---
title: 'Staff Applied Scientist, AdTech at Launch Potato'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-applied-scientist-adtech-launch-potato-austin-jhv15x83hb69'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Staff Applied Scientist, AdTech at Launch Potato

- **Company:** Launch Potato
- **Location:** Austin, TX / Dallas, TX / Oklahoma City, OK
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-07-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/launch2/jobs/6129593004

## Job description

WHO ARE WE?

[Launch Potato](https://launchpotato.com/careers?utm_source=greenhouse&utm_medium=jobpost&utm_campaign=careers-back-to-careers) is the discovery and conversion company. We reach tens of millions of people every month through our brands, including [FinanceBuzz](https://financebuzz.com/?utm_source=greenhouse&utm_medium=jobpost&utm_campaign=careers-to-brand), [All About Cookies](https://allaboutcookies.org/?utm_source=greenhouse&utm_medium=jobpost&utm_campaign=careers-to-brand), and [OnlyInYourState](https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/?utm_source=greenhouse&utm_medium=jobpost&utm_campaign=careers-to-brand). We turn that attention into real outcomes for our partners, some of the world's leading companies.

Our mission: create predictable, high-value customer acquisition at scale by connecting discovery, intent, and performance across category-leading consumer brands in finance, travel, and entertainment.

We run profitable and bootstrapped, with a South Florida HQ and a remote-first team across 18 countries.

WHY JOIN US?

You own outcomes here, not tasks. We measure work by impact, not activity. The pace is real, and change is constant, so the people who do best turn change into opportunity instead of waiting for it to settle. Feedback runs direct and lands with respect. Ordinary people make themselves extraordinary at Launch Potato.

BASE SALARY: $175,000 to $200,000 per year, paid semi-monthly

## MUST HAVE:

- Proven experience in digital marketing, performance marketing, or the leadgen industry
- Building adtech algorithms and supporting user acquisition or paid media modeling (highly desired)
- Strong modeling fundamentals: the ability to build effective models that drive business impact
- Multi-year, hands-on experience building and deploying ML solutions in the AWS cloud
- Hands-on experience across core technique areas: multi-armed bandit / reinforcement learning, recommendation and ranking systems (content-based, collaborative filtering, hybrid), funnel and monetization optimization, LTV modeling
- Expert Python and SQL

EXPERIENCE: 5+ years in a hands-on, in-the-weeds applied data science role delivering measurable business impact.

## YOUR ROLE

Own the full data science engine for a priority vertical, from business problem to deployed model to live ROAS performance, driving measurable revenue and media efficiency. This is a hands-on, in-the-weeds role: you are heavily immersed in the data and the modeling, framing the business problem directly with stakeholders, building and validating the model, handing the ML-engineering last mile to your ML engineering partner, and staying engaged through deployment, monitoring, and performance analysis.

You will start focusing on Insurance and Advertiser Quality, with scope that broadens over time. Your primary metric is ROAS.

## OUTCOMES

- Own the Insurance vertical's primary modeling work end-to-end with measurable ROAS impact
- Deliver buying models that maintain positive ROAS and quality
- Drive lead quality improvements across our portfolio of brands: Messaging, Funnels, Content/Listicles, and more resulting in measurable impact to revenue growth
- Establish trusted, direct partnership with vertical business stakeholders
- Produce trusted output: validated, documented, low correction burden
- Identify and leverage net-new modeling opportunities the business has not flagged

## COMPETENCIES

- Business-first framing: Starts with the problem and the metric, not the model.
- Full-stack ownership: Stays engaged from problem definition through deployed performance
- Proactive communication: Closes loops without being chased
- Collaborative: Leans on ML engineering for the last mile rather than working solo
- Coachable: Seeks feedback and turns it into visible behavior change
- Curiosity paired with delivery discipline

## NICE TO HAVES

- Sophisticated ML at companies where paid digital media is core to the business model
- Creative embeddings work: incorporating embeddings of creatives, videos, headlines, and search into paid media models
- Insurance domain experience
- Creating state-of-the-art Ad Ranking algorithms
- Modeling against ad-platform data points (Google, Meta, native)
- LLMs / deep learning applied to personalization or content
- Familiarity with Looker

## TOTAL COMPENSATION

Base salary is set according to market rates for the nearest major metro and varies based on Launch Potato’s Levels Framework. Your compensation package includes a base salary, profit-sharing bonus, and competitive benefits. Launch Potato is a performance-driven company, which means once you are hired, future increases will be based on company and personal performance, not annual cost of living adjustments. Want to accelerate your career? Apply now!

