Summary
What you’ll impact
The role focuses on developing predictive and generative models of player behavior and core game mathematics, especially for slot machines, while ensuring compliance with global regulatory standards. The researcher will translate ambiguous product questions into well‑posed modeling problems and collaborate with designers, product managers, and engineers to drive research and product impact on‑site in Irvine, CA.
Responsibilities
What you'll do
- Develop models of player behavior—engagement, monetization, retention, anomaly detection— and the systems that act on them.
- Translate loosely-specified product questions into modeling problems and select appropriate methods across probabilistic and generative models, gradient boosting, reinforcement learning and bandits, and constrained optimization.
- Apply player lifetime value estimation and retention analysis to inform game features and design decisions.
- Develop and refine core math models for slot machines and other games, meeting target RTP, hit frequency, and volatility goals.
- Design and verify random mechanics, bonus rounds, free spins, and jackpots through combinatorial analysis and detailed probability calculations.
- Balance player engagement, regulatory requirements, and long-term profitability through innovative mathematical solutions.
- Work with large, imbalanced, real-world datasets; diagnose data quality, distribution shift, and leakage, and design evaluation that reflects true model performance.
- Perform large-scale simulations and data analyses (Python, MATLAB, R, or custom code) to forecast game performance, validate math models, and optimize retention.
- Develop suitable quantitative indices to describe game performance accurately.
- Take models to production with clean, reproducible code; collaborate on deployment, monitoring, and inference constraints.
- Build and operate ML pipelines on cloud infrastructure (AWS), including training, deployment, and monitoring of production models.
- Prepare math models, simulation reports, and documentation for certification by global regulatory bodies (e.g., GLI, BMM) across North America, Europe, and Asia.
- Translate complex math/ML concepts into compelling gameplay and clear player communication for both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Play-test in-development games, analyze live performance data, and maintain design documentation (par sheets, pay tables, control files).
Requirements
What you’ll bring
- PhD in Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related quantitative field (new graduates welcome), OR an MS with 2–3 years of industry experience as an Applied Scientist or ML Engineer.
- Strong expertise in combinatorics, probability theory, and statistics, with demonstrable skill in mathematical modeling for game design.
- Strong data intuition: ability to identify distribution shift and leakage and to select metrics appropriate to the problem.
- Solid software engineering fundamentals—version control, testing, reproducibility—and sound judgment on when a prototype must become production software.
- Demonstrated ability to drive a modeling problem from formulation to a working solution independently.
- Experience with simulation/programming tools such as Python.
- Fluency in Chinese (Required) and the ability to communicate complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Must be able to work on-site in Irvine, CA 92618.