Manager III, Data Science

ABOUT onX

We’re a team of builders, adventurers, and risk takers using technology to help people confidently explore the outdoors. Driven by our mission to awaken the adventurer inside everyone, we build products that optimize every outdoor experience and inspire confidence to get out and go further.

We’re a high-growth tech company. The pace is fast, the work takes grit, and ambiguity is part of the job. As the world changes around us, we adapt - continuously evolving how we build, prioritize, and deliver.

Our business moves quickly, and there’s real opportunity to shape what we build next. Each of our verticals - Hunt, Offroad, Backcountry, and Fish - is at a different stage of maturity, which means the challenges you encounter and the impact you have will vary depending on where you sit and what the business needs most.

We operate with an experimentation mindset, continually iterating and improving how we solve problems. We expect our people to use the latest tooling, including AI, thoughtfully and responsibly, pairing human judgment with technology to increase quality, speed, and impact.

Our impact comes to life through the products we build, in the stories of our customers, and in our growing commitment to land stewardship and recreational access.

ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY

onX is seeking a Manager III, Data Science to lead a team of data scientists solving complex problems that help people explore the outdoors with greater confidence. Across Hunt, Offroad, Backcountry, and Fish, our products help customers plan adventures, navigate terrain, and make informed decisions in the field. In this role, you'll help shape how data science improves those experiences, turning complex data and challenging questions into capabilities that make a meaningful difference for our customers.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll combine deep technical expertise with a passion for developing people. You'll work alongside your team to design, build, and evaluate models and analyses, while providing scientific direction and applying rigorous technical judgment to complex, ambiguous problems. You'll also coach and develop data scientists, strengthen team practices, and create an environment where curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration lead to better solutions and stronger results.

Reporting to the Director of Data, you'll partner closely with Product, Engineering, BI, and User Research to identify valuable opportunities, align priorities, and guide initiatives from exploration through delivery. You'll have meaningful autonomy to lead your team, make technical and prioritization decisions within established strategic direction, and help Data Science deliver measurable value for onX and the outdoor communities we serve.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Essential Job Duties & Functions

• Personally design, implement, and evaluate sophisticated models and analyses to solve complex, often ambiguous customer and business problems, contributing deep technical expertise while advancing the team's scientific work.

• Provide scientific and technical direction, applying sound judgment to problem framing, method selection, data quality, bias, leakage, and uncertainty. Establish meaningful baselines and evaluation criteria, and strengthen the team's technical capabilities through code reviews and pairing.

• Lead and develop a team of data scientists, setting clear expectations, providing coaching and feedback, managing performance, and building the technical judgment, stakeholder ownership, and capabilities needed for sustained team success.

• Own and prioritize the Data Science team roadmap in partnership with the Director of Data and cross-functional stakeholders, making informed trade-offs across customer and business impact, technical feasibility, delivery capacity, and longer-term research opportunities.

• Define clear objectives and success criteria for Data Science initiatives, using rigorous evaluation, meaningful baselines, and bounded experiments to assess opportunities, guide investment decisions, and measure outcomes.

• Lead complex Data Science initiatives from research and exploration through production integration, evaluation, and ongoing support, establishing clear plans, navigating technical uncertainty, and proactively addressing risks and dependencies.

• Build alignment across Product, Engineering, BI, and User Research, navigating competing priorities, resolving cross-functional challenges, and establishing clear expectations and accountability for shared outcomes.

• Establish clear data contracts, acceptance criteria, and operational ownership while developing reusable, reproducible capabilities and communicating findings through prototypes and actionable recommendations, with appropriate privacy and access controls.

• Identify opportunities to improve Data Science practices through experimentation and the responsible use of AI, helping the team evaluate new approaches, validate results, and adopt effective workflows that improve quality and efficiency.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Master's degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related quantitative discipline, or equivalent experience demonstrating advanced technical and scientific expertise.

• 8+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or advanced analytics, including 3+ years managing and developing technical teams.

• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop data scientists, set clear expectations, manage performance, and build teams that consistently deliver high-quality results.

• Deep technical expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning, and experimental design, with strong hands-on Python and SQL skills and experience delivering models on cloud platforms.

• Proven ability to independently frame ambiguous problems, design rigorous investigations, evaluate methodological trade-offs, and translate complex analyses into actionable customer or business outcomes.

• Experience leading complex data science initiatives from research through delivery, making sound technical and prioritization decisions while navigating uncertainty, competing demands, and delivery risks.

• Strong communication and cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders, resolve competing priorities, and build alignment around technical approaches and business outcomes.

• Demonstrated ability to establish scientific rigor through thoughtful evaluation of data quality, bias, uncertainty, model performance, and research limitations.

• Curiosity about emerging technologies, including AI, and the ability to evaluate and apply new tools responsibly to improve technical workflows and team effectiveness.

• A shared passion for and ability to demonstrate onX's Company Values.

• Permanent US work authorization is a condition of employment with onX.

• Ability to travel quarterly for multiple days to a corporate office or other onX strategic location, such as a Basecamp.

ADDED BONUSES

Though not required, we would be thrilled to consider candidates with any of the following:

• Experience with geospatial or temporal modeling, recommendation systems, or customer behavior analysis.

• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), particularly BigQuery, Dataproc, or Vertex AI.

• PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related quantitative discipline.

• Experience evaluating AI-powered product features or developing reusable research and machine learning tools and frameworks.

THE ONX EXPERIENCE

onX is a distributed company with more than 400 employees across the country. We come together regularly to work in person and stay connected through regional basecamps and a culture that balances individual ownership with deep collaboration.

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