Uber

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Uber is looking for economists with a passion for tackling hard problems with real-world impact. We are economists, statisticians, operations researchers, and computer scientists who combine theoretical insight with rigorous data analysis to maximize value created across Uber’s real-time marketplace. Economists at Uber have the opportunity to work on teams across the company in a variety of roles; we will direct hires to roles matching their interests and abilities.

The Marketplace Optimization team tackles problems like optimizing Uber’s dynamic pricing engine; optimizing dispatches of drivers to incoming requests; developing and testing incentive schemes for drivers and riders; matching riders for UberPool; structuring menus and predicting orders for UberEATS; and improving understanding of rider and driver behavior through thoughtful experimentation. They guide product decisions and enhance the algorithms that operate Uber's worldwide marketplace and work side-by-side with Uber's engineering team to scale out your ideas across Uber's real-time production systems.

The Economic Research team, under the Chief Economist, Jonathan Hall, is responsible for research on the dynamics of Uber and its interactions with labor markets and cities. The Business Economics team uses such research to inform business strategy, operations, and product decisions. For instance, we know that the flexible work model is very valuable to Uber drivers (see Chen et al., Angrist et al.) and that dynamic pricing is vital in protecting the health and efficiency of the dispatch market (see Castillo et al.); however, it’s likely that consistency (e.g., of pricing or earnings) also carries some value for riders and drivers. What values should we put on these opposing virtues, and how should we alter the product to reflect them? The Policy Economics team uses research to inform policy decisions and to explain Uber to policy makers and the public. They have ongoing projects with top academics on safety/quality, discrimination, labor market dynamics, occupational licensing, and transportation systems in developing cities.

We are seeking applicants with the following attributes:
- PhD in economics/econometrics
- Ability to think creatively and insightfully about business-relevant economic problems
- Proficiency with analytical tools like R/Python/Matlab/Stata/EViews
- Familiarity with relational databases and SQL a plus
- Programming skills in C/C++/Java/Python/etc. (for product-focused roles)
- Enthusiasm for learning and growth

We're actively hiring and are always interested in hearing from exceptional candidates. We will be at the January 2019 AEA/ASSA conference in Atlanta but will consider candidates for start dates as early as November 2018.