Upstart Hiring For Manager, Machine Learning at Seattle, WA, United States Full Time

Job Description

About Upstart

Upstart is a leading AI lending platform partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. As we transitioned to being a public company, we’re now poised to leverage our domain expertise and revolutionize every aspect of lending and credit risk evaluation. We’ve recently expanded our offerings to include automobile refinancing and we plan to take on more verticals as the business grows.

By leveraging Upstart’s AI platform, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. Upstart’s patent-pending platform is the first to receive a no-action letter from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau related to fair lending. Upstart not only supports a large remote workforce, but also has offices in San Mateo, CA; Columbus, OH; and Austin, TX.

Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!
The Team

Upstart’s Machine Learning team has a direct impact on our company’s success. The team consists of full-stack generalists as well as specialists in research, data science, statistical modeling and machine learning in each of our locations.

The fundamental goal of the Machine Learning team is to explore new models and new data sets that can improve the accuracy of our models. With this goal comes near-limitless challenges to tackle, and that is one of the reasons why Upstart is such a unique opportunity.

The Role:

The ML Integrity Research team at Upstart is focused on research and development related to the integrity of our models. This includes ensuring that our models work safely and reliably, while minimizing the likelihood of unintended behavior. This function is essential for Upstart to ensure that our models are compliant, robust, and are able to engender trust with a variety of external stakeholders, including lending partners, investors, and consumers.

How you’ll make an impact:

As the Manager of the ML Integrity Research team, you will be responsible for leading a team of research scientists whose core responsibilities include:

• Leading a team of 4-5 research scientists tasked with maintaining and improving Explainability methods for our ML models, including our methodology for providing Adverse Action Notices
• Expanding our internal research into machine learning methods for enhancing fairness metrics, and other Fairness topics
• Collaborating closely with our Legal, Compliance and Government Affairs teams as non-technical stakeholders, and also working closely with our Machine Learning and Model Engineering groups as a whole

Location:

• Position Location – This role is available in the following locations: Columbus, Austin, San Mateo or Remote
• Time Zone Requirements – This team operates on either the East or West Coast time zones.
• Travel Requirements – This team has regular on-site collaboration sessions. ML Managers can anticipate working in either HQ 3 days/week 6 times/year. Since this is a leadership position, a few additional travel dates may be possible for onsite collaborations with other teams. If you need to travel to make these meetups, Upstart will cover all travel related expenses.

What we’re looking for:

• 5+ years of experience in research science/machine learning with people leadership experience and an interest in guiding and building an elite ML applied research team
• Academic credentials with advanced degree(s) in statistics, machine learning, mathematics, computer science or other quantitative areas of study
• Quantitative thought leadership with a detailed understanding of building sound technical solutions with ability to galvanize a technical team into solving a problem, breaking large projects into smaller pieces to meet deadlines; ability to convert ideas into testable hypotheses and/or next steps
• Experience with all steps of the modeling process from ideation to productionalizing code
• Comfort with programming in Python
• Passion for mentoring with the ability to deliver constructive feedback to bring out the best in a team and help direct s grow in their careers
• Business acumen with strong written and verbal communication skills given the role’s interaction with stakeholders in Legal and Compliance
• Strong sense of intellectual curiosity balanced with humility, drive and teamwork
• Ability to operate at a speedy pace in research or implementation
• Numerically-savvy and smart, with an appropriate tolerance for risk
• Enthusiasm for and alignment with Upstart’s mission and values

Preferred Experience:

• Prior experience and/or strong passion for AI Explainability and Fairness
• Knowledge of machine learning, pipelines and engineering architectures
• Background working with teams in multiple locations
• Experience in product-based technology companies or in roles where data science directly impacts a company’s bottom line (for example, high stakes quantitative trading or hedge funds)

The minimum base pay for this position in Colorado is $155,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Base pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This information is provided in accordance with the Colorado Equal Pay Act. It is specific to Colorado and may not be applicable to other locations.

(#LI-REMOTE)

Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to ensuring that underrepresented classes receive better access to affordable credit, and are just as committed to embracing diversity and inclusion in our hiring practices. We celebrate all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, and know that we can only become better together.

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