Senior Data Scientist – Credit Modeling

In this role, you would be responsible for:
Building and refining credit scoring models to assess customer creditworthiness and default risk

Analyzing M-KOPA’s repayments data and other data sources to continuously improve our loan eligibility criteria while managing credit risk

Developing machine learning models for loan eligibility decisions and pricing optimization

Refining loan pricing based on credit analysis, predictive modeling, and customer behavior

Testing new types of loans to understand customer demand and credit performance through A/B testing and statistical analysis

Monitoring credit performance to detect risk shifts and quantify margin impact using advanced analytics

Testing the predictiveness of new data sets and feature engineering for enhanced model performance

Using Python, SQL, and other tools for data analysis and model development

Collaborating with data scientists to implement and scale machine learning models in production

This role can be remote or hybrid, but candidates must be located within our time zones (UTC -1 to UTC+3) to ensure effective collaboration with teams across our multiple locations.

Your application should demonstrate:
Several years of experience building predictive models, particularly credit scoring, risk models, or similar classification/regression problems

Strong machine learning background with experience in model development, validation, and deployment

Advanced statistical modeling and quantitative analysis skills, including experience with model evaluation metrics and performance monitoring

Proficiency in Python, SQL, and relevant ML libraries (scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, etc.)

Experience with 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

Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills

(Highly desirable) Experience in credit, underwriting, lending analytics, or fintech modeling

Credit accessibility and affordability are at the core of this role. You’ll join a small, high‑performing team where every day brings new modeling challenges and analyses that shape our lending strategy. If building models that can transform financial access for millions of African customers excites you, we’d love to hear from you.

If the above is of interest to you, please apply.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​