Data Science Intern

About Upstart

At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.

As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.

We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.

If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you.

The Team

Machine Learning is at the heart of Upstart’s business model, our models are the product. Our team includes research scientists, data scientists, and machine learning engineers who build and improve production models and the systems around them across the funnel: underwriting and pricing, fraud detection, performance marketing, loan servicing  and fair lending/explainability. We tackle high‑impact problems, from underwriting and pricing to monitoring and fairness, where creativity, rigor, and strong engineering directly move the business.

The Role

As a Data Scientist Intern, you will leverage your technical and business acumen to become a specialist in our models, products, business and how the models interact with the business. You will identify potential problems or opportunities for improvement, communicate these issues to the team and suggest solutions. This involves self-directed investigation into Upstart’s data and product, offline analyses using creative thinking as well as presentation to the ML team. You will receive mentorship from experienced DS/ML practitioners and collaborate closely with ML scientists to improve our products and models via data-driven insights.

How you’ll make an impact

• Understand the underpinnings of ML models and how they create value for the business
• Identify data sources, use statistical methods and write clean code to conduct offline analyses about ML models and/or Upstart products
• Communicate findings clearly to get buy-in for recommended next steps.
• Work with your mentor to align stakeholders, and drive next steps.

Minimum Qualifications 

• Bachelor (or above) degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, or a related quantitative field. We require that you are on track to graduate by the summer of 2027.
• Strong fundamentals in statistical, probability, and machine learning theory.
• Ability to perform data analysis in Python, as well as basic SQL foundations.
• Ability to communicate data insights to non-technical audiences
• Strong sense of intellectual curiosity, humility, drive and teamwork, as well as communication skills.
• Ability to use modern agentic tooling (Claude Code, Codex, …) efficiently.

Preferred Qualifications

• Phd in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, or a related quantitative field. We require that you are on track to graduate by the summer of 2027.
• Expert-level statistical (frequentist, bayesian, causal) theory/econometrics knowledge.
• Strong coding skills in Python.

Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote 

Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

#LI-REMOTE

#LI-Internship<