1. What is a Research Scientist at Uber?

As a Research Scientist at Uber—specifically within the Policy Economics and Applied Science domains—you are the analytical engine behind the company’s most critical strategic and public-facing decisions. You will conduct rigorous external research that forms the foundation for Uber’s policy positions, helping policymakers, thought leaders, and the general public understand the complex dynamics of the platform economy.

Beyond external influence, this role has a profound internal impact. You will serve as a vital bridge between policy experts and technical teams, conducting deep-dive internal research that supports executive leadership. Your insights will help weigh complex trade-offs across competitive, legal, operational, and product considerations. Whether you are analyzing driver and courier earnings, evaluating marketplace matching algorithms, or assessing the impact of new pricing models, your work directly shapes the future of mobility and delivery.

This role requires a unique blend of academic rigor, technical execution, and business acumen. You will not be conducting research in a vacuum; you will be answering fast-paced, high-profile policy questions while simultaneously driving multi-year research collaborations with external partners. Expect a highly visible, fast-paced environment where your econometric models and statistical analyses directly inform real-world strategies and global policy narratives.

2. Common Interview Questions

The following questions are representative of what candidates face during the Uber Research Scientist interview process. While you should not memorize answers, use these to understand the patterns of inquiry and practice structuring your responses.

Causal Inference & Statistics

These questions test your ability to design robust studies and extract causal relationships from observational data, a core requirement for understanding policy impacts.

• How would you measure the effect of a new surge pricing algorithm on driver supply if we cannot run a randomized A/B test?
• Explain the assumptions behind Difference-in-Differences. What would you do if the parallel trends assumption is violated?
• How do you address selection bias when analyzing the earnings of drivers who choose to work more than 40 hours a week versus those who work fewer?
• Describe a scenario where you would use an instrumental variable. What makes a good instrument?

Coding & Data Manipulation

These questions evaluate your hands-on ability to extract and manipulate data using SQL and Python/R.

• Write a SQL query to calculate the rolling 7-day average of completed trips per active driver in a specific city.
• How would you handle a massive dataset with millions of rows that has missing or anomalous location coordinates?
• Given two tables (Rider Requests and Driver Acceptances), write a query to find the percentage of requests that were accepted within 10 seconds.

Marketplace Economics & Policy

These questions assess your intuition for Uber's business model and your ability to apply economic theory to real-world platform challenges.

• If a city mandates a minimum wage for couriers based on active time, how would this impact the matching algorithm and overall marketplace efficiency?
• How do you define and measure the "value of flexibility" for independent contractors on the platform?
• What metrics would you look at to determine if a marketplace is supply-constrained or demand-constrained in a given hour?

Behavioral & Cross-Functional

These questions focus on your communication skills, stakeholder management, and ability to thrive in Uber's fast-paced environment.

• Tell me about a time you had to push back on a stakeholder who wanted to launch a policy based on flawed data.
• Describe a research project you led from end to end. What were the major roadblocks, and how did you overcome them?
• How do you prioritize rapid-response data requests from policy teams while maintaining progress on long-term research collaborations?

3. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for the Research Scientist interview at Uber requires a strategic approach. You must demonstrate not only your technical depth but also your ability to translate complex economic concepts into actionable business and policy advice.

Econometric and Statistical Rigor – Uber relies heavily on causal inference and advanced statistical modeling to understand marketplace dynamics. Interviewers will evaluate your ability to design robust experiments, apply quasi-experimental methods to observational data, and identify causal relationships in complex, noisy environments. You can demonstrate strength here by clearly explaining the assumptions behind your models and how you handle violations of those assumptions.

Technical Execution and Scaling – A strong theoretical background is not enough; you must be able to execute your research independently. Interviewers will assess your proficiency in SQL, Python, or R to ensure you can extract, manipulate, and analyze massive datasets efficiently. Showcasing clean, scalable code and a practical approach to data wrangling will set you apart.

Cross-Functional Communication – As a bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders, your ability to communicate is paramount. You will be evaluated on how well you can explain highly technical economic concepts to product managers, legal teams, and policy leads. Strong candidates articulate the "so what" behind their research, linking data directly to business strategy.

Navigating Ambiguity and Ownership – Uber operates in a rapidly evolving global regulatory environment. Interviewers look for candidates who can take vague, high-level policy questions and translate them into concrete research plans. You must demonstrate a proactive mindset, showing how you independently drive projects from ideation to execution.

4. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a Research Scientist at Uber is rigorous and multi-faceted, designed to test your theoretical knowledge, coding abilities, and communication skills. You will typically begin with a recruiter phone screen to discuss your background, research experience, and alignment with the role's requirements. This is followed by a technical phone screen, which usually involves a mix of coding (often SQL or data manipulation in Python/R) and foundational statistical or econometric questions.

