Data Scientist - Flex Pay

Upgrade; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health insurance

401(k) RRSP program

Flexible PTO

Growth opportunities

Parental leave

Wellness program

Job summary

Upgrade is seeking a highly analytical Data Scientist to join our Flex Pay BNPL team in San Francisco, hybrid on Wednesdays and Thursdays. You will build predictive risk models, optimize offers and pricing, and extract insights to drive product development, risk mitigation, and customer strategy.

You’ll work with cross-functional teams, leverage Python, SQL, and ML techniques, and stay current with fintech data science trends to deliver measurable business impact.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in a quantitative field such as data science, statistics, mathematics, CS or finance.
• 2+ years in data science/analytics, preferably in financial services.
• Experience with machine learning techniques (Random Forest, Gradient Boosted Trees) preferred.
• Strong Python and SQL proficiency; ability to document and present analyses.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain credit and fraud policy simulators to support risk decisioning.
• Develop and deploy statistical models and ML algorithms for risk, pricing, and customer analytics.
• Validate models and identify factors impacting performance.
• Analyze large structured and unstructured data using SQL, Python, and related tools.
• Collaborate with risk, marketing, product, and engineering to define data-driven strategies.

Skills

Python

SQL

Data analysis

Documentation

Education

MS/PhD in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Finance, or related quantitative field

Tools

Pandas

NumPy

Scikit-learn

PySpark

Tableau/Power BI

Job description

We are seeking a highly analytical and results-driven Data Scientist to join our buy now pay later (BNPL) sector called Flex Pay. You will play a key role in building predictive risk models, optimizing offers and pricing, and extracting insights that drive product development, risk mitigation, and customer strategy. This role requires a strong foundation in statistics, machine learning, and programming.

This position is based in our San Francisco office in a hybrid capacity, specifically on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

What You’ll Do

• Build and maintain credit and fraud policy simulators used to ensure properly functioning systems and identify risk decisioning enhancements.
• Build and deploy statistical models and machine learning algorithms to solve business problems in areas like credit risk, fraud detection, pricing, customer segmentation, and marketing attribution.
• Validate models to identify factors that may affect model performance.
• Analyze large, structured and unstructured datasets using SQL, Python or similar tools.
• Stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies in data science and fintech, actively research new tools and techniques available for model development.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including risk, marketing, product, and engineering to define data-driven strategies.

What We Look For

• Advanced Degree (MS/PhD) in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Finance, or a related quantitative discipline.
• 2 years of hands-on experience in a data science or analytics role, preferably in financial services.
• Experience and/or strong interest in machine learning techniques (Random Forest, Gradient Boosted Trees, etc.) strongly preferred.
• Strong proficiency in Python (Pandas, Numpy, Scikit-learn) and SQL.
• Ability to write documentation and present analysis to people with different levels of expertise (e.g., technical staff, business leads, etc.).
• Proactive, driven, and ability to work in a fast paced environment.

Nice to Have

• Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI).
• Experience with AI tools such as Claude
• Experience with data technologies like PySpark.
• Understanding of financial services concepts such as credit scoring, portfolio risk, or customer lifetime value.

What We Offer You

• Competitive salary and stock option plan
• Paid coverage of medical, dental and vision insurance
• Competitive 401(k) and RRSP program
• Flexible PTO
• Opportunities for professional growth and development
• Paid parental leave
• Health & wellness initiatives

The compensation range of this position in San Francisco, CA is USD $100,000-$120,000 annually plus equity and benefits. Within this range, an individual's base pay will be dependent on a variety of factors, including without limitation, job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience.