Job Description

Join our Credit & Underwriting team! We're looking for a Senior Data Scientist who loves building machine learning models and solving ambiguous data problems. This is a fully remote data science role within a growing mission-driven fintech. You'll own the models that shape loan eligibility and pricing across 5 African markets. This is a small team with big responsibility, where your work directly shapes lending strategy for millions of customers. The Impact Your models will directly shape how millions of underserved customers access credit for the first time. We've already helped over 7 million customers access over $2 billion in credit, and we process over 1.5 million payments daily. It's your chance to be part of something that's literally transforming lives across an entire continent 🌍 🎯 Mission-driven data science: Build credit scoring and pricing models that expand financial access for customers traditionally excluded from formal lending 🏆 Global recognition: Join a company named by TIME 100 as one of the world's most influential and by the Financial Times as Africa's fastest-growing for 4 consecutive years (2022–2025) 🚀 Scale challenges: Work with rich repayment datasets across 5 African markets, developing ML models that balance growth with credit risk at scale 🌱 Environmental impact: We're carbon-negative, having displaced over 2.1 million tonnes of emissions

Requirements

Required Experience::

Experience building predictive models, particularly credit scoring, risk models, or similar classification/regression problems

Strong ML background with hands-on experience in model development, validation, deployment, and performance monitoring

Proficiency in Python, SQL, and relevant ML libraries (scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, etc.) with experience in feature engineering, model selection, and hyperparameter tuning

Experience translating complex model outputs into actionable business strategies and stakeholder communications

Ability to work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and commercial teams

Strong data communication skills — written, oral, and visual

Highly Desirable::

Experience in credit, underwriting, lending analytics, or fintech modelling

Responsibilities

Day to day, you'll be::

Building and refining credit scoring and risk modelling solutions that assess customer creditworthiness, default risk, and loan pricing across multiple markets

Developing and testing ML models for loan eligibility and pricing optimisation through A/B testing and statistical analysis

Continuously improving eligibility criteria by analysing repayment data, engineering new features, and monitoring credit performance for risk shifts and margin impact

Collaborating cross-functionally with engineers, data scientists, and commercial stakeholders to scale models into production

Technical Environment 💻:

Languages & Libraries: Python, SQL, scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, and relevant ML libraries

Techniques: Predictive modelling, classification/regression, feature engineering, model selection, hyperparameter tuning, A/B testing

Domain: Credit scoring, underwriting, loan pricing, risk analytics

Our Team Approach:

Low-ego environment where diversity, innovation, and collaboration drive both commercial growth and social impact

High degree of ownership over your domain — you're empowered to make data-driven decisions and prioritise solutions

Cross-functional collaboration with engineering, product, and commercial teams across multiple countries

Analytical rigour combined with deep market understanding to serve customers excluded from formal financial services

Benefits

Location & Benefits:

Fully remote Data Scientist role within UTC -1 to UTC +3 time zones

Work with diverse teams across UK, Europe, and Africa

Professional development programmes and coaching partnerships

Family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements

Well-being support and career growth opportunities

Our Impact 💚:

Connected 📱: 2.5 million first-time smartphone users connected

Prosperous 💰: 70% of customers use M-KOPA products for income generation, with 35,000 livelihoods created for agents

Green 🌱: 2.1 million tonnes of CO₂ avoided through clean energy products, with over 127,700 circular economy products provided

Senior Data Scientist - Credit Eligibility

Job Description

Stop applying into silence.

Requirements

Responsibilities

Benefits

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