Senior Data Scientist- Hybrid (Permanent) in London

LondonData Science – Data Science /Employee - Permanent /HybridOur StoryHello there. We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don't like about finance and does the opposite. We're redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre — we've built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Follow us on Instagram @zopalifeThe team Our Data Science team helps Zopa make better credit decisions. We are growing a dedicated, product-facing data science capability focused predominantly on credit. The team will help rebuild and expand the models that support consumer-credit decisions, while increasing the sophistication of how we model risk, value and outcomes. A day in the life Take ambiguous credit-related questions from stakeholder discussion through to practical modelling and analysisBuild, improve and maintain models that support consumer-credit decisionsWork on flagship risk models and broader value-driver models, including revenue, profit prediction and customer lifetime valueUse Python and sound statistical judgement to develop classification and regression solutionsPartner with Credit Strategy to understand priorities and create useful, well-framed solutionsCollaborate with Product and Engineering to sequence work and support productionisationExplain technical choices clearly, build consensus where views differ and help move decisions forwardOwn your problems and delivery, while contributing to a low-ego team that works togetherAbout you You have hands-on data science experienceBring practical Python and Git capabilityUnderstand common statistical-learning models and machine-learning algorithms for classification and regressionHave sound statistical fundamentals, including hypothesis testing and experimental designCan independently take an ambiguous problem from discussion to a useful model or analysisCommunicate clearly and confidently with technical and non-technical stakeholdersBuild alignment when there are differing views, and enjoy working collaboratively to move things forwardAre curious, practical and comfortable operating with limited hand-holdingWork effectively across business, Product and Engineering partnersAdded bonus Experience in consumer credit, lending, credit cards or a closely related credit-risk domainExposure to sequence-based deep-learning or transformer-style modelsExperience building production-grade Python microservicesAt Zopa we value flexible ways of working. We value face-to-face collaboration and a good work-life balance. This hybrid role requires you to come to our London office 2-3 days a week. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. Our approach to AI in interviewsAt Zopa, AI isn't something we're testing out — it's part of how we work every day. As a proud partner of Jobs 2030, we're committed to building AI fluency across our workforce, and we expect Zopians to use AI as part of how they do their jobs. Because of that, we want to be transparent about how we think about AI use during our hiring process. Behavioural and competency-based interviews: please don't use AI. An AI-generated answer can't tell us that. Some technical stages actively welcome AI use, others don't. Your Talent Partner will let you know what's expected at each stage. Where AI is part of the assessment, we'll be interested not just in the outcome, but in how you used it – the tools you chose, your reasoning, and the decisions you made along the way.