Lead Risk Pricing Data Scientist

About Marshmallow

We started Marshmallow when we found out how unfair insurance prices are for people who move to the UK. All because the industry hasn’t given this huge cohort of people a second’s thought, and isn’t set up to price them properly. 

We saw an opportunity to do things differently, so we made it our mission to back the ones who step outside the norm. Since we started, we’ve helped 100,000s of people get a fairer deal on their car insurance. Using technology, we serve people that are often overlooked by financial services companies, solving important problems for people who need it most. 

We know there are millions of marginalised customers out there. And we know that they face unique problems that most companies aren’t even aware of. We believe that our future is helping these people by learning about their experiences, and building our company around their needs. And there are strong signs that there’s a need for a company like us. Earlier this year we hit profitability, which is a huge milestone, but the most exciting thing is that we’re only just getting started.

How we work

We’re really proud of the culture we’ve created. We push for progress every day, because we know that we’ll only hit big milestones by taking lots of smaller steps. We’re always open to helping our team mates, sharing our ideas, experience and knowledge to solve problems together. We take risks, think creatively and experiment relentlessly to meet our customer’s needs, and never pass blame when things go wrong. We encourage people at all levels to take ownership of their work, and to be bold in challenging how we do things. Everyone has a voice and the opportunity to make an impact. 

And autonomy and ownership are only possible with clear direction. That’s why we collaborate to do in-depth planning twice a year, and make sure we leave with clear goals and objectives that flow from top to bottom. To make sure we’re as aligned as possible across functions, most of our work rolls up into four tribes; Acquisition, Retention, Claims and Pricing, Underwriting & Fraud. Each tribe has multiple teams embedded in it, working cross-functionally to do great work.

We’re so excited for all of the challenges up ahead, and we need more people to help us tackle them! If life at Marshmallow sounds like it could be for you, explore our culture handbook or read our blog to find out more.

We’ve set up a small team which is building a new consumer credit product to market, and we are bringing all the same techniques which helped us price insurance to the credit space: bespoke underwriting and pricing systems, industry leading fraud algorithms and controls, and user-centric product design solutions.

We’re looking for a Lead Risk Pricing Data Scientist who will lead the development of our credit risk and pricing systems. This is a unique opportunity to shape a new system from the ground up, unencumbered by legacy systems or constraints. The Lead Risk Pricing Data Scientist will be a hands-on builder and help us develop a team over time. They will be part of a small team of engineers and product people, working independently from the wider business.

This role requires autonomy, drive, curiosity and collaboration.

What you’ll be doing:

• Designing, developing, and deploying innovative new pricing and underwriting models to price new to country migrants. Our target market requires genuinely innovative underwriting solutions, and so you will be a leader in designing these solutions, using data science techniques to price internal and external data sets

• Developing and owning robust risk monitoring and reporting processes to ensure we stay within appetite as we scale.

• Being a champion of data and solidifying data-driven processes within the team.

• Building a team of analysts and data scientists as we scale, and setting a culture of extremely high quality.

• The role reports to the GM of Marshmallow Credit

You should apply if:

• You have a bias for action. You are proactive at identifying opportunities and can unblock yourself to drive you and your team forward. You work hard and move at speed.

• You can be very hands-on. Working in a new vertical means that you’ll be working as the sole credit risk analyst initially. You’ll need to be comfortable owning and making decisions with little support and getting your hands dirty.

• You’re a strong communicator and facilitator and can comfortably prototype to explore and present your work.

• You are deeply challenging. You challenge how things are done, both externally and internally. You are a natural sceptic. 

• You’re a pioneer. You want to discover and scope new opportunities that may be uncharted territory. 

This isn't for you if

• You need top-down direction. You will be the most experienced credit analyst in the company and will be expected to lead the strategy yourself.

• You rely on a large team of doers. You should be excited by getting your hands dirty and designing the first systems and models yourself. 

What we're looking for from you:

Experiences that are essential

• Experience building innovative productionised credit risk models

• Experience directly leading or strongly contributing to credit risk strategies

• Strong coding ability in Python and SQL

• Experience using and deploying data science techniques

• Ability to manipulate large data sets

• 5+ years commercial experience

Experiences that will help you

• Experience working in cross-functional teams

• Experience in the car finance sector

• Experience working with thin file customers

• Experience working with open banking datasets

• Experience managing a team

• Experience in a high-growth company

Perks of the job:

• Competitive bonus scheme - designed to reward and recognise high performance 🌟

• Flexible benefits budget - £50 per month to spend on a Ben Mastercard meaning you get your own benefits budget to spend on things you want. Whether that’s subscriptions, night classes (puppy yoga, anyone?), the big shop or a forest of houseplants. Pretty much anything goes 💰

• Sabbatical Leave - Get a 4-week fully paid sabbatical after being with us for 4 years 🏝️

• Work From Anywhere - 4 weeks work from anywhere to use, with no need to come to the office 🛫

• Mental wellbeing support – Access therapy and mental health sessions through Oliva 💚

• Learning and development – Personal budgets for books and training courses to help you grow in your role. Plus 2 days a year - on us! - to further your skillset 🤓

• Private health care - Enjoy all the benefits Vitality has to offer, including reduced gym memberships and discounts on smartwatches 🏥

• Medical cash plan - To help you with the costs of dental, optical and physio (plus more!)

• Tech scheme - Get the latest tech for less 🖥

• Plus all the rest; 33 days holiday (including bank holidays), pension, cycle to work scheme, monthly team socials and company-wide socials every month!

Our process

We break it up into 3 stages:

• Initial call with Daniel, our Talent Acquisition Partner (30 mins)

• A culture interview with our General Manager, Faris, to see if your work style fits our processes and values (1 hour)

• A previous experience interview where you will discuss your journey so far and ways of working with Paul, our Director of Data Science & AI (45 minutes)

• We’ll let you know if you’re invited to an interview or not. But, as a small team with a lot of applications to consider, we can’t give personal feedback on each application.

Everyone belongs at Marshmallow

At Marshmallow, we want to hire people from all walks of life with the passion and skills needed to help us achieve our company mission. To do that, we're committed to hiring without judgement, prejudice or bias.

We encourage everyone to apply for our open roles. Gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or background does not affect how we process job applications.

We're working hard to build an inclusive culture that empowers our people to do their best work, have fun and feel that they belong.

Recruitment privacy policy

We take privacy seriously here at Marshmallow. Our Recruitment privacy notice explains how we process and handle your personal data. To find out more please view it here.