If you advance, you will be invited to a virtual onsite loop. This intensive stage generally consists of four to five rounds. A hallmark of the Uber research interview is the research presentation, where you will present a past project to a panel of scientists and cross-functional partners. Subsequent rounds will dive deep into causal inference, marketplace economics, behavioral questions, and cross-functional collaboration.

Uber places a strong emphasis on practical application. Interviewers will frequently pivot from theoretical questions to real-world Uber scenarios, asking how you would measure the impact of a new driver incentive or analyze a sudden shift in rider demand.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression from the initial recruiter screen through the final onsite interviews. You should use this visual to pace your preparation, ensuring you balance coding practice with refreshing your theoretical econometrics and refining your research presentation. Note that specific rounds may vary slightly depending on the exact team and your seniority level.

5. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Causal Inference and Econometrics

Because Uber cannot always run randomized controlled trials (A/B tests) due to network effects or regulatory constraints, causal inference is a critical evaluation area. Interviewers want to see that you can extract actionable insights from observational data. Strong performance means knowing exactly which method to apply, understanding its limitations, and explaining how to validate its assumptions.

Be ready to go over:

• Difference-in-Differences (DiD) – How to set up a DiD model, test for parallel trends, and handle staggered rollouts across different cities.
• Instrumental Variables (IV) and Regression Discontinuity (RD) – Identifying valid instruments or cutoffs in a marketplace setting to measure the true effect of a policy change.
• Experimentation with Network Effects – Designing experiments in a two-sided marketplace where treating one group (e.g., drivers) impacts the control group.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Synthetic control methods, propensity score matching, and structural equation modeling.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How would you measure the impact of a new minimum wage law for couriers in a specific city using observational data?"
• "If we introduce a new matching algorithm in one neighborhood, how do you account for the spillover effects into adjacent neighborhoods?"
• "Explain a time you used an instrumental variable. What was the instrument, and how did you prove its validity?"

Data Manipulation and Coding

As a Research Scientist, you are expected to be hands-on with data. Uber generates massive amounts of marketplace data, and you must be able to query, clean, and analyze it independently. Interviewers will look for efficiency, accuracy, and familiarity with standard data science libraries.

Be ready to go over:

• Advanced SQL – Complex joins, window functions, CTEs, and optimizing queries for large datasets.
• Data Wrangling in Python/R – Using Pandas, Tidyverse, or similar libraries to clean messy data, handle missing values, and prepare datasets for modeling.
• Applied Statistics in Code – Implementing basic regressions, calculating standard errors, and generating visualizations to communicate results.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a SQL query to find the week-over-week retention rate of new drivers who completed their first trip in January."
• "Given a dataset of rider requests and driver locations, how would you structure a Python script to calculate the average ETA by city and time of day?"

Marketplace Economics and Policy Strategy

Understanding the economics of Uber's platform is essential for the Policy Applied Scientist role. You will be evaluated on your intuition for supply and demand, pricing dynamics, and labor economics. Strong candidates can quickly map a real-world policy issue to economic principles and propose a robust analytical framework.

Be ready to go over:

• Supply and Demand Elasticity – How changes in price or wait times affect rider demand and driver supply.
• Incentive Design – Evaluating the ROI of driver bonuses or courier promotions and understanding their long-term behavioral impacts.
• Platform Regulation – Analyzing the economic trade-offs of policies like earnings guarantees, independent contractor status, or congestion pricing.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "If a city implements a cap on the number of ride-hailing vehicles, what is the expected impact on rider prices, wait times, and driver earnings?"
• "How would you design a research plan to demonstrate the value of flexible work to policymakers?"

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Behavioral

Your research is only valuable if it influences decisions. Uber evaluates your ability to work with product managers, legal counsel, and local policy teams. They are looking for candidates who can navigate conflicting priorities, manage external research partners, and deliver principled advice.

Be ready to go over:

• Stakeholder Management – Aligning different teams on a shared research objective and timeline.
• Communicating Complexity – Distilling complex econometric findings into clear, actionable talking points for non-technical audiences.
• Navigating Ambiguity – Taking a broad, poorly defined question from leadership and turning it into a structured research project.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex statistical concept to a non-technical stakeholder."
• "Describe a situation where your research findings contradicted the initial expectations of the business or policy team. How did you handle it?"

6. Key Responsibilities

As a Research Scientist on the Policy Economics team, your day-to-day work will span the full spectrum of applied research. You will frequently conduct internal analytical deep dives, querying large databases to extract insights on driver earnings, marketplace liquidity, and pricing dynamics. These deep dives often require rapid-response analyses to support Uber’s leadership during high-profile, fast-moving policy debates or regulatory inquiries.

