadership to shape product strategy and anticipate future challenges
Design and evaluate experiments to measure the impact of product and strategic changes
Analyze data from across the product to uncover root causes of metric movements
Develop tools, methodologies, and frameworks that help make both the data team and the company as a whole smarter about data
Multiply the impact of other data scientists through mentorship and instilling industry best practices across the team
Minimum Requirements:
Availability for meetings and impromptu communication during Quora’s “coordination hours” (Mon-Fri: 9am-3pm Pacific Time)
7+ years work experience in an analytical or quantitative role, including 5+ as a Data Scientist or similar title, with a track record of success at a senior or staff level of scope and autonomy
Demonstrated ability to tackle difficult data questions that few others could have taken on, such as those requiring deep ownership of a product area and/or leading cross-functional and cross-team efforts
Expertise with statistical techniques (e.g. regression, hypothesis testing, causal inference) and their practical application
Experience mentoring other data scientists and raising team standards through best practices and process improvements
Effective communication skills, including the ability to translate ambiguous business needs into analytical questions and to explain technical results to executives and cross-functional partners
Extensive experience using a procedural programming language (e.g. Python, R) for data manipulation, modeling, and analysis; comfort working in a production codebase
Strong judgment that blends quantitative rigor with product intuition and common sense
Preferred Requirements:
2+ years of experience evaluating recommender systems in offline analysis and online experiments
Experience setting technical direction or strategy for a team or major workstream
Experience with large data sets and distributed computing tools (e.g. Presto/Trino)
Active Quora user with curiosity about the product
At Quora, we value diversity and inclusivity and welcome individuals from all backgrounds, including marginalized or underrepresented groups in tech, to apply for our job openings. We encourage all candidates who share a passion for growing the world’s knowledge, even those who may not strictly meet all the preferred requirements, to apply, as we know that a diverse range of perspectives can have a significant impact on our products and our culture.
Additional Information:
We are accepting applications on an ongoing basis. This role is a backfill for an existing vacancy.
Quora offers a wide range of benefits including medical/dental/vision coverage, equity refreshers, remote work reimbursement, paid time off, employee assistance programs, and more. Benefits are country-specific and may vary.
There are many factors that will determine the starting pay, including but not limited to experience, location, education, and business needs.
US candidates only: For US based applicants, the salary range is $163,560 – $240,092 USD + equity + benefits.
Canada candidates only: For Toronto and Vancouver based applicants, the salary range is $210,013 – $246,625 CAD + equity + benefits. For all other locations in Canada, the salary range is $196,012 – $230,183 CAD + equity + benefits.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
AI technology may assist in sorting applications and recording interview notes, but all decisions are made by a member of our team.
To ensure a secure hiring process, all final candidates will undergo identity verification and a comprehensive background check prior to onboarding.
Job Applicant Privacy Notice: https://www.careers.quora.com/pages/quora-global-job-applicant-privacy-notice
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