Senior Data Scientist

Summary

Join Oportun's growing team of Data Scientists and contribute to our mission of broadening financial inclusion. You will develop and enhance core intellectual property used in risk scoring for underbanked consumers. This role involves working with large, diverse alternative datasets, utilizing machine learning and statistical modeling to build scores and strategies for risk management, collection/loss mitigation, and fraud. You will also drive growth and optimize marketing spend by leveraging alternative data to predict consumer interest in Oportun's loan product. The position requires strong analytical, technical, and communication skills, along with experience in machine learning and data pipeline development. Oportun offers a fast-paced, agile environment and the opportunity to make a significant impact.

Requirements

• A relentless problem solver and out of the box thinker with a proven track record of driving business results in a timely manner
• Master’s degree or PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering or Economics or other quantitative discipline (Bachelor’s degree with significant relevant experience will be considered)
• Hands on experience leveraging machine learning techniques such as Gradient Boosting, Logistic Regression and Neural Network to solve real world problems
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with data extraction, cleaning, analysis and building reusable data pipelines; Proficient in SQL, Spark SQL and/or Hive
• 3+ years of experience in leveraging modern machine learning toolset and programming languages such as Python
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong stakeholder management and project management skills
• Comfortable in a high-growth, fast-paced, agile environment

Responsibilities

• Develop data products and machine learning models used in Risk, Fraud, Collections, and portfolio management, and provide frictionless customer experience for various products and services Oportun provides
• Build accurate and automated monitoring tools which can help us to keep a close eye on the performance of the models and rules
• Build model deployment platform which can shorten the time of implementing new models
• Build end-to-end reusable pipelines from data acquisition to model output delivery
• Lead initiatives to drive business value from start to finish including project planning, communication, and stakeholder management
• Lead discussions with Compliance, Bank Partners, and Model Risk Management teams to facilitate the Model Governance Activities such as Model Validations and Monitoring

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with AWS EMR, Sage-maker or other cloud-based platforms is a plus
• Experience with HDFS, Hive, Shell script and other big data tools is a plus