Data Scientist

Summary

Join Wave, a leading financial institution in Africa, and help us achieve our mission of making Africa the first cashless continent. As a Data Scientist, you will work on high-impact projects with millions of users, focusing on optimizing rewards programs and developing new initiatives. You will utilize advanced analytics and machine learning techniques, from simple heuristics to geospatial analysis and uplift modeling. This role demands a product-minded, hands-on approach, requiring you to define, implement, and deploy solutions in production. You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team, including engineers, data analysts, and product managers, to ensure your work has a positive impact on both users and the business. The position offers remote work flexibility and a competitive salary and benefits package.

Requirements

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field such as Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline
• 4+ years experience in applied data science or similar experience
• Demonstrated experience with data analysis, machine learning and product A/B tests
• Proficiency in applying machine learning methods to solve business problems
• Very strong Python skills with expertise in data manipulation, analysis and machine learning. Must be comfortable writing code that runs in production
• Competent in SQL
• Solid foundation in probability and statistics

Responsibilities

• Be part of a multidisciplinary team, working with engineers, data analysts, economists and a product manager
• Focus on advanced analytics and machine learning problems, delivering them end-to-end independently
• Prioritise work and shape your own approach in a way that maximises the positive impact on both users and the business
• Engage not just with business metrics, but also collaborate closely with Operations teams to understand the real-world outcomes and impact of your work

Preferred Qualifications

• A Master's or PhD is a plus
• Experience in using advanced analytics for optimising targeting, rewards or incentive programs is a big plus
• Thrive on spotting key problems and finding the fastest, most effective solutions
• Enjoy and excel at working on machine learning and statistics problems
• Quickly build and validate proof-of-concept solutions, refining based on real-world feedback
• Prefer pragmatic approaches but apply complex methods when the impact is worth it
• Work iteratively, knowing when a project is “good enough” to avoid over-polishing
• Communicate insights clearly to all audiences and make confident, data-driven recommendations

Benefits

• Subsidized health insurance for you and your dependents and retirement contributions (both vary from country to country)
• 6 months of fully paid parental leave and subsidized fertility assistance
• Flexible vacation, with most folks taking between 21-30 days exclusive of statutory holidays
• $10,000 annual charitable donation matching