Fanatics · 7 hours ago
Principal Data Scientist, Marketing & Personalization
San Mateo, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$204K/yr - $300K/yr
7+ years expFanatics is a leader in licensed sports merchandise, dedicated to enhancing the fan experience through innovation. They are seeking a Principal Data Scientist to drive Marketing Data Science, focusing on improving marketing effectiveness through data science and machine learning, while collaborating with cross-functional teams.
eSportsManufacturingRetailSporting GoodsSports
Responsibilities
Own and drive the marketing data science strategy across lifecycle optimization, customer engagement, retention, and marketing spend efficiency
Independently lead large-scale and complex data science initiatives end-to-end, from problem definition through deployment and measurement
Take full ownership of project execution by proactively driving progress, resolving blockers, and ensuring delivery of measurable business outcomes
Develop advanced statistical models and ML systems to improve targeting, bidding, segmentation, fan engagement, personalization and customer experience
Act as a thought partner to senior marketing and product leaders, shaping priorities, guiding strategy, and influencing business decisions with data
Advance analytical and ML capabilities by exploring new methodologies and contributing reusable tools, frameworks, and documentation that improve consistency and productivity
Establish best practices for modeling, experimentation, causal inference, and architecture to ensure scientific rigor and scalability across marketing use cases
Provide technical mentorship and uplevel data scientists through design discussions, model reviews, and best-practice sharing
Drive cross-organizational alignment through clear, compelling storytelling that influences decisions at the executive level
Collaborate closely with engineering partners to guide data structures, pipelines, feature design, and deployment patterns for high-quality ML systems
Partner with CRM, Digital Marketing, Data Engineering, and ML Engineering to translate analytical findings into strategies that improve marketing performance and customer engagement
Communicate complex insights clearly to technical and non-technical audiences to enable data-driven decision-making across teams and leadership levels
Bring structure and clarity to loosely defined business problems while balancing strategic and operational priorities to maximize business impact
Serve as a respected voice of Marketing Science, reinforcing Fanatics’ BOLD leadership principles and contributing to organizational excellence
Qualification
Required
BS or higher in a technical or quantitative field (Computer Science, Operations Research, Statistics, Economics, etc.)
7+ years of hands-on experience in marketing data science or related disciplines
Demonstrated expertise in marketing science use cases (propensity modeling, segmentation, LTV, incrementality, bidding, attribution, personalization, etc.)
Strong proficiency in applied statistics and ML, with experience deploying models into production environments
Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence technical and non-technical audiences, including executives
Proven ability to lead complex analytical initiatives independently
Preferred
10+ years of overall experience in advanced analytics, machine learning, or data science
Proven ability to set technical direction, raise modeling quality, and elevate scientific rigor without formal authority
Strong ownership mindset, intellectual curiosity, and comfort navigating ambiguity
Proven track record of driving measurable business outcomes through data science
Expertise in at least one statistical software environment (Python, R, etc.)
Experience partnering with cross-functional teams across Marketing, Product, Engineering, CRM, and Design
Strategic thinker with a customer-first mindset and the ability to frame trade-offs and recommendations clearly
Benefits
Wellness programs with fitness and weight management partners
Paid maternity paternity leave
Infertility treatment
Flexible time off
Competitive 401k plan
Company
Fanatics
Fanatics is a sports merchandise retailer that manufactures fan gear and jerseys across retail channels. It is a sub-organization of Kynetic.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Fanatics has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2021 (2)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$4.9BKey Investors
Clearlake Capital GroupNational Football LeagueAlameda Research
2022-12-06Private Equity· $700M
2022-03-02Private Equity· $1.5B
2022-01-01Series Unknown· $10M
Leadership Team
J
Joseph Bozich
Advisor to Chief Executive Officer
Michael Mahan
CEO
Recent News
Sports Business Journal
2026-01-23
Sports Business Journal
2026-01-23
Company data provided by crunchbase