Data Scientist - New Applications

iwoca; Camden Town; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company in Camden Town is seeking a data scientist to optimise customer journeys. The role involves identifying opportunities, designing experiments, and mentoring team members. Strong analytical skills and a background in quantitative fields are required. Offering a competitive salary and various benefits including flexible working hours and a generous holiday policy.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Medical insurance

Private GP service

25 days' holiday plus options

Paid sabbatical after four years

Equity incentive scheme

Qualifications

• Strong problem-solving skills from a quantitative background.
• Ability to understand business context and translate data.
• Understanding of experimental design is required.

Responsibilities

• Work with the team lead to maximise customer value.
• Design and run experiments to test business opportunities.
• Mentor team members in data and product analysis.

Skills

Problem-solving in probability and statistics

Data into actionable insights

Experimental design understanding

Data manipulation and modelling tools

Ownership and driving projects

Clear communication

Education

Degree in Mathematics, Physics, Statistics or similar

Tools

Pandas

Statsmodels

R

Job description

Overview

The New Applications team optimises the customer journey, from the moment a customer enters the signup flow until our systems have enough information to generate an offer. By identifying and implementing the most efficient ways to convert prospects into successful applicants, the team maximises the number of businesses that get our best possible offers.

Team Remit

• Optimise the customer journey: Make it easy for potential customers to go from just ‘brand aware’ to enthusiastic applicants.
• Strategise customer assessments: Decide how and when we run credit checks to maximise conversion rates.
• Promote data efficiency: Continually improve how iwoca collects information from both applicants and third‑party sources, minimising how long customers wait for a decision.

The Role

As a data scientist on the New Applications team you will work closely with the team lead in identifying opportunities and developing strategies for maximising the value we gain from customers who arrive on our signup. This will require you to develop a deep understanding of our customer journey and the dynamics that influence customer lifetime value. You will quantify these opportunities based on past data or modelled assumptions and design and run experiments to test them. You will be the champion of analytical rigour within the team, ensuring that our experimental designs are correctly defined, our models are evolving and optimised for impact, and that we evaluate results rigorously and without bias. You will also mentor and guide data and product analysts on the team.

Key Projects

• Design, implement and review experiments that test the impact of giving instant decisions to different customer segments.
• Work alongside the team lead and collaborate with other teams to develop an optimised strategy for deciding what documents we request from customers, including building, implementing and maintaining predictive models.
• Evaluate and experiment with integrating an LLM chat assistant into the sign‑up journey, optimising for conversion and data quality.
• Improve and maintain time‑series models that predict our loan issuance numbers and other financial metrics.

Required Skills

• Strong problem‑solving skills in probability and statistics, ideally from a quantitative background (e.g., Mathematics, Physics, Statistics or similar fields).
• Ability to understand business context and translate data into actionable insights that guide decisions.
• Understanding of experimental design.
• Proficiency with data manipulation and modelling tools, e.g. pandas, statsmodels, R.
• Ability to take ownership of tasks and drive projects forward, developing towards end‑to‑end responsibility.
• Ability to communicate clearly in writing and speech, adapting technical detail to suit different audiences.

Bonus

• Proficiency in Python, our primary programming language.
• Machine learning model development and evaluation experience.
• Experience with SQL and business intelligence tools such as Looker.
• Understanding of Bayesian statistics.
• Experience building or maintaining data pipelines. Snowflake/dbt experience is particularly valuable.
• Experience using LLM APIs in a production environment.

About iwoca

Imagine a world where every small business has the power to thrive. That’s the world we’re building at iwoca. Since 2012, we’ve revolutionised how businesses access finance, turning once lengthy, frustrating processes into fast, flexible, and actually working solutions. We have provided billions in funding to more than 150,000 businesses across Europe and we’re on a mission to empower one million businesses with the financial tools they deserve.

Locations

• 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 also offer a learning and development budget for everyone and company‑wide talks with internal and external speakers.

Salary

We expect to pay from £70,000 - £90,000 for this role. 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.