Self Financial

Principal Data Scientist

Austin, Texas, United States

Not SpecifiedCompensation
Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Financial Technology, FintechIndustries

Principal Data Scientist

Position Overview

Self Financial is a venture-backed, high-growth FinTech company with a mission to increase economic inclusion and financial resilience by empowering people to build credit and build savings. We are looking for people who share our passion and are driven to tackle challenges, find solutions, and make the financial space better for the communities we serve. Our team is passionate about challenging the status quo of the credit industry by providing people accessible tools to take control of their credit. Executing on our mission requires deep collaboration across our teams to ensure our products reach the people who can benefit from them the most, particularly the 100 million+ Americans who have no or low credit. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To that end, we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.

About the Role

We are looking for a hands-on Principal Data Scientist to join our Analytics & Data Science team. Your mission is to drive significant business value and innovation by spearheading our most critical machine learning initiatives and establishing a center of excellence for the data science practice. This is more than a modeling role; you will be a thought leader and a key driver in our journey to operationalize advanced analytics. Your work will directly influence customer growth, product strategy, and marketing effectiveness, tangibly impacting our revenue and our customers' financial lives.

Responsibilities

As a hands-on leader, you will own high-impact initiatives from concept to production, setting the standard for how data science creates value at Self. Examples include:

  • Revolutionize Marketing & Partnership Strategy: Spearhead the development of predictive LTV and customer quality models for our core products. Your work will enable robust, timely budgeting and optimization decisions, directly improving Marketing ROAS.
  • Engineer the Next Best Action & Communication: Partner with Lifecycle Marketing and Product to architect our next-generation recommendation engine. You will develop models that determine the optimal action, message, channel, and frequency to improve customer activation and success, serving as the core of our lifecycle channel optimization.
  • Predict and Prevent Customer Churn: Design and deploy models that predict which new members are at risk of becoming inactive and build comprehensive models to predict churn across the entire customer lifecycle, enabling proactive retention strategies.
  • Lead with an AI-First Mindset: Champion an AI-first approach to advance our analytical capabilities and business productivity. You will be responsible for identifying and spearheading the development of high-impact AI solutions, from creating innovative, customer-facing features to building internal tools that accelerate company-wide decision-making.
  • Maturing A Center of Excellence: Be the catalyst for maturing our data science capabilities. You will partner closely with leaders in Credit Risk, MLOps, and Architecture to define and implement company-wide standards, reusable patterns, and best practices for the entire ML lifecycle.

Who You Are

  • A Builder and a Strategist: You are equally comfortable architecting a multi-year technical vision and getting your hands dirty coding the solution. You embrace ownership and drive initiatives to completion.
  • Connect Your Work to Business Impact: You have a proven track record of developing ML models that deliver measurable revenue growth and customer value. You care deeply that your work creates meaningful change.
  • Thrive in Ambiguity: You are an expert at navigating complex, open-ended problems and carving a clear path to a solution. You are comfortable in a fast-paced environment where you have the autonomy to make key decisions.
  • Are a Force Multiplier: You are an excellent communicator who can...

Company Information

Self Financial is a venture-backed, high-growth FinTech company with a mission to increase economic inclusion and financial resilience by empowering people to build credit and build savings. We are passionate about challenging the status quo of the credit industry by providing people accessible tools to take control of their credit. Our work requires deep collaboration across teams to ensure our products reach the people who can benefit from them the most, particularly the 100 million+ Americans who have no or low credit. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Employment Type:

(Information not provided)

Location Type:

(Information not provided)

Salary:

(Information not provided)

Skills

Machine Learning
Data Science
Predictive Modeling
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Operational Analytics
Product Strategy
Marketing Analytics

Self Financial

Online platform for credit score improvement

About Self Financial

Self Financial helps individuals build or rebuild their credit scores through online services and a mobile app. Their main products are Credit Builder Loans and the Self Credit Card. A Credit Builder Loan is a small loan that is secured in a certificate of deposit (CD), where monthly payments are reported to credit bureaus to help establish a positive credit history. Once the loan is paid off, the borrower can access the funds in the CD, turning payments into savings. The Self Credit Card requires an upfront deposit and also reports monthly payments to credit bureaus. Unlike traditional credit unions, Self Financial operates entirely online, making it accessible to tech-savvy users and those without access to conventional banking. The goal of Self Financial is to help clients improve their credit scores, enabling them to qualify for loans and other financial products while generating revenue through fees associated with their services.

Austin, TexasHeadquarters
2015Year Founded
$124.1MTotal Funding
SERIES_ECompany Stage
Fintech, Financial ServicesIndustries
501-1,000Employees

Benefits

Company Equity in the form of RSUs
Quarterly performance-based bonuses
Generous employer-paid health, vision, & dental insurance coverage
Flexible vacation policy
Educational assistance
Free gym membership
Casual dress code
Team building events and activities
Remote work arrangements/ flexible work schedule
Paid parental leave

Risks

Competition from traditional banks offering similar services could erode market share.
High outbound migration from high-tax states may affect customer base in those regions.
Integration challenges from RentTrack acquisition could impact service delivery and satisfaction.

Differentiation

Self Financial offers online credit-building tools, appealing to tech-savvy consumers.
The company provides unique services like reporting rent payments to credit bureaus.
Self Financial's Credit Builder Loan turns loan payments into savings, differentiating it from competitors.

Upsides

Increased consumer interest in credit-building tools expands Self Financial's potential customer base.
Partnership with Regions Bank enhances customer acquisition through expanded credit reporting services.
Appointment of CEO Julie Szudarek could drive strategic growth and expansion.

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