Principal Data Scientist - Safety

Overview

Principal Data Scientist on Roblox's Content Safety team, defining how harmful user-generated content and violative on-platform behavior are measured and mitigated, with a focus on asset-based content such as games, avatars and in-game behaviors.

What you'll do

• Establish and monitor prevalence measurement methodologies to quantify the overall level of harmful content and behavior on the platform, serving as the authoritative source of truth for safety goals.
• Develop and validate ground truth datasets for harmful UGC and violative on-platform behaviors, aligned with the latest platform policies.
• Conduct exploratory analysis of current and emerging threat landscapes and provide data-backed recommendations on where Product and Engineering should invest detection and moderation resources.
• Design, implement and analyze experiments for new moderation and safety enforcement features, communicating results to Product and Engineering.
• Leverage causal inference methodologies to measure the effectiveness and potential systemic impacts of safety initiatives on player experience and platform integrity.
• Communicate strategic insights and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional partners, translating statistical findings into actionable strategies.
• Partner with ML and Data Engineering teams to ensure model development, reporting and detection systems are built on statistically sound ground truth and measurement frameworks.

What you'll need

• 10+ years of industry experience in data science, economics, analytics, or machine learning engineering.
• 7+ years of experience using scripting languages (Python, R) and big data query/processing languages and tools such as SQL, Hive, Spark and Airflow.
• Knowledge of ML and Deep Learning, either via formal training or industry experience.
• Ability to apply creative first-principles reasoning to solve ambiguous problems.
• Experience developing large-scale safety or moderation systems.
• Experience with content platforms, specifically user-generated content.
• Advanced Degree and/or PhD in Statistics, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Math, Economics, or other related quantitative fields.

Details

• Based at the headquarters in San Mateo, CA; roles based in an office are onsite Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with optional presence on Monday and Friday (unless otherwise noted).
• Annual base salary range $274,000 to $373,680 USD; actual pay depends on job-related factors. Eligible for equity compensation and benefits.
• For US-based roles only: the Company may not be able to employ candidates who have United States work authorization related to certain U.S. visa categories, or support future H-1B sponsorship at this time.