2023 PhD Applied Scientist Internship - Economists
The Uber Core Analytics & Science team is looking for Economics PhD candidate interns for Summer 2023. Our internship program is 12 weeks long. As an intern, you will be embedded in a product team working on solving real-world Uber problems and will have the opportunity to partner closely with other Applied and Data Scientists, Software Engineers, Product Managers, and other cross functional partners.
About the Role
Have you ever ordered a car service on Uber, and when the ride arrives, wondered how it got to you so fast? Ever ordered food on UberEats and wondered where the driver was before receiving your order and how long it took to get to the restaurant or if your order was ready when the courier arrived? Ever wondered why your grocery delivery from Uber always has the best apple picked? If so, Uber Core Analytics & Science (CAS) is for you. In CAS, we strive to make magic within Uber’s marketplace. This requires judgment to make difficult trade-offs, blending algorithms with human ingenuity, and the ability to create simplicity from complexity. When we get the balance right for everyone, Uber magic happens. We build systems to peer into the future to design the most cost-efficient marketplace for matching supply and demand. CAS is focused on using cutting edge economics, machine learning, and scalable distributed software that automates and optimizes every aspect of this intricate dance between participants of the marketplace.
We are involved in every stage of the product development cycle. We use data to inform product decisions, build models to power our solutions, and also develop platform tools that are used across teams. We focus primarily on Mobility and Delivery. In 2021, we drove tens of millions of dollars in Gross Bookings. Just in the fourth quarter of 2021, we booked nearly 2 Billion trips worldwide at a growth rate of 23% year over year. We work with millions of earners across the globe to make this magic happen and want you to join us!
- Delivery: UberEats is Uber's on-demand food, grocery and convenience delivery business. It currently operates in over 45 countries. Delivery is a 3-sided marketplace, consisting of Eaters, Couriers, and Merchants. Projects include optimizing our eater pricing systems, designing the best menu of delivery and service fees for members and non-members, improving matching algorithms to get the food to you at the right time (and right temperature!), building an ads delivery system, modeling and predicting eater and courier behavior, and improving the efficiency of user acquisition, promotions, courier experience, and merchant onboarding, among many others.
- Mobility: Rides Applied Science at Uber uses data to improve and automate Uber's core ridesharing products. Rides interns will tackle problems such as optimizing Uber’s short and long term pricing systems; efficiently matching incoming trip requests in Uber’s dispatch system; developing innovative incentive schemes that reward riders and drivers for choosing our network; developing algorithms and experimentation to make our rider and driver experience stand out. We also forecast, monitor, and evaluate all aspects of our marketplace and user behavior using both large scale observational data and meticulous experimentation.
What You’ll Do
- Work with a mentor closely to define a business problem, scope a project, develop, and prototype the solution using data-driven approaches
- Work with engineers and product managers to turn prototypes into scalable solutions
- Present findings to leaders to inform decisions
- Establish standard methodologies for science such as modeling, coding, analytics, optimization, and experimentation
- Conduct experiments to drive business decisions
Basic Qualifications
- Current Ph.D. student majoring in Economics. Candidates should have at least one semester/quarter left of their education after finishing the internship.
- Knowledge of underlying mathematical foundations of economics, statistics, and analytics
- Strong problem solving and analytical abilities
- Experience with causal inference, exploratory data analysis, statistical analysis and model development
- Familiarity in languages such as SQL, R, and Python
Preferred Qualifications
- Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and business partners
- Research mentality with a bias towards action to structure a project from idea to experimentation to prototype to implementation
- Experience with experimental design and analysis (e.g., A/B and market-level experiments), machine learning, and optimization
- Independence, excellent communication, and outstanding follow-through - you energetically tackle your work and love the responsibility of being individually empowered