Applied Scientist

Role Overview

As an Applied Scientist at Zillow, you will build and refine housing market forecasting models at national, regional, and local levels. You’ll work with applied and data scientists, economists, and engineers to turn large-scale housing and economic data into actionable insights for senior leadership and partners.

Responsibilities

• Develop and improve forecasting models that power Zillow’s view of the housing market.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (applied scientists, data scientists, economists, engineers).
• Translate large-scale housing and economic datasets into insights for decision-makers.
• Design and apply model evaluation and validation approaches (e.g., backtesting and cross-validation for time series).
• Perform data preparation and processing for large-scale time series and/or panel datasets.
• Communicate complex quantitative concepts and tradeoffs to diverse audiences.

Requirements

• 2+ years working on time series and/or spatial forecasting, ideally with hierarchical or panel data.
• Strong foundation in econometrics and modern machine learning for forecasting.
• Hands-on experience cleaning, preprocessing, and feature engineering for large-scale time series/panel datasets.
• Experience with evaluation/validation for forecasting, including backtesting, cross-validation, and accuracy metrics.
• Proficiency with software development best practices and tools (e.g., Git and cloud-based model deployment/monitoring).
• Master’s or PhD in a quantitative field (Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Econometrics, Physics, Earth Sciences, or related) or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated interest in using AI tools (e.g., LLMs, copilots, automation frameworks) to improve research productivity and forecasting workflows.

Nice to Haves

• Familiarity with distributed computing frameworks such as Spark.
• Passion for experimenting with emerging technologies and applying them to analytical workflows.

Remote Policy & Location

• Remote role: you work from a location of your choice in the United States (limited exceptions noted).

Compensation (Base Pay)

• $136,300–$217,700 annually in: CA, CT, MD, MA, NJ, NY, WA, and Washington DC.
• $129,500–$206,900 annually in: CO, HI, IL, MN, NV, OH, RI, and VT.
• Eligible for equity awards (amount varies).