Salary: £70k + share options

About us: Noggin HQ is an early-stage start-up, based in the North East, that recently closed a significant funding round with backers such as Bethnal Green Ventures (the original tech-for-good VC) and Oxford Capital. We're on a mission to make access to credit equitable and have recently launched our first product - a price comparison platform. We're passionate about building safe and affordable routes for people to access credit (especially for those currently excluded and underserved!). We're hiring a Lead Data Scientist (Credit Risk) who is motivated to take a new approach to credit referencing and use alternative data to derive results for people.

Your role: As one of Noggin's first hires, you will be responsible for a number of tasks to drive the business forward, including:

Owning the development of Noggin's alternative data credit default models.
Continuing work into more exploratory / novel approaches to credit default models.
Shaping the direction of Noggin's data strategy alongside the founders.
Developing and owning a continuous improvement programme of work.
Getting involved in future fundraising efforts and gaining exposure to the investor landscape.
Planning product integrations.
Robustly testing Noggin's credit default models and developing a defence of the approach that holds up to scrutiny from regulators.
Managing stakeholder relationships with key advisors.
Exploring ethical data practices.

Requirements: To really excel in this role, you will:

Be a talented credit risk professional, who has experience working at a Credit Reference Agency or ready to bring a strong finance background to the role.
Be comfortable with Python and the Python data science ecosystem: Pandas, NumPy, matplotlib, scikit-learn.
Have spark and big data experience.
Have some experience with AWS.
Have experience extracting features from time-series datasets.
Have the ability to present findings and analysis in a structured and well-thought-through way, particularly when addressing a non-expert audience.
Be ready and willing to both ensure Noggin meets its regulatory obligations and respond to challenges put forward by regulators about our approach.
Be hugely motivated to drive a better way to provide credit references, concerned about impact on people, and excited to try brand new approaches, despite challenges.
Be innovative and open minded.
Be commercially minded and focused on shaping / delivering against Noggin's business objectives.
Have a degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related field. Advanced degrees are a plus!

How we work: We have an office based in Newcastle upon Tyne where the founding team work daily. You are free to work flexibly and we're happy to adapt this job to best suit your needs, though we do really encourage candidates to apply who live in the North East.

Benefits:

100% female founding team.
Flexible working.
25 days holiday + bank holidays
Pension scheme
x1 personal development day per month
Noggin's climbing club 🧗
Your birthday day off 🎂

Why join Noggin HQ? Noggin believes totally in its mission: to make access to credit equitable. We are passionate about creating safe, accessible and affordable routes for people to access credit, and are excited to have the opportunity to reshape the credit industry. If you are equally energised by helping people, passionate about technology and love to solve unique challenges, please apply.

NB: we are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the people we want to serve. We're striving to build an inclusive workplace culture where all employees feel values. All applicants are welcome here.

Noggin HQ jobs

Lead Data Scientist - Credit Risk