Data Scientist, Risk Analytics

Who we are 

M1 helps clients build and protect their wealth, day to day and for the long term. Our self-directed platform allows users to invest, borrow, spend and save in one place, using automation to power each user's unique personal strategy. Hundreds of thousands of clients trust us with over $6 billion in assets. As the Finance Super App™, we empower clients’ financial well-being through automated investing tools, industry-leading APY on high-yield savings accounts, paperwork-free margin loans, low-cost personal loans, and high cash back credit card rewards that can be automatically re-invested into your M1 portfolio. 

Our vision is to create a digital private banking experience, making the tools and services of the ultra-wealthy accessible with the click of a button. We've been named a top app for investors including 2023 Best for Low Costs and Best for Sophisticated Investors by Investopedia, 2023 Best Investment App for Porfilio Customization by Insider and one of the best Roth IRAs by Fortune. We have over 60,000 five-star reviews on the Apple App Store and Google Play.  

As a fast-growing fintech company, we’re looking for talented and smart individuals who are excited about rethinking what’s possible with personal finance, invested in their personal and professional growth, and eager to take ownership of their work. Our award-winning workplace culture has been recognized by Inc. (Best Workplaces 2022), Built In Chicago (2022 and 2023 Best Places to Work in Chicago), CB Insights (Top Fintech Companies of 2021), and the Chicago Tribune (2021 Top Workplace).  

We mean it when we say, “M1 is yours to build.”  

M1 is a remote forward organization and at this time is only able to hire in the following states: CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, MN, NJ, NY, PN, TX, UT,VA, OR, WA.

What we’re looking for   

M1’s Risk Analytics team is looking for a Data Scientist to assist in analysis and model development as well as deploying and maintaining code in our loan decisioning system. This position will primarily focus on our lending s products as well as analysis and modeling related to general fraud risk. 

The candidate will have the following or will have demonstrated the ability and willingness to learn the following: 

• A familiarity with financial mathematics. For example, you are familiar with present value calculations. You can understand and create a simple loan amortization table. 
• A strong familiarity with statistics and statistical analysis. For example, you are comfortable creating and interpreting linear regression models, or you are familiar with A/B testing and basic experiment design. 
• A strong familiarity with Machine Learning and predictive model development. 
• Production-level python coding and development skills. You can write clean, efficient code, unit test your code, and work with engineers to deploy the code in production environments. 
• An ability to grapple with complex business problems, interpret them into analytical problems, design build a solution, and work with cross-functional teams to put that solution to work. For instance, you can analyze fraud data and understand when a machine learning solution is warranted or when an analysis-informed rule set would suffice based on your measure of potential impact. 
• Writing skills sufficient to document models and processes for both internal stakeholders and external regulators and auditors. 
• Experience working with direct mailing campaigns, preferably in a financial services industry 

The Data Scientist is someone who has a deep understanding of Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning. The role will include work on descriptive analytics as well as building predictive/prescriptive models and deploying  those models into production. A successful Data Scientist has demonstrated experience understanding business problems, identifying where models can help solve those problems, building models, and working with teams to make sure those models have a high impact. 

What You'll Do  

This position is within M1’s Risk Analytics team and focuses on credit risk and loan pricing as well as fraud identification, prevention, and mitigation. This role will also assist with analyzing and informing direct mail campaigns for lending products. 

In this role you will: 

• Help determine loan pricing and underwriting strategies to balance growth and profitability: 
• Analyze the performance of past loan cohorts to estimate current and projected portfolio profitability. Analyze pricing relative to benchmarks and competitors. Help communicate results to stakeholders. 
• Improve M1’s loan pricing model using a combination of analysis-informed rule changes and predictive modeling. 
• Write python code to implement rule