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About Upstart
Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload.
Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas.
Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!
The Team:
Upstart’s Revenue Science team is responsible for building models to optimize our borrower/lender marketplace. Our current focus is on modeling borrower rate sensitivity to optimize how we set fees and target returns to optimize Upstart’s business objectives while satisfying various capital constraints. There is also a borrower <> lender matching system that we believe has major optimization opportunities. We are currently interested in predicting competitive rates to improve our pricing competitiveness.
Senior Data Scientist:
As a Senior Data Scientist at Upstart, you will design, implement, and analyze experiments to understand how borrowers respond to changes in the loan terms we offer them and measure the business impact of our attempts to optimize those loan terms. You’ll do regular deep dive analyses to understand why we’re seeing what we’re seeing and to assess the potential opportunities of optimizing new areas of the marketplace. You will regularly communicate with product managers and the business to explain your results, understand their concerns and interests, and partner with them to come up with novel analyses to answer as yet unanswered business questions.
Senior Research Scientist:
As a Senior Research Scientist at Upstart you will work on optimizing our models through feature and architecture improvements, building new models for novel use-cases, and building decision systems based on these models to optimize our marketplace performance. You will collaborate with product, engineering, and other scientists and communicate your approach and results to both technical and non-technical audiences, and contribute positively to the team’s culture.
How you’ll make an impact [Data Scientist]
- Conduct detailed analysis and make recommendations to improve our models or our business
- Design, run, and analyze A/B tests and other experiments
- Write clean, readable code to execute reproducible analyses
- Develop and socialize approaches in collaboration with other scientists and cross-functional stakeholders
- Communicate and socialize findings to get buy in for recommended next steps
How you’ll make an impact [Research Scientist]
- Independently execute ML modeling and research projects, both to improve existing models and develop entirely novel models for new use cases
- Develop and socialize approaches in collaboration with other scientists and cross-functional stakeholders
- Write clean, production quality code to train and deploy our models
- Communicate and socialize findings to get buy in for recommended next steps
Minimum Qualifications [Both]
- Strong academic credentials with a master's degree in statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, or other quantitative areas of study
- Knowledge of causal inference techniques and experimentation
- Programming skills in Python
- Proficiency in a broad array of mathematical, statistical learning and machine learning concepts and applications
- Ability to proactively and effectively communicate results and methodologies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Strong sense of intellectual curiosity balanced with humility, drive and teamwork
- Experience solving real-world machine learning problems at a tech company
- Experience working as part of a diverse, cross-functional team.
Preferred Qualifications
- PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, or other quantitative areas of study
- Experience with forecasting, especially demand forecasting
- Experience working on pricing systems
- [DS] Expertise in causal inference and experimentation
- [RS] Expertise with causal ML techniques
- [RS] Full-stack expertise with all steps of the modeling process from ideation to productionalizing code; OR deep expertise in either statistical modeling or machine learning
- [RS] Knowledge of MLops, pipelines, and engineering architecture
Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote
Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.
What you'll love:
- Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
- 401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
- Life and disability insurance
- Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
- Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
- Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
- Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
- Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices
#LI-REMOTE
#LI-Associate
At Upstart, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the below range. Your actual base pay will depend on your geographic location–with our “digital first” philosophy, Upstart uses compensation regions that vary depending on location. Individual pay is also determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
In addition, Upstart provides employees with target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k).
Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to ensuring that underrepresented classes receive better access to affordable credit, and are just as committed to embracing diversity and inclusion in our hiring practices. We celebrate all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, and know that we can only become better together.
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email [email protected]
https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy
Upstart Austin, Texas, USA Office
Upstart's office in Austin overlooks a waterfront park, Auditorium Shores, in the trendy Bouldin Creek neighborhood. With views of the Austin skyline, the office serves as a hub for our sales teams. The workspace is also available to ATX Upstarters seeking an in-office experience.
What you need to know about the Austin Tech Scene
Key Facts About Austin Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 180,500; 13.7% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
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- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, hardware, cloud computing, software, healthtech
- Funding Landscape: $4.5 billion in VC funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Live Oak Ventures, Austin Ventures, Hinge Capital, Gigafund, KdT Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Silverton Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: University of Texas, Southwestern University, Texas State University, Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Texas Advanced Computing Center
