PayPal is looking for a statistician to support web analytics
Recently I had the pleasure of talking to Steve Bernstein, Director of Web Analytics at PayPal, about an opening at PayPal that was posted this week on my job board.
I must say when I first saw the opening posted back in November on the Yahoo! group I was a little startled; the posting was titled “Sr. Web Analyst” and was looking for “8+ years experience professional statistical analysis and modeling experience, e.g., advanced web analytics, advanced survey design and analysis, econometrics, psychonometrics, data mining, or clinical trial analysis/biostatistics.” As I recall there were some snide comments made about the posting that didn’t make it through moderation, mostly questioning whether such a person even existed.
After talking to Steve I can assure you, they do.
Steve is the real deal, and has built what sounds like a very impressive web analytics group at PayPal. You can have a look at Steve’s LinkedIn profile but he clearly brings the necessary chops to the position in a company that is essentially a series of transaction paths. Steve described a web data analyst’s nirvana, an organization where only a single “report” is generated, and the bulk of the time is spent doing and presenting analysis.
The thing is, after talking to Steve, I believe that he’s really looking for a PhD-level statistician with some familiarity with web analytics to manage and model controlled experiments at PayPal. It sounds like the rest of the group has a good familiarity with stats and a strong understanding of the web analytics business process, so Steve is looking for a great communicator who can bring world-class statistical modeling and data warehousing skills to the table.
Did I say “good communicator?” Yeah, Steve emphasized that communication is the key in this position and on his team in general. One comment he made was that often times analyst make the mistake of forgetting what not to say when presenting web analytics data.
I laughed, but he’s right.
Anyway, if you’re a statistical superman (or woman) with an interest in web analytics and a desire to work in a ideal sounding environment, check this position out. Steve also indicated that he might be looking to fill a more “traditional” web analytics position in the near future so hopefully they’ll post that position on my board so Steve and I can chat about that.
