Confluent - Data Scientist - Product

IBM
IBM

Product, Data Science

Richland, WA, USA · Kennewick, WA, USA · Pasco, WA, USA · West Richland, WA, USA

Posted on Aug 19, 2026
Introduction

At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You’ll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM’s product and technology landscape. Here, you’ll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.

Your role and responsibilities

Confluent is pioneering a fundamentally new category of data infrastructure focused on data in motion. Have you ever found a new favorite series on Netflix, picked up groceries curbside at Walmart, or paid for something using Square? That’s the power of data in motion in action—giving organizations instant access to the massive amounts of data that is constantly flowing throughout their business. At Confluent, we’re building the foundational platform for this new paradigm of data infrastructure. Our cloud-native offering is designed to be the intelligent connective tissue enabling real-time data, from multiple sources, to constantly stream across the organization. With Confluent, organizations can create a central nervous system to innovate and win in a digital-first world.

We’re looking for self-motivated team members who crave a challenge and feel energized to roll up their sleeves and help realize Confluent’s enormous potential. Chart your own path and take healthy risks as we solve big problems together. We value having diverse teams and want you to grow as we grow—whether you’re just starting out in your career or managing a large team, you’ll be amazed at the magnitude of your impact.

About the Team:

The mission of the Data Science team at Confluent is to serve as the central nervous system of all things data for the company: we build infrastructure, metrics, insights, and models. Our team of data scientists is dedicated to designing and deploying advanced data solutions that enable organizations across the globe harness the power of real-time data.

We focus on driving actionable insights and optimizing business outcomes across our customers’ data ecosystems. Our outputs enable data-driven thinking and help optimize every part of the business. There are limitless opportunities for an ambitious data scientist to make an immediate and meaningful impact within our high-growth company.

About the Role:

As a Senior Data Scientist at Confluent, you will be a key player in helping define the product roadmap and driving revenue growth at Confluent. You will collaborate with our Product team and cross-functional partners across the organization. You will use data and analysis to identify and solve challenges, unlocking growth and adoption across our suite of products. This role requires a strong blend of technical skills, strategic thinking and leadership skills to influence strategy and investment decisions.

What You Will Do:

● Own prioritization for your domain and collaborate with product managers, engineers, marketing leads, and other stakeholders to define the data science roadmap for your product area

● Work across the org to define and measure success metrics for new features and initiatives

● Utilize data to uncover trends, identify opportunities for growth, drive strategic product decisions, and shape product roadmaps

● Apply technical expertise with quantitative analysis, experimentation, data mining, and the presentation of data to improve product experience

● Share actionable insights and recommendations with leadership at various levels, playing a pivotal role in determining Product strategy

● Collaborate with other data scientists across our organization to share best practices, learn new analytical techniques, and champion an organizational culture where data is central to decision making

● Peer review teammates’ work and provide feedback, working to upskill more junior team members

Required education
Bachelor's Degree
Preferred education
Master's Degree
Required technical and professional expertise

● 5+ years of experience in Data Science/Analytics

● Strong proficiency in data manipulation with data querying languages (e.g. SQL) and scripting languages (e.g. Python)

● Experience with A/B testing and experiment best practices

● Excellent communication skills, and ability to collaborate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders

● Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and build relationships at all levels of the organization

Preferred technical and professional experience

● Experience in SaaS/Product-led Growth companies

● Exceptional problem solving skills and analytical skills

● Proficiency in data visualization and building dashboards with tools such as Tableau

● Experience and knowledge of causal inference, machine learning and other advanced analytical methods

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Software infuses core business operations with intelligence—from machine learning to generative AI—to help make organizations more responsive, productive, and resilient. IBM Software helps clients put AI into action now to create real value with trust, speed, and confidence across digital labor, IT automation, application modernization, security, and sustainability. Critical to this is the ability to make use of all data, because AI is only as good as the data that fuels it. In most organizations data is spread across multiple clouds, on premises, in private datacenters, and at the edge. IBM’s AI and data platform scales and accelerates the impact of AI with trusted data, and provides leading capabilities to train, tune and deploy AI across business. IBM’s hybrid cloud platform is one of the most comprehensive and consistent approach to development, security, and operations across hybrid environments—a flexible foundation for leveraging data, wherever it resides, to extend AI deep into a business.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

ABOUT IBM

IBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

IBM offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Eligible employees may have access to:

- Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well being

- Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long- term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs

- Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law

- Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI-driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry-recognized certifications to achieve their career goals

- Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiences

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 21 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role.

IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.

The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.

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