Principal Data Scientist, Operations

Mission Lane is combining the power of data, technology, and exceptional service to pave a clear way forward for millions of people on the path to financial success. By attracting top talent and leveraging cutting-edge technology, we’re enabling people to unlock real financial progress. Sound like a mission you can get behind? About the Role As a Principal Data Scientist, you will innovate and improve the machine learning models we rely on to make billions of dollars of efficient and accurate decisions and to enable financial progress for our customers. As a Principal Data Scientist, you’ll: Design, develop, and deploy machine learning models to solve practical problems and help our business and customers reach their financial goals. You’ll partner with business leaders and technical experts across the company to develop new data sources, improve our modeling methodology, and apply models with sound risk management. You are a person who: Has created, deployed, and managed supervised learning models in production systems for vital applications and enjoys being a technical mentor Has a PhD in a quantitative field and 3+ years of experience in a related role Has a BS / MS in a quantitative field and 7+ years of experience in a related role You share best practices for software engineering and can help smart, experienced data scientists with complex technical problems - especially operationalizing and evaluating models for real-world applications Considers themself a generalist data scientist more motivated by practical solutions than theoretical elegance Practices solid fundamentals with software engineering (test-driven development, code review, refactoring) and the PyData stack (numpy, scikit-learn, pandas, etc.) Is interested in a wide range of ML solutions, including established tools (e.g. Spark, Kubernetes, Airflow, MLFlow), emerging tools (like Chalk, BentoML, or DVC), and developing in-house tools You get bonus points for: Experience building predictive models end to end Experience solving problems in consumer lending or fintech Interest in developing ways to train, interpret, and deploy neural network architectures for time series classification tasks We’re offering: We’re committed to ensuring our team members have balance in their lives. Our comprehensive benefits package provides the support you need to thrive at work and at home. Work: An engaging culture with access to training programs and advancement opportunities Life: Full health, dental, and vision benefits, Flexible Spending Account (for medical and childcare expenses), paid parental leave, and a 401k Company Match Balance: Generous PTO, flexible schedules, a Calm App subscription, and more Compensation Annual full-time base salary range: $183,000 - 224,000 Additional compensation in the form(s) of participation in our annual incentive program and equity are dependent on role. Pay is based on factors such as work experience, education, certification(s), training, skills, and competencies related to the role. Mission Lane also offers a comprehensive benefits plan, which includes unlimited paid time off, 401(k) match, a monthly wellness stipend, health/ dental/ vision insurance options, disability coverage, paid parental leave, flexible spending account (for childcare and healthcare), life insurance, and a remote-friendly work environment. About Mission Lane: Founded in December 2018, Mission Lane is a purpose-driven fintech company based in the U.S., with headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. It all started with a realization: nearly fifty percent of the adult population in the U.S. doesn’t have access to a clear line of credit. Most traditional credit card companies either overlook or overcharge this group because they have less-than-perfect credit scores or no scores at all. We decided this just wouldn’t do. In partnership with our sponsor banks, we offer credit cards under the Mission Lane brand name, with better, clearer terms, and a more refined customer exp