Head of Data Science

iwoca Ltd; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

A financial technology company in London is seeking a Head of Data Science to lead data science teams and make data-driven decisions. This role requires strategic leadership, production experience, and a strong technical background. You will shape the direction of data science applications, ensuring team collaboration and commercial relevance. The ideal candidate will have experience in managing models in production and developing data science talent. Competitive salary and rich company culture offered.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Medical insurance

Private GP service

25 days' holiday plus additional leave options

One-month paid sabbatical after four years

Access to counselling services

3% pension contributions

Employee equity incentive scheme

Generous parental leave

Electric car and cycle to work schemes

Company retreats

Learning and development budget

Qualifications

• Experience setting data science strategy and aligning work with commercial goals.
• Managed the full lifecycle of models in production.
• Understanding of how modelling supports business decisions.
• Track record of hiring and developing data scientists.
• Evaluate analytical work for conceptual soundness.

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple data science teams guiding decision-making.
• Shape direction and team structure for data science work.
• Coordinate with engineering, product, and operations teams.
• Ensure modelling is commercially useful and communicated effectively.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Production experience

Commercial acumen

Team development

Technical background

Education

Background in probability, statistics, or related field

Job description

Head of Data Science

Hybrid in London, United Kingdom

Overview

We're looking for a Head of Data Science. You'll lead multiple data science teams whose work guides decision-making across lending, product, operations, and strategy. You'll shape how we work, ensuring that analytical insight directly influences the choices that matter most at iwoca.

The 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.

The team

iwoca's data scientists build probabilistic and statistical models that make lending decisions in real time, support forecasting and shape commercial strategy. Their work is deployed in production code and makes real-time lending decisions; it's more than exploratory analysis. Successfully leading iwoca's data science teams will require close collaboration with engineering, product, and commercial teams.

The role

As the Head of Data Science, you'll lead a group that focuses on rigorous, interpretable, and commercially useful modelling that is deployed, monitored, and maintained in production. You'll set direction, shape team structure, and ensure the function's work is grounded in commercial context and used by decision-makers across iwoca.

The group has approximately 25 data scientists, with most working in a central team and some smaller groups aligned to specific products or domains. You'll report to one of iwoca's co-founders, who is also a data scientist.

Strategic direction

You'll work with the team leads and senior data scientists who coordinate day-to-day work. You'll help them plan, sequence, and review projects and maintain consistent standards of reasoning, communication, and methodology. You'll help the teams decide where and how to apply their efforts - identifying where modelling adds value and where a lighter heuristic approach could be more effective.

Technical and people leadership

You'll oversee hiring and development, ensuring assessment, progression, and knowledge-sharing are fair, structured, and suited to a growing multi-team environment. You'll shape how data science is applied at scale - how uncertainty is communicated, how analytical support is allocated, and how the function directs its effort to the highest-value work.

Collaboration with engineering and business teams

You'll coordinate with Engineering, Product, and Operations teams so that projects are properly scoped, resourced, and aligned with wider priorities. You'll represent the function in discussions that shape lending, risk, and product decisions by explaining assumptions, highlighting risks, and helping senior stakeholders act on analytical insight.

Requirements

Essential

• Strategic leadership: You have experience setting data science strategy and aligning work with commercial goals. You can translate technical modelling for senior stakeholders, make assumptions explicit, and shape the decisions that follow.
• Production experience: You have managed the full lifecycle of models in production - deploying, monitoring, and retiring them. You are comfortable coordinating chains of model dependencies across different teams.
• Commercial acumen: You understand how modelling supports business decisions and know when to make trade-offs between depth, delivery time, and value.
• Team development: You have a track record of hiring and developing data scientists, and establishing consistent standards for planning, peer review, and methodology.
• Technical background: You have a background in probability, statistics, or a related quantitative field such as mathematics or physics and can evaluate analytical work for conceptual soundness.

Bonus

• Experience shaping an R&D or modelling agenda, including probabilistic or long-term forecasting work
• Experience in domains such as credit risk, lending, or customer lifetime value
• Experience representing a data science function externally (for example, industry events or publications)

The salary

We expect to pay from £120,000 to £170,000 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.

The 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.

The offices

We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a great place to work:

• Offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks.
• Events and clubs, like bingo, comedy nights, football, etc.

The 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 and development

• A learning and development budget for everyone.
• Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers.
• Access to learning platforms like Treehouse

Useful links

• iwoca benefits & policies
• Interview welcome pack.