The base pay for this position is $185,000 - $196,500 per year. The base pay offered may vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Restricted stock units will be provided as part of the compensation package.

Who We Are:

Wayfair is one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home. We are driven by cutting-edge data science and economics, powering intelligent decision systems that influence nearly every aspect of our business. The Supplier Ads Science group plays a central role in Wayfair’s digital marketing ecosystem — delivering systems that optimize real-time bidding, measure performance impact, and guide investment decisions through causal inference.

We are looking for an Economist III to lead high-impact initiatives at the intersection of bidding optimization, auction dynamics, and causal measurement. This role is ideal for candidates with strong theoretical and empirical backgrounds who are eager to solve complex problems with real-world data and deliver practical, scalable solutions.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead Development of Bidding Algorithms: Architect and refine auction bidding strategies that drive media efficiency and revenue. Model advertiser-platform dynamics and optimize bids across Google, Meta, and programmatic platforms using economic and ML theory.
• Causal Impact Modeling: Build and apply structural and reduced-form causal models (e.g., instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, DML) to measure the impact of bidding decisions and other marketing interventions.
• Auction Simulation & Optimization: Construct market simulation environments to test bidding strategies, study incentive compatibility, and evaluate counterfactuals.
• Collaborate Across Disciplines: Partner with engineering, data infrastructure, product, and marketing teams to integrate your models into production systems and influence business strategy.
• Advance Measurement Science: Design experimentation frameworks and contribute to the evolution of attribution models that combine observed and experimental signals.

Who You Are:

• Ph.D. in Economics, Quantitative Marketing, Operations Research, or a related field, with 2+ years of post-Ph.D. experience (or equivalent industry experience in causal inference or marketplace economics).
• Deep understanding of auction theory, mechanism design, or bidding systems in digital advertising.
• Expertise in causal inference methods (e.g., synthetic control, IV, regression discontinuity, machine learning for causal inference like Causal Forests or DML).
• Proven experience deploying econometric or machine learning models in production environments, ideally involving large-scale experimentation or real-time bidding.
• Proficient in Python and SQL; familiarity with distributed computing tools (e.g., Spark, BigQuery) and workflow orchestration (Airflow, Kubeflow) is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills — able to simplify and translate complex results for diverse audiences, including executives and business stakeholders.

Nice-to-Haves:

• Familiarity with advertising platforms (Google Ads, Meta, DV360) and their auction mechanics.
• Experience with cloud computing platforms (GCP preferred).
• Knowledge of marketing mix modeling (MMM), multi-touch attribution (MTA), or media optimization frameworks.
• Contributions to internal Python libraries or reusable ML/causal modeling tooling.

 

Why You will Love Working With Us:

• Fun team outings like kayaking the Charles and Boda Borg
• Early adopters of new technology within Wayfair
• Hackathons to explore new ideas
• Time Off:
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Health & Wellness:
• Full Health Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA)
• Life Insurance
• Disability Protection (Short Term & Long Term Disability) 
• Global Wellbeing: Gym/Fitness discounts (including US Peloton, Global ClassPass, and various regional gym memberships)
• Mental Health Support (Global Mental Health, Global Wayhealthy Recordings)
• Caregiver Services
• Financial Growth & Security:
• 401K Matching (Employee Matching Program)
• Tuition Reimbursement 
• Financial Health Education (Knowledge of Financial Education - KOFE)
• Tax Advantaged Accounts
• Family Support:
• Family Planning Support
• Parental Leave
• Global Surrogacy & Adoption Policy
• Professional Development & Recognition:
• Rewards & Recognition 
• Global Employee Anniversary Awards 
• Paid Volunteer Work 
• Unique Perks:
• Employee Discount 
• U.S. Bluebikes Membership
• Global Pod Outings
• Work/Life Balance:
• Emphasizing a supportive & flexible work environment that encourages a balance between personal and professional commitments