You will also manage multi-year research collaborations with external partners, such as academic institutions or think tanks. This involves scoping the research, securely provisioning anonymized data, and ensuring the final output accurately reflects the realities of the platform economy. You will act as the primary liaison between these external researchers and Uber’s internal legal and technical teams.

Collaboration is a daily requirement. You will partner closely with in-country policy teams to develop research tailored to local regulatory contexts. Simultaneously, you will build deep relationships with product and operations teams, ensuring that the principled advice you provide is grounded in the actual mechanics of Uber’s core technology, such as matching algorithms and surge pricing.

7. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for the Research Scientist position at Uber, you must possess a strong foundation in quantitative methodology and a proven track record of independent research execution. The ideal candidate blends academic rigor with industry pragmatism.

• Must-have skills – A Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Economics, Statistics, or another highly quantitative field.
• Must-have skills – Minimum of 1 year of quantitative research or data science experience, demonstrating the ability to independently execute a research project.
• Must-have skills – Strong proficiency in SQL and either Python or R to work efficiently with data at scale.
• Must-have skills – Deep understanding of econometric methods, particularly causal inference and statistical modeling.
• Nice-to-have skills – A relevant PhD with a focus on labor economics, industrial organization, or platform economics.
• Nice-to-have skills – Prior experience working in tech, specifically dealing with two-sided marketplaces or gig economy dynamics.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience partnering with legal, policy, or communications teams to translate research into public-facing reports.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical is the coding portion of the interview? You are expected to be highly proficient in SQL and comfortable wrangling data in Python or R. While you won't face software engineering-level algorithmic puzzles (like complex LeetCode graphs), you must write clean, efficient queries and scripts to manipulate large datasets and run statistical models.

Q: Do I need a PhD to be hired for this role? While a PhD in Economics or a related field is highly valued and common on the team, it is not strictly required. Candidates with a Master's or Bachelor's degree who possess extensive, highly relevant industry experience in applied research and econometrics are evaluated and compensated commensurately.

Q: How should I prepare for the research presentation round? Select a past project where you had end-to-end ownership. Focus on the "why" and the "so what." Clearly explain the business or academic problem, justify your methodological choices (especially regarding causal inference), and explicitly state the impact or actionable insights generated by your work.

Q: What is the culture like on the Policy Economics team? The team operates at the intersection of rigorous academic research and fast-paced tech strategy. You will experience high autonomy and high visibility. The environment can be ambiguous and fast-moving, requiring you to be proactive, self-directed, and comfortable pivoting when regulatory landscapes change.

Q: Is this a remote role? The specific posting for the Policy Applied Scientist highlights a remote option, but Uber generally supports a hybrid model for many technical roles. Clarify location expectations, time zone overlaps, and travel requirements with your recruiter early in the process.

9. Other General Tips

• Master the Uber Context: Do not just study generic econometrics. Apply your knowledge to Uber's specific model. Understand the dynamics of a two-sided marketplace, spatial and temporal demand variations, and the unique labor economics of independent work.
• Structure Your Answers: When answering case studies or policy questions, use a structured framework. Start by clarifying the objective, identify the key metrics, propose a methodology, discuss data requirements, and finally, outline potential limitations and business impacts.

• Brush Up on SQL Window Functions: Uber's data is highly temporal and spatial. You will almost certainly need to use window functions (e.g., LEAD, LAG, RANK, SUM() OVER) to analyze driver behavior or trip sequences over time.
• Focus on Causal Inference over Machine Learning: While predictive ML models are used at Uber, the Policy Economics team is primarily focused on understanding why things happen and the causal impact of policy changes. Prioritize econometrics (DiD, IV, RD) over deep learning algorithms in your prep.

10. Summary & Next Steps

Interviewing for a Research Scientist role at Uber is an opportunity to showcase your ability to tackle some of the most complex, high-impact economic challenges in the tech industry. You will be evaluated on your rigorous approach to causal inference, your technical ability to execute at scale, and your talent for translating deep analytical work into clear, actionable policy strategy.

To succeed, focus your preparation on bridging the gap between theory and practice. Review your econometrics, practice writing efficient SQL and Python/R code, and refine your ability to communicate complex ideas to non-technical stakeholders. Remember that Uber values scientists who take ownership, navigate ambiguity with confidence, and deeply understand the mechanics of their two-sided marketplace.

The compensation data above provides insight into the typical salary range and equity components for a Research Scientist at Uber. Keep in mind that total compensation will vary based on your specific location, degree level (e.g., PhD vs. Master's), and years of relevant industry experience. Use this information to set realistic expectations and negotiate confidently when the time comes.

You have the analytical foundation and the research experience to excel in this process. Continue to practice your structured problem-solving and explore additional interview insights on Dataford to refine your approach. Stay confident, lean into your expertise, and approach each interview as an opportunity to demonstrate the unique value you will bring to Uber's Policy Economics team.