Head of Risk Data Science

Join our small, fiery team on a mission to usher in the Bitcoin golden age.

About Shakepay

Shakepay is reimagining financial services to give every Canadian their fair shake, by making it bitcoin-friendly, secure, and rewarding. When Shakepay launched in 2015, it quickly became one of Canada’s fastest-growing financial institutions. Backed by top venture funds having raised $44M+ and trusted by over one million Canadians and counting. People who choose careers at Shakepay are helping shape a future of financial freedom, opportunity, and prosperity for all Canadians.

Head of Risk Data Science

As the Head of Risk Data Science, your role is pivotal in Shakepay’s journey. As we continue to add more products and features, your role will be to make sure that our customer experience remains delightful, while managing downside risk. This position demands not only an adept understanding of data science methodologies and state-of-the-art tools but also a keen product intuition and a passion for enhancing user experiences while managing risk effectively. Working hand-in-hand with product managers, engineers, and designers, you will harness the power of data to shape, innovate, and optimize our risk decisioning processes and underwriting models.

You will

• Work with large and complex data sets to identify and solve challenging problems related to customer actions and risk decisioning with various analytical and statistical approaches.
• Develop and refine models for risk assessment and underwriting to enhance decision-making processes and ensure robust risk management.
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and set success and guardrail metrics for risk management.
• Engage in deep partnership with Product Managers to align risk decisioning efforts with strategic business goals and communicate findings with senior management.
• Manage controlled experiments (i.e., A/B/n tests) from design, data tracking and instrumentation, impact sizing, audience selection, and results analysis.
• Collaborate with other data practitioners to share knowledge and participate in the evolution of Shakepay’s internal data platform, tooling and culture.
• Conduct ad hoc investigations and make evidence-based recommendations that drive improvements in risk management and underwriting optimization.
• Stay updated with industry trends and advancements in data science, risk decisioning, and underwriting to continually enhance Shakepay’s capabilities.

Must have

• Minimum of 5+ years of work experience in data science or analytics.
• Strong understanding of risk management and underwriting in a fintech context.
• Technical proficiency in one of Python or R in a data science context and SQL.
• Ability to develop and optimize risk decision algorithms.
• Experience in experiment & A/B/n test design and analysis.
• Experience conducting deep-dive statistical analysis (modeling, causality, regression, etc.).
• A demonstrated ability to manage and deliver on multiple projects with cross-functional teams and a high attention to detail.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills. Ability to distill nuanced statistical findings accurately to a business audience is critical.
• Knowledge of effective data visualization principles, tools, and techniques.
• Some familiarity with dbt (our data transformation tool).

Nice to have

• Experience with experimentation platforms like Statsig (we use it), Optimizely, Kameleoon, or others.
• Startup experience is a big plus, bonus points for B2C fintech experience.
• Experience working with cloud data warehouses (we use Snowflake).
• Interest and enthusiasm for the possibilities enabled by Bitcoin and non-sovereign money.

Why join? 

• Be part of a groundbreaking journey: you'll live on the frontier of financial innovation. Bitcoin is rewriting the rules, and Shakepay is at the forefront.
• Impact and scale: with only 2% of Canadians on Shakepay, the potential for growth is massive. You can help us bring Shakepay and bitcoin to all Canadians.
• Rewarding benefits: we offer competitive compensation (every shaker owns stock options), benefits (health, dental, paramedical, disability, etc), and generous vacation time.
• Embrace continuous learning: ambitious individuals with an insatiable thirst for knowledge will feel at home. Working at Shakepay means you'll be working in an environment that encourages constant growth and development.
• Get paid in bitcoin: choose to take a percentage of your salary in the hardest, soundest money the world has ever known.
• Work remote: work from anywhere in Canada. If you're in Montreal or Toronto, you can also work from our offices.

We understand that potential can be just as valuable as experience. If you're eager to learn, grow, and contribute to the mission but worry that you may not have the “right” experience, we still want you to apply. We encourage applications from everyone, regardless of background and life experience. We’re firm believers that a little bit of slope makes up for a lot of y-intercept.

Fluency in English is required due to the percentage of English-speaking customers and the nature of our platform, which is available to all Canadians.

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