Senior Data Scientist - Credit (Remote)

About the job • We're looking for a Senior Data Scientist who loves building predictive models and solving ambiguous data problems. • You'll own the models that shape loan eligibility and pricing across 5 African markets. • This is a small team with big responsibility, where your work directly shapes lending strategy for millions of customers. • The Impact Your models will directly shape how millions of underserved customers access credit for the first time. • We've already helped over 7 million customers access over $2 billion in credit - and we process over 1.5 million payments daily. It's your chance to be part of something that's literally transforming lives across an entire continent

The Opportunity • Mission-driven data science: Build credit scoring and pricing models that expand financial access for customers traditionally excluded from formal lending • Global recognition: Join a company named by TIME 100 as one of the world's most influential and by the Financial Times as Africa's fastest-growing for 4 consecutive years (2022–2025) • Scale challenges: Work with rich repayment datasets across 5 African markets, developing ML models that balance growth with credit risk at scale • Environmental impact: We're carbon-negative, having displaced over 2.1 million tonnes of emissions

What You'll Do • At M-KOPA, you'll build and refine the predictive models that power our lending strategy. • You'll sit within a small, high-performing team with end-to-end ownership of credit scoring, loan eligibility, and pricing optimisation — working cross-functionally with engineers, analysts, growth managers, and commercial stakeholders across multiple countries. • Join us in combining cutting-edge data science with purpose-driven work that makes digital and financial inclusion possible across Africa.

Day to day, you'll be: • Building and refining credit scoring models that assess customer creditworthiness, default risk, and loan pricing across multiple markets • Developing and testing ML models for loan eligibility and pricing optimisation through A/B testing and statistical analysis • Continuously improving eligibility criteria by analysing repayment data, engineering new features, and monitoring credit performance for risk shifts and margin impact • Collaborating cross-functionally with engineers, data scientists, and commercial stakeholders to scale models into production.

What You Need • Credit accessibility and affordability are at the core of this role. • You'll join a small, high-performing team where every day brings new modelling challenges and analyses that shape our lending strategy. • If building models that can transform financial access for millions of African customers excites you, we'd love to hear from you.

Required Experience: • Experience building predictive models, particularly credit scoring, risk models, or similar classification/regression problems • Strong ML background with hands-on experience in model development, validation, deployment, and performance monitoring • Proficiency in Python, SQL, and relevant ML libraries (scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, etc.) with experience in feature engineering, model selection, and hyperparameter tuning • Experience translating complex model outputs into actionable business strategies and stakeholder communications • Ability to work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and commercial teams • Strong data communication skills — written, oral, and visual.

Highly Desirable: • Experience in credit, underwriting, lending analytics, or fintech modelling.

Technical Environment: • Languages & Libraries: Python, SQL, scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, and relevant ML libraries • Techniques: Predictive modelling, classification/regression, feature engineering, model selection, hyperparameter tuning, A/B testing • Domain: Credit scoring, underwriting, loan pricing, risk analytics.

Our Team Approach: • Low-ego environment where diversity, innovation, and collaboration drive both commercial growth and social impact • High degree of ownership over your domain — you're empowered to make data-driven decisions and prioritise solutions • Cross-functional collaboration with engineering, product, and commercial teams across multiple countries • Analytical rigour combined with deep market understanding to serve customers excluded from formal financial services.

Benefits • Fully remote role within UTC -1 to UTC +3 time zones • Work with diverse teams across UK, Europe, and Africa • Professional development programmes and coaching partnerships • Family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements • Well-being support and career growth opportunities.

Application Closing Date Not Specified.

How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates should: Click here to apply online

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