Senior Data Scientist - Credit in Belfast

We're looking for a Senior Data Scientist who loves building predictive models and solving ambiguous data problems. 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.

The Opportunity

• 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.

What You'll Do

At M-KOPA, you'll build and refine the predictive models that power our lending strategy. You'll sit within a small, high-performing team with end-to-end ownership of credit scoring, loan eligibility, and pricing optimisation — working cross-functionally with engineers, analysts, growth managers, and commercial stakeholders across multiple countries. Join us in combining cutting-edge data science with purpose-driven work that makes digital and financial inclusion possible across Africa.

Day to day, you'll be:

• Building and refining credit scoring models 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.

What You Need

Credit accessibility and affordability are at the core of this role. You'll join a small, high-performing team where every day brings new modelling 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.

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.

Location & Benefits

• Fully remote 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 Mission

We make financing for everyday essentials accessible to everyone. We strive to drive greater inclusion of women, youth, and low-income communities.

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.

Ready to build models that create real-world financial inclusion while advancing your career in data science? Apply now.

Why M-KOPA?

At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritise well-being, and embrace flexibility. Join us in shaping the future of M-KOPA as we grow together.