Director of Data Science

Intercom was founded in 2011 to change the standard of customer service online. Our AI-first customer service platform is a totally new way to deliver customer service and is designed to transform the way businesses interact with their customers through AI. We all know that customer service on the internet sucks. It’s slow and impersonal. We help businesses provide instant and exceptional service to their customers and maximize their support agents’ productivity, efficiency, and performance—all through our single AI system. More than 25,000 businesses use Intercom to send millions of messages to millions of customers each month.Intercom has been a long-standing product leader and cultural icon in the technology and startup worlds for more than a decade. We set the pace for our industry and live by our values that allow us to push boundaries, build with speed and intensity, and deliver incredible value to our customers.Join us on our mission to redefine customer service and make internet business personal.

What's the opportunity? 🤔

The Research, Analytics & Data Science team (RAD!) at Intercom use data and insights to drive evidence-based decision-making and inform product innovation. We're a team of data scientists and researchers who use data — both big and small — to unlock actionable insights about our customers, our products and our business. We believe in the power of combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to shape company strategy, build new products that drive tangible value, and gain a holistic understanding of our customers and business.

We are looking for a passionate, ambitious Data Science leader to lead and evolve a world-class data science team working on our Core Support Product, which includes Intercom’s AI Agent, AI Copilot, Inbox and Outbound messaging features . This is a high-impact cross-functional leadership role reporting to the VP of RAD. We are especially keen to chat to folks who can blur the lines across Research and Data Science, who have deep experience in Product Analytics and Product Data Science, and who have experience in building, driving and measuring success of AI products.

What will I be doing? 🚀

Leadership

• Evolve, grow and motivate a team of 6+ Data Scientists around our vision to lead the AI-first Customer Support category.
• Be a highly engaged member of the RAD Leadership and Product Leadership. Work with peers to help us build a highly engaged, world class RAD function and company at increasing scale.
• Be sought out as an expert in Product Analytics & Data Science. Apply your expertise in quantitative analysis, data mining, experimentation and the presentation of data to develop data-informed strategies for growing and improving our product and AI offerings.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams across the company including Research, Product Management, ML, Design, Engineering, Marketing, Biz Ops, Sales, and more to build a holistic understanding of our customers and ensure our insights drive action.
• Present and communicate insights and recommendations to company leadership. Present to the full company. Champion, celebrate and explain your team’s work.
• Deeply influence the strategic direction, goals, desired outcomes and success of their broader organization.
• Present externally, at Intercom events and industry events. Represent Intercom Data Science and RAD in ways like writing for our blog, speaking, tweeting, community building and outreach, and more

Strategy

• Collaborate with RAD leaders, to ensure we have a unified RAD org and strategy.
• Drive our analytics and data science strategy for Core Product.
• Influence our roadmap and approach to experimentation across Product and beyond.
• Drive improvements to self-serve product analytics, and help product teams across Intercom drive tangible outcomes using data.
• Partner with Product leadership to shape and influence product strategy by bringing rich analysis, insights and evidence.
• Debate with product partners on how we use these insights to prioritise and build an impactful product roadmap.
• Contribute to long-term vision, strategy and metrics that will improve the quality and efficiency of our products at scale.
• Influence GTM strategy by working with Marketing, Sales and Growth leaders and the Exec team.

Execution and Results

• Accountable for strong execution in your data science team.
• Set the right focus, strategy and priorities across the team.
• Hold high standards across Data Science and RAD. Drive data science excellence by defining quality and establishing best practices.
• Work with urgency and intention, helping the team “ship early and often”, knowing that what matters most is what our customers experience.
• Own, shape and guide impactful, strategic data science projects and deliver compelling insights that will be used and actioned across the company.

People management and people engagement

• Directly manage a team of 6+ data scientists in RAD - lead, mentor, and grow the people within through actionable feedback and intentional career conversations.
• Evolve the org structure and partnership model as needed
• Maintain high employee engagement scores. Work with peers to evolve and improve how we work, our people policies, etc.
• Participate in the hiring & inspiring of our team.
• Help us push the boundaries across Research & Data Science and build a truly holistic insights function.

What skills do I need? 📖

• 7+ years of Product Analytics / Data Science experience preferably in B2B SaaS
• 3+ years experience building and leading a data science team of individual contributors. Genuinely care about how the people who report to you perform, feel and grow.
• Experience working closely and/or managing research teams is a plus
• Experience working with AI/ML products, collaborating with AI/ML leaders and scientists, and helping measure and drive success of AI/ML products is a plus.
• Proven track record of driving impact through data and insights. Care about and engage in our analytics process, insights generation, and in driving outcomes using insights.
• Proven track record of partnering with product orgs and contributing to company-level strategy, product strategy and product roadmaps.
• Very high attention to detail (uphold high standards in execution).
• Experience partnering cross-functionally and at exec levels to drive impact.
• You are genuinely excited by building software products and are passionate about new technology, AI and its impact on the world.
• You are excited about building a very successful commercial business, and how the work of your team impacts the business.
• You are highly impactful in a world of ambiguity. You can bring clarity and simplicity to complex topics. You have an innate desire to make things better. Strong growth mindset and strong ownership of problems.
• Excels at all forms of communication, written, spoken, from 1:1 to large presentations. Can explain topics at any zoom level (highly strategic and abstract to specific and tactical) to employees at any zoom level (Execs to Individual Contributors). Excellent storyteller of insights.
• No tolerance for work/work. Always looking to drive a direct line between the work of the team and customer value and/or business impact.
• Skilled at problem prioritisation and able to ensure RAD function in particular is focused on what truly matters for Intercom

Benefits 😍

We are a well treated bunch, with awesome benefits! If there’s something important to you that’s not on this list, talk to us! :)

• Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing start-up
• We serve lunch every weekday, plus a variety of snack foods and a fully stocked kitchen
• Regular compensation reviews - we reward great work!
• Pension scheme & match up to 4%
• Peace of mind with life assurance, as well as comprehensive health and dental insurance for you and your dependents
• Flexible vacation so you can take time off when you need it
• Paid maternity leave, as well as 6 weeks paternity leave for fathers, to let you spend valuable time with your loved ones
• If you’re cycling, we’ve got you covered on the Cycle-to-Work Scheme. With secure bike storage too
• MacBooks are our standard, but we’re happy to get you whatever equipment helps you get your job done

Policies

Intercom has a hybrid working policy. We believe that working in person helps us stay connected, collaborate easier and create a great culture while still providing flexibility to work from home. We expect employees to be in the office at least two days per week.

We have a radically open and accepting culture at Intercom. We avoid spending time on divisive subjects to foster a safe and cohesive work environment for everyone. As an organization, our policy is to not advocate on behalf of the company or our employees on any social or political topics out of our internal or external communications. We respect personal opinion and expression on these topics on personal social platforms on personal time, and do not challenge or confront anyone for their views on non-work related topics. Our goal is to focus on doing incredible work to achieve our goals and unite the company through our core values.

Intercom values diversity and is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity. Intercom will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law.

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