Job Description: First Data Science Hire

Salary: $150K - $210K Location Type: Remote Employment Type: Full-Time

Position Overview

Join an early-stage startup as our first data science hire! We are seeking an action-oriented individual passionate about leveraging data to drive better product and marketing decisions. This role is crucial for establishing and scaling our data science foundation as the business grows.

About Kovo

Kovo is transforming financial access for underserved Americans, believing everyone deserves the opportunity for economic independence. Our innovative financial empowerment platform creates pathways to credit and financial inclusion, empowering individuals traditionally excluded from financial opportunities.

We have achieved significant growth, scaling revenue 10x and improving efficiency 5x over the past two years. Our revenue per employee exceeds the 90th percentile benchmark for startups. Kovo is a venture-scale company that has achieved positive free cash flow early in its lifecycle, allowing for accelerated momentum without dependency on venture funding. We are looking for exceptional individuals to help us scale another 10x and beyond.

Kovo is backed by Inspired Capital and Homebrew, along with founders and leaders from prominent companies such as Plaid, Cash App, Affirm, NerdWallet, Ramp, Alloy, MoonPay, Uber, Etsy, LendingClub, Column, Carbon Health, and Grindr.

About You

• Energized by establishing data-driven capabilities for a business focused on financial empowerment for millions of underserved individuals.
• Comfortable in a high-intensity role with an ambitious workload (expect more than a 40-50 hour workweek).
• Thrive in a remote work environment.
• Possess 5+ years of prior experience in data science, with specific experience applying analytics and modeling techniques to accelerate and enable decision-making for marketing and product initiatives.
• Motivated to use AI, automation, and data tools in your day-to-day work to push the boundaries of what a single individual can achieve.
• A self-starter who thrives in ambiguity, handles shifting priorities fluidly, and works effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Expert in data analytics, SQL, Python, and statistical modeling techniques.
• An excellent communicator.

Responsibilities

As our first data science hire, you will have a significant impact on the company's data strategy and execution. Your responsibilities will include:

• Collaborating closely with marketing to enhance acquisition strategies through predictive modeling and advanced analytics.
• Developing, testing, and deploying robust machine learning models and analytics tools to solve complex business and marketing problems.
• Analyzing the customer journey to identify areas for improvement in customer acquisition and retention.
• Establishing and improving end-to-end processes and frameworks for data-driven decision-making, from data exploration and experimentation to production deployment.
• Building and maintaining scalable data pipelines and infrastructure in collaboration with engineering.
• Continuously evaluating and improving model performance, identifying new opportunities for enhancement.
• Creating intuitive dashboards and reports to clearly communicate insights across teams.
• Utilizing relentless curiosity to dive deep into data, formulate insightful questions, and uncover patterns and opportunities.
• Rapidly calibrating and refining intuition and instincts through a tight question/answer feedback loop.
• Having input into long-term data design decisions and helping establish the data science foundation for the entire company.

Why You Might Be Excited About Us

• Directly impact millions of underserved individuals’ ability to access credit.
• Work with minimal bureaucracy, significant ownership, and have broad impact.
• We don't micromanage and will set you up to do your best work.

Why You Might Not Be Excited About Us

• We’re a small team; roles and responsibilities evolve quickly.
• Priorities and projects shift as we learn and adapt.
• We’re still building our infrastructure and processes.