Data Scientist - Lending Strategy DE (Team Germany)
Hybrid in London, United Kingdom
Company
Small businesses move fast. Opportunities often don’t wait, and cash flow pressures can appear overnight. To keep going, and growing, SMEs need finance that’s as flexible and responsive as they are. That's why we built iwoca. Our smart technology, data science and five-star customer service ensures business owners can act with the speed, confidence and control they need, exactly when it's needed. We’ve already cleared the way for 100,000 businesses with more than £4 billion in funding. Our passionate team is driven to help even more SMEs succeed, through access to better finance and other services that make running a business easier. Our ultimate mission is to support one million SMEs in their defining moments, creating lasting impact for the communities and economies they drive.
Function
iwoca's Data Scientists specialise in supervised machine learning, statistical inference and exploratory data analysis, focusing on tabular and time series data. Our work emphasises quantitative predictions through the analysis of conditional probabilities and expectations, using medium-sized datasets.
Team
Since launching in Germany in 2015, we have provided instant working capital to thousands of SMEs across the region. We have issued more loans than all alternative lenders combined in Germany - and we’re just getting started. The Lending Strategy Team plays a critical role for the success of the German business, collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate growth while ensuring we remain within desired risk appetite levels. This team is responsible for setting and developing the lending strategy end to end for existing and new product initiatives.
Role
Model Development
* Drive the exploration and integration of innovative modelling methods into our training pipeline to enhance the predictive power and flexibility of credit risk models.
* Manage the end‑to‑end model lifecycle, from training and validation through to deployment and ongoing performance monitoring.
* Partner with Data Scientists and Analysts across teams to ensure proper consumption of model predictions and to effectively manage model interdependencies.
Model‑driven insights
* Effectively use our modelling and analytics tools (and add new ones where appropriate) to discover insights. Such insights may be a learning about how our customers behave or the efficacy of a new modelling technique.
* Communicate these insights with the broader business to drive value by changing the way iwoca operates.
Project ownership and autonomy
* Independently build data science solutions to iwoca's business problems and be on a trajectory with increasing responsibility in solution design.
* Maintain strong communications with stakeholders throughout your work to ensure that your solutions are pragmatically solving the business problem at hand and to get technical feedback for personal growth.
Requirements
* Expertise in probability and statistics, gained through a quantitative field such as Mathematics, Physics, Statistics or similar.
* Ability to understand business context and translate data into actionable insights that guide decisions.
* Proficiency in Python (e.g., pandas, NumPy, SciPy, statsmodels) or R for data analysis and model development.
* Ability to work autonomously and manage projects end to end, from framing the question to delivering outcomes.
* Ability to communicate clearly in writing and speech, adapting technical detail to suit different audiences.
Bonus
* Understanding of Bayesian statistics, including experience or interest in applying hierarchical Bayesian models.
* Experience building credit risk models or other topics in quantitative finance (e.g., pricing).
* Experience building machine learning models from scratch, including creating custom optimisers.
* Knowledge of stochastic processes and related mathematical techniques.
* Experience working with Python, our primary programming language.
Salary
We expect to pay between £55,000 – £65,000 for this role. But we’re open‑minded, so definitely include your salary goals with your application. We routinely benchmark salaries against market rates, and run quarterly performance and salary reviews.
Culture
At iwoca, we prioritise a culture of learning, growth, and support, and invest in the professional development of our team members. We value thought and skill diversity, and encourage you to explore new areas of interest to help us innovate and improve our products and services.
Offices
* Offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks.
* Events and clubs, like bingo, comedy nights, football, etc.
Benefits
* Flexible working hours.
* Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership.
* A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents.
* 25 days’ holiday per year, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave.
* A one‑month, fully paid sabbatical after four years.
* Instant access to external counselling and therapy sessions for team members that need emotional or mental health support.
* 3% pension contributions on total earnings.
* An employee equity incentive scheme.
* Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money.
* Electric car scheme and cycle to work scheme.
* Two company retreats a year: we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield.
Learning & Development
* A learning and development budget for everyone.
* Company‑wide talks with internal and external speakers.
* Access to learning platforms like Treehouse.
Compensation Range
£55K – £65K
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