Senior Applied Scientist, Forecasting

About The Team

The business forecasting division at Zillow plays a critical role in guiding planning efforts across various company functions by combining expertise from forecasters, economists, applied scientists, data scientists, and data visualization engineers. They develop and maintain forecasts that influence decision-making processes using top-tier data and statistical techniques, prioritizing transparency to build trust for leadership decisions.

Zillow Group is a strategic organization focused on providing exceptional results and user experiences. The team excels in cross-functional collaboration, scalable initiatives, and operational excellence to support Zillow's mission, working across rapidly growing environments to balance strategy and execution effectively. Currently, the team is expanding its workforce in India.

Role Overview

This position is for an Applied Scientist based in the India office, fully dedicated to enhancing and building forecasting models for Zillow’s business sectors. Responsibilities include designing, implementing, and refining innovative statistical and machine learning methods to deliver precise and scalable forecasts.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and assess statistical, econometric, and machine learning solutions to improve forecasting accuracy and expedite model delivery.
• Propose innovative approaches to forecast asset-level performance effectively.
• Create frameworks for backtesting and validating forecast accuracy, reliability, and impact.
• Manage the entire modeling process from scoping and feature engineering to deployment and monitoring, ensuring models are explainable.
• Present forecast insights and recommendations to senior leaders, clarifying key influence factors, uncertainties, and strategic trade-offs.
• Quantify and communicate model uncertainty and limitations clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Collaborate across departments including finance, product, engineering, marketing, and operations to enhance forecasting capabilities company-wide.
• Contribute to shared development of forecasting tools, data pipelines, and best practices.
• Work jointly with other applied and data scientists to innovate solutions addressing real estate and business challenges.

Working Conditions and Compensation

This is an office role requiring employees to work onsite approximately 80–100% of the time at the Zillow India office. Employees should reside within a reasonable commuting distance, using their judgment to determine feasibility considering commute duration and cost. Compensation includes a competitive base salary plus potential incentives aligned with company policies and applicable laws, varying by experience, performance, and location.

Candidate Profile

• Holds an advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Economics, Statistics, Operations Research, Data Science, Computer Science, Econometrics, Mathematics, or related quantitative fields, or equivalent experience with 5+ years in applied scientist roles.
• Expertise in time-series forecasting, econometrics, or similar quantitative modeling techniques.
• Strong foundation in data engineering principles aimed at designing efficient large-scale data workflows.
• Ability to explain sophisticated models and analytical ideas to non-technical stakeholders using simple, business-focused language.
• Experience in developing and deploying applied statistical or machine learning models that influence business decisions.
• Proficiency with Python and SQL for analyzing data, building, validating, and deploying models.
• Comfortable handling challenging real-world datasets that may be incomplete, delayed, or noisy, and in designing robust estimation methods.

About Zillow

Zillow reimagines how people navigate real estate transactions and their careers. As the leading online real estate platform in the U.S., Zillow assists millions with buying, selling, financing, and renting homes with ease and confidence. Our Indian teams play a vital role in developing and scaling the technology, products, and operations that power this experience.

Working at Zillow means engaging with global colleagues to find meaningful solutions across tech, operations, and shared services, contributing to enabling more people to realize the dream of home ownership.

Zillow is recognized among the best workplaces nationally, honored as a FORTUNE 100 Best Company to Work For® (2025) and included on the PEOPLE Companies That Care® list (2025), highlighting our dedication to fostering an innovative, inclusive culture where employees can thrive.

Every role at Zillow contributes to innovation, customer success, and industry advancement, creating career growth opportunities.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Zillow Group is dedicated to creating an inclusive and innovative work environment by ensuring equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, nationality, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, maternity status, HIV status, or veteran status. Reasonable accommodations are provided to candidates with disabilities in accordance with policies.