What are the responsibilities and job description for the Data Scientist Markets position at Polymarket?
About Polymarket
Polymarket is the world's largest prediction market platform. We enable individuals to express views on real-world events by trading on outcomes across politics, economics, sports, culture, and current affairs. Built as a peer-to-peer marketplace with no centralized "house," Polymarket aggregates diverse opinions into transparent, market-based probabilities that reflect collective expectations about the future.
We're growing fast, both in terms of volume ($21B traded in 2025) and adoption as an alternative news source. Our ambition is to become a ubiquitous beacon of truth in global media and we need your help adding fuel to the fire.
About the Role
The Markets team is responsible for what gets listed on Polymarket, how those markets are structured, and whether they actually work. That means thinking hard about liquidity, market design, and what separates a market that generates real price discovery from one that sits dead. This role sits inside that team as the dedicated data scientist, owning the analytical layer that informs nearly every decision they make.
Right now, a lot of that work is manual, ad hoc, or not happening at all. We need someone who can build the infrastructure for understanding market health, model the dynamics that drive liquidity, and help the team make smarter calls on what to list, how to reward liquidity providers, and when a market is broken. You will not be handed a backlog of tickets. You will be expected to identify the questions that matter, go answer them, and come back with something decision-ready.
This is a high-ownership role for someone who thinks seriously about how markets work. If you have spent time at a prediction market, a trading firm, or a fund where you were close to market structure questions, this will feel familiar. If you want to do data work that is abstract from real decisions, this is not the right fit.
What You'll Do
What We're Looking For
Benefits
Polymarket is the world's largest prediction market platform. We enable individuals to express views on real-world events by trading on outcomes across politics, economics, sports, culture, and current affairs. Built as a peer-to-peer marketplace with no centralized "house," Polymarket aggregates diverse opinions into transparent, market-based probabilities that reflect collective expectations about the future.
We're growing fast, both in terms of volume ($21B traded in 2025) and adoption as an alternative news source. Our ambition is to become a ubiquitous beacon of truth in global media and we need your help adding fuel to the fire.
About the Role
The Markets team is responsible for what gets listed on Polymarket, how those markets are structured, and whether they actually work. That means thinking hard about liquidity, market design, and what separates a market that generates real price discovery from one that sits dead. This role sits inside that team as the dedicated data scientist, owning the analytical layer that informs nearly every decision they make.
Right now, a lot of that work is manual, ad hoc, or not happening at all. We need someone who can build the infrastructure for understanding market health, model the dynamics that drive liquidity, and help the team make smarter calls on what to list, how to reward liquidity providers, and when a market is broken. You will not be handed a backlog of tickets. You will be expected to identify the questions that matter, go answer them, and come back with something decision-ready.
This is a high-ownership role for someone who thinks seriously about how markets work. If you have spent time at a prediction market, a trading firm, or a fund where you were close to market structure questions, this will feel familiar. If you want to do data work that is abstract from real decisions, this is not the right fit.
What You'll Do
- Model liquidity dynamics across markets to identify what drives healthy order flow and inform how we structure and adjust liquidity rewards.
- Build and maintain recurring reports on market health metrics so the team has a clear, ongoing view of what is working and what is not.
- Audit new market listings using historical and comparable market data to recommend approval, structural adjustments, or rejection.
- Analyze underperforming markets to diagnose root causes, whether that is poor resolution criteria, thin liquidity, bad timing, or something else entirely.
- Partner with the Markets team weekly to scope incoming data questions, prioritize them, and deliver outputs that lead to a decision, not just a chart.
- Develop frameworks for evaluating what makes a market work, so those standards can be applied consistently across listings and product decisions.
- Identify gaps in our current data collection or instrumentation and work with engineering to close them where it matters for market analysis.
What We're Looking For
- Strong Python proficiency for data analysis, statistical modeling, and working with large datasets. SQL knowledge is a must.
- Deep, working knowledge of market structure. You should be able to reason about order books, spreads, liquidity provision, and market design tradeoffs without needing a primer.
- Experience owning analyses end to end, from scoping an ambiguous question to handing a stakeholder something they can act on.
- A track record of building models that capture real complexity, not just descriptive summaries. You can explain your assumptions and where your model breaks.
- Comfort working embedded in a non-data team where you are setting your own agenda and managing your own priorities.
- (Plus) Experience at a prediction market platform, trading firm, or fund where you were close to market structure or liquidity questions.
- (Plus) Familiarity with automated market makers, CLOB mechanics, or decentralized exchange design.
- (Plus) Experience building or evaluating liquidity incentive programs.
Benefits
- Competitive salary & equity
- Unlimited PTO
- Full Health, Vision, & Dental coverage
- 401k match
- Hardware setup: new MacBook Pro, big display, & accessories