Since day one, we've been committed to having a diverse, inclusive team and culture. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity company. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

## About Launch Potato

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Launch Potato is a bootstrapped, profitable digital media company that owns and operates a portfolio of brands and technologies designed to connect consumers with new products and services.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped, no external investment)
- **Headquarters**: Delray Beach, Florida, United States
- **Founded**: 2014
- **Founders**: Not publicly listed, but described as a group of young, ambitious entrepreneurs. The CTO is Ryan Van Horn.

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Digital Media, Advertising Services, Performance Marketing, Content Publishing
- **Target customers**: B2B (advertisers and brands looking for customer acquisition) and B2C (consumers discovering products and services through their content brands).
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To connect consumers with the world’s leading brands through data-driven content and technology. The company describes itself as "The Discovery and Conversion Company."

## Products & Services
- **Content & Media Brands**: A portfolio of owned-and-operated digital properties that attract over 30M+ monthly visitors. Key brands include:
    - **FinanceBuzz**: Personal finance content and product recommendations.
    - **All About Cookies**: Digital privacy and security advice.
    - **OnlyInYourState**: Travel and lifestyle content focused on U.S. states (acquired in July 2025).
- **Technology & Marketing Platform**: A proprietary technology stack for audience development, engagement, viral distribution, and monetization. This includes data pipelines, A/B testing (over 10,000 variations tested), and conversion optimization tools that connect advertisers to consumers.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (bootstrapped, no external investment).
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of approximately **$41.5 million** (as of latest data).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: No external investors (bootstrapped). Partners are the world's leading brands and advertisers they connect with consumers.
- **Growth Signals**: 
    - Reaches over 30 million monthly active users across its portfolio.
    - Has grown several digital properties to over 10 million active monthly users.
    - Acquired the travel publication "Only In Your State" in July 2025.
    - Named the 3rd Fastest-Growing Technology Company in South Florida (2021) and #4 (2024).
    - Tripled the size of its team in recent years.
    - Named an Inc. Magazine Best Workplace.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Bootstrapped & Profitable**: The company is self-funded and profitable, allowing for long-term strategic thinking and reinvestment without external pressure.
- **Proprietary Tech & Data**: A sophisticated, in-house technology stack focused on data science, A/B testing, and conversion optimization gives them a competitive edge in performance marketing.
- **Diversified Portfolio**: A portfolio of strong, independent content brands (FinanceBuzz, All About Cookies, OnlyInYourState) across different verticals reduces risk and provides multiple traffic and revenue streams.
- **Remote-First Culture**: A proven, globally distributed team operating across 15+ countries, allowing them to hire top talent regardless of location.

## Strategic Focus
- **Portfolio Growth & Acquisition**: Actively acquiring and scaling new digital media brands, as evidenced by the recent acquisition of OnlyInYourState.
- **Technology & Data Science**: Continuing to invest in and enhance its proprietary technology stack, data pipelines, and machine learning capabilities to improve audience targeting, content personalization, and conversion rates.
- **Audience Expansion**: Growing the reach of its existing brands (30M+ monthly visitors) and entering new content verticals to capture more consumer attention.
- **Engineering Excellence**: Building scalable web applications, large-scale data pipelines, and front-end libraries to support rapid experimentation and growth.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a high-growth, high-performance culture with a focus on ownership, speed, and measurable impact. Core values include "Focus and Win," "Better Every Day," "Stronger Together," and "Embrace Change."
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: **Remote-first**. The company was an early advocate for remote work and has a global team across 15+ countries. They also have a headquarters office in downtown Delray Beach, Florida, which is dog-friendly and steps from the beach.
- **Engineering Culture**: Engineers work with a modern tech stack (Python, Django, VueJS/Nuxt, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, AWS, Docker, RabbitMQ, Celery) and are encouraged to solve complex problems at scale. They have a strong emphasis on data science and A/B testing.
- **Notable Perks**: Flexible work environment and vacation policy, unlimited monitors and standup desks, a stocked kitchen with healthy drinks and snacks, and a dog-friendly office. The company emphasizes employee well-being and mental health.

## Sources
1. [launchpotato.com](https://launchpotato.com/about)
2. [launchpotato.com](https://launchpotato.com/careers)
3. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/launchpotato)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/launch2)

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