Engineering Manager - Data Science (AdTech)

Fluent is building the next-generation advertising network, Partner Monetize & Advertiser Acquisition. Our vision is to build an ML/AI-first network of advertisers and publishers to achieve a common objective — elevating relevancy in E-commerce for everyday shoppers.

As our Engineering Manager - Data Science, you will lead the team responsible for driving business value through machine learning and advanced analytics. You will own ROAS optimization, audience propensity modeling, and ML-powered capabilities that differentiate Fluent's advertising products and drive client success.

This role combines hands-on ML expertise with people leadership, requiring you to set technical direction for modeling initiatives while building and developing a high-performing data science team.

This role is fully remote in the United States or Canada (Ontario), with occasional travel to NYC.

Machine Learning & Modeling

• Drive ML/AI strategy: audience propensity models, lookalike modeling, and segmentation algorithms that improve campaign performance.
• Own ROAS optimization: develop and refine models that maximize return on ad spend for clients.
• Build production ML systems: feature engineering, model training, batch/online inference, and serving infrastructure.
• Establish MLOps practices: model versioning, monitoring, drift detection, and reproducible training pipelines.
• Champion experimentation: A/B testing frameworks, statistical rigor, and data-driven decision making.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead and grow the Data Science team: hiring, mentoring, performance management, and career development.
• Partner with Product and Client Success to translate business requirements into ML solutions and communicate model capabilities.
• Coordinate with Data Platform team to ensure reliable data foundations and feature pipelines for modeling.
• Translate complex ML concepts into actionable insights for business stakeholders and executives.
• Set technical direction and foster a culture of innovation, rigor, and continuous improvement.

Must-Haves

• 5+ years of experience in Data Science or ML Engineering, with at least 2 years managing or leading teams.
• Strong ML fundamentals: classification, regression, clustering, and production ML deployment.
• Experience with audience/customer modeling: propensity, lookalike, segmentation, or recommender systems.
• Production ML experience: not just notebooks — deploying, monitoring, and maintaining models at scale.
• Strong Python skills and experience with ML frameworks (scikit-learn, XGBoost, PyTorch, or similar).
• Proven people management skills: hiring, mentoring, and developing data science talent.
• Excellent communication skills for translating technical concepts to business stakeholders and executives.

Nice-to-Haves

• Ad tech, marketing tech, or performance marketing modeling experience.
• ROAS optimization and campaign performance modeling.
• Databricks and MLflow experience.
• Experience with real-time scoring and feature stores.
• Deep learning experience for NLP or computer vision applications.
• Experience with LLMs and generative AI applications.

About Us

Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLNT) is a commerce media solutions provider connecting top-tier brands with highly engaged consumers. Leveraging diverse ad inventory, robust first-party data, and proprietary machine learning, Fluent unlocks additional revenue streams for partners and empowers advertisers to acquire their most valuable customers at scale. Founded in 2010, Fluent uses its deep expertise in performance marketing to drive monetization and increase engagement at key touchpoints across the customer journey. For more insights visit:https://www.fluentco.com/

At Fluent, we like what we do, and we like who we do it with. Our team is a tight-knit crew of go-getters; we love to celebrate our successes! In addition, we offer a fully stocked kitchen, catered lunch, and our office manager keeps the calendar stocked with activity filled events. When we’re not eating, working out, or planning parties, Fluent folks can be found participating in networking events, and bonding across teams during quarterly outings to baseball games, fancy dinners, and a variety of activities. And we have all the practical benefits, too…

• Competitive compensation
• Ample career and professional growth opportunities
• New Headquarters with an open floor plan to drive collaboration
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Pre-tax savings plans and transit/parking programs
• 401K with competitive employer match
• Volunteer and philanthropic activities throughout the year
• Educational and social events
• The amazing opportunity to work for a high-flying performance marketing company!

Salary Range: $160,000 to $225,000 base, + competitive bonus. The base salary range represents the low and high end of the Fluent salary range for this position. Actual salaries will vary depending on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance.

Candidates may be at risk of targeting by malicious actors seeking personal information. Fluent recruiters will only reach out via LinkedIn or email with an @fluentco.com domain. Any outreach by Fluent via other sources (e.g. text, other domains etc) should be ignored.

Fluent participates in the E-Verify Program. As a participating employer, Fluent, LLC will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. Fluent, LLC follows all federal regulations including those set forth by The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). The OSC enforces the anti-discrimination provision (§ 274B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1324b.