Senior Data Scientist (Credit)

Moniepoint Group; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,700,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary

Pension

Health insurance

Monthly bonuses

Other benefits

Job summary

Moniepoint Group in Johannesburg is seeking a data-driven Senior Data Scientist to power consumer lending decisions at scale. You will build the models, experiments, and insights that shape how we acquire, underwrite, and retain millions of customers across Nigeria and Africa.

This role is pivotal in driving our pricing, credit limit modelling, and credit model deployment strategy in a growing business with unparalleled opportunities to give access to millions of customers.

Qualifications

• Degree or qualifications in a quantitative field (Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering or similar).
• 5+ years of experience in data science, decision science, or risk analytics within financial services.
• Proficiency in SQL and at least one modelling/programming language (Python, R).
• Experience with A/B testing, machine learning, collections modelling and churn management.
• Ability to translate complex analyses into clear recommendations for business stakeholders.
• High ownership mindset and comfort working in fast-paced, cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy credit scoring, affordability, and behavioural models to support underwriting, pricing, and collections
• Design and run experiments to optimise approval rates, loss rates, and profitability
• Partner with product squads to embed decision logic into real-time systems
• Ensure data quality, compliance, and ethical use of models across all decisioning processes
• Mentor product squads on best practices in experimentation and data-driven decision making
• Provide models to optimise outcomes in collections, churn management and user retention

Skills

Data science

SQL

Python

R

A/B testing

Machine learning

Churn management

Statistics

Education

Degree in quantitative field

Tools

SQL-based modelling

Job description

Who we are

Moniepoint is a global fintech building modern financial services for millions of people and businesses across high-growth markets. We provide payments, banking, credit, and financial management tools - reliable products that people and businesses use every day to run their lives, grow their companies, and move money safely.

Our mission is simple: to enable financial happiness for every African, everywhere. And this is day one. We’ve grown rapidly in Nigeria and the UK, and we’re now expanding our product, engineering, and analytics teams. Our work ranges from building financial infrastructure to designing intuitive customer experiences for emerging markets - solving real, meaningful problems at scale.

We onboard over a million new customers each month, process hundreds of billions of dollars in payments annually, and support tens of millions of users across our ecosystem. Our India team is a core part of this scale, with ~100 teammates based across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Gurgaon. You’ll work in a fast-paced, high-impact environment alongside experienced operators from companies such as Gojek, Tide, Amazon, Walmart, Paytm, BharatPe, Zeta, Delivery Hero, Grab, and Groupon. If you want to build at scale, work with one of Africa’s highest-volume fintech data sets, and ship products that materially impact tens of millions of users, this is an exceptional time to join.

About the role:

At Moniepoint, data is at the core of everything we do. We are a customer-centric company, and your work will enable our teams to make informed, data-driven decisions that directly impact the success of our business. We are seeking a data-driven, impact-oriented Senior Data Scientist to power Moniepoint’s consumer lending decisions at scale. You will build the models, experiments, and insights that shape how we acquire, underwrite, and retain millions of customers across Nigeria and Africa.

This role is pivotal in driving our pricing, credit limit modelling, and credit model deployment strategy in a growing business with unparalleled opportunities to give access to millions of customers. You’ll collaborate with our amazing Consumer Credit team and drive how we think about risk ranking, product offering, and data infrastructure to create the best personalised offers for our customers. You’ll be responsible for building our first suite of credit risk models and help drive a culture of how we should think about machine learning vs more traditional methods - bringing fresh thinking to inspire both the team and our customers.

Sitting at the intersection of data science, credit risk, and product, you’ll translate complex data into actionable decisions that drive growth with healthy portfolio performance.

Curious about what makes Moniepoint an incredible place to work? Check out posts on how we cultivate a culture of innovation, teamwork, and growth.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and deploy credit scoring, affordability, and behavioural models to support underwriting, pricing, and collections
• Design and run experiments to optimise approval rates, loss rates, and profitability
• Partner with product squads to embed decision logic into real-time systems
• Ensure data quality, compliance, and ethical use of models across all decisioning processes
• Mentor product squads on best practices in experimentation and data-driven decision making
• Provide models to optimise outcomes in collections, churn management and user retention

We would love to hear from you if…

• You’re comfortable with Statistics - and have a Degree or qualifications in a quantitative field (Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering or similar)
• You have +5 years of experience in data science, decision science, or risk analytics within financial services
• Working knowledge of credit risk, consumer lending, and regulatory considerations
• Proficiency in SQL and at least one modelling/programming language (Python, R)
• Experience with A/B testing, machine learning, collections modelling and churn management
• Ability to translate complex analyses into clear recommendations for business stakeholders
• High ownership mindset and comfort working in fast-paced, cross-functional teams

What we can offer you

• Culture: We put our people first and prioritize the well-being of every team member. We’ve built a company where all opinions carry weight and where all voices are heard. We value and respect each other and always look out for one another. Above all, we are human.
• Learning: We have a learning and development-focused environment with an emphasis on knowledge sharing, training, and regular internal technical talks.
• Compensation: You’ll receive an attractive salary, pension, health insurance, monthly bonuses, plus other benefits

What to expect in the hiring process

• A preliminary phone call with the recruiter
• A coding exercise on HackerRank - covering core data science theory (math, statistics, linear algebra) and Python fundamentals (data structures & algorithms).
• A take-home assignment
• A technical interview with a Lead in our Data Science Team to review your take-home assignment in depth
• A behavioural and technical interview with the hiring manager

Moniepoint is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and candidates.