Contract Student Worker - Data Scientist (AI)

Location: On-site in Foster City, California, United States

Compensation: $30/hour

Company

Zoox develops fully electric, bidirectional autonomous vehicles and operates a purpose-built robotaxi service.

What you will do

• Develop forecasting models for fleet availability, supply hours, staffing, operational workload, charging demand, and infrastructure needs.
• Build scenario models to assess the staffing, cost, and infrastructure impact of operational changes and market growth.
• Convert spreadsheet-based planning processes into reproducible, scalable, and well-documented analytical workflows.
• Evaluate model performance through backtesting, forecast-versus-actual reporting, and defined accuracy measures.
• Prototype AI-powered decision-support tools that explain forecast drivers, identify emerging risks, and support planning scenario exploration.
• Align operating assumptions and forecasts with Workforce Management, Finance, Strategy, Data Science, and operational leaders.

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a relevant B.S. or M.S. program, such as data science, statistics, computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, economics, or applied mathematics.
• Experience with forecasting, statistical modeling, optimization, simulation, or machine learning through coursework, research, internships, or professional projects.
• Ability to select an appropriate analytical approach rather than defaulting to the most complex model.
• Strong communication, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Available for a minimum three-month assignment and at least 20 hours per week.
• Able to work on-site in Foster City, California, and comply with Zoox confidentiality requirements.

Nice to have

• Experience with LLMs, coding copilots, APIs, or agent frameworks for analytical products and technical workflow automation.
• Strong understanding of model evaluation, uncertainty, explainability, and human oversight.
• Experience communicating model outputs to decision-makers.

Culture & Benefits

• Contract employment is provided through a vendor contracted with Zoox.
• Benefits eligibility is determined by the vendor.
• Work alongside engineers and researchers developing autonomous transportation technology.
• Confidential company information may not be used or shared outside Zoox, including in academic research, theses, publications, or presentations.