Data Scientist

About Origence

With 30 years at the forefront of fintech innovation, we specialize in SaaS lending solutions that lead the industry. Our core mission is customer-centric, focusing on empowering Credit Unions across the United States with the tools to offer accessible, competitive lending services. We're deeply committed to enhancing the financial ecosystem for a broad network of credit unions, members and auto dealers. We invest in our greatest assets, our employees, and foster a culture of innovation and ownership through freedom and responsibility. We celebrate fiscal accountability, operational rigor and efficiency to create a sustainably healthy and robust business for the long term.

About You

You are a self-driven, conscientious, fiscally responsible, self-aware, passionate and compassionate professional. You are comfortable with ambiguity, eternally curious, and love problem solving. You operate as an owner and work with a growth mindset. You are extremely productive on your own, and act as a multiplier collaborating with others. You are tireless in questioning the status quo and pursue the best answers to the hardest problems to the benefit of the business. Your focus is strong and capable of context switching and pivoting with the business. In the vacuum of leadership, you assume it.

We are seeking an experienced AI/ML Data Scientist to join Origence's AI team and lead the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence solutions for our lending technology platform. The successful candidate will design and deploy advanced ML models, implement AI-driven automation across our lending processes, and spearhead the integration of generative AI technologies to enhance our digital lending solutions for credit unions and community banks.

This role offers the opportunity to work at the forefront of AI in fintech, building production-scale machine learning systems that process millions of lending decisions while exploring emerging AI technologies like large language models and computer vision for document processing.

What You’ll Be Doing

AI/ML Model Development & Deployment

• Design, develop, and deploy advanced machine learning models for real-time credit decisioning, and document processing.
• Build and optimize neural networks for fraud detection, loan default prediction, and customer lifetime value modeling using TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar frameworks
• Implement automated machine learning (AutoML) pipelines to streamline model development and hyperparameter optimization
• Create natural language processing solutions for loan application analysis, customer service automation, and regulatory compliance monitoring
  
  

AI Infrastructure & MLOps

• Build and maintain scalable ML infrastructure using cloud platforms (Primarily Azure, but can extend to AWS, GCP)
• Implement MLOps best practices including model versioning, continuous integration/deployment, and automated monitoring
• Develop A/B testing frameworks for ML models to measure performance and business impact in production
• Create automated model retraining pipelines and drift detection systems
  
  

Generative AI & Emerging Technologies

• Research and implement generative AI applications for loan document processing, customer communication, and risk assessment reporting
• Develop retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems for intelligent customer support and regulatory compliance assistance
• Explore large language model fine-tuning for financial domain-specific applications
• Investigate federated learning approaches for privacy-preserving model training across multiple financial institutions
  
  

Collaboration & Communication

• Create data visualizations, dashboards, and reports to communicate findings to product teams, risk management, and executive leadership
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including product development, risk management, and engineering to define analytical requirements and KPIs for lending products
• Present complex financial analyses to diverse stakeholders, translating technical findings into business-actionable insights
  
  

Experimentation & Optimization

• Design and conduct A/B tests to optimize loan application processes, approval rates, and customer experience across Origence's digital lending platform
• Implement statistical testing methodologies to measure the impact of product changes and business initiatives
• Continuously monitor and improve model performance and accuracy
  
  

Education

The Ideal Candidate:

• Master's degree or PhD in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Statistics, or related technical field
  
  

Experience

• 4+ years of hands-on experience developing and deploying ML models in production environments, preferably in financial services or fintech
• Proven track record of building end-to-end ML systems from research to production deployment
• Experience with both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques, deep learning, and reinforcement learning
  
  

Specialized Skills

Technical Skills

• Expert-level proficiency in Python and ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM)
• Strong experience with cloud ML platforms (Primarily Azure, but can extend to AWS, GCP)
• Proficiency in MLOps tools and practices (MLflow, CI/CD for ML)
• Experience with big data technologies (Spark, Kafka, Airflow) and distributed computing
• Knowledge of SQL, NoSQL databases, and data engineering principles
• Familiarity with model interpretation techniques (SHAP, LIME) and explainable AI methods
  
  

AI/ML Specializations

• Experience with transformer architectures, attention mechanisms, and large language models
• Knowledge of computer vision techniques for document processing and image analysis
• Understanding of natural language processing, text mining, and sentiment analysis
• Familiarity with generative AI models (GANs, VAEs, diffusion models)
• Experience with time series forecasting and sequential modeling techniques
  
  

Domain Knowledge

• Understanding of loan origination principles and lending industry metrics
• Knowledge of common financial ratios, loan performance indicators, and risk assessment methodologies
• Awareness of regulatory environment affecting consumer and commercial lending
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced AI/ML Experience

• PhD in Machine Learning, AI, or related field with publications in top-tier conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, etc.)
• 6+ years of experience building production ML systems at scale in fintech, banking, or related regulated industries
• Experience leading AI research initiatives or managing ML engineering teams
• Track record of patents or open-source contributions in AI/ML
  
  

Cutting-Edge AI Technologies

• Hands-on experience with foundation models, prompt engineering, and LLM fine-tuning (GPT, BERT, T5, etc.)
• Knowledge of multi-modal AI systems combining text, vision, and structured data
• Experience with federated learning, differential privacy, and privacy-preserving ML techniques
• Familiarity with quantum machine learning or neuromorphic computing approaches
• Understanding of AI ethics, bias detection, and fairness in ML systems
  
  

Technical Leadership

• Experience with MLOps at enterprise scale, including model governance and risk management
• Knowledge of edge AI deployment and model optimization for mobile/embedded systems
• Background in distributed training, model parallelism, and large-scale inference systems
• Familiarity with AI accelerators (GPUs, TPUs, specialized AI chips) and performance optimization
  
  

Why You Should Apply

• Flexible Working Environment
• Paid Time Off
• 401k (8% match)
• College Tuition Benefits/ Tuition Reimbursement
• Good Benefits options
• Company Culture! Cultural and Holiday celebrations, Theme days like Star Wars Day & Bring your Kids to Work Day, Monthly Townhalls and Quarterly Company Meetings that ensure awareness, inclusion, and transparency.
  
  

The starting salary range for this full-time position in Irvine, CA is $147900 - $184900 per year. This base pay will take into consideration internal equity, candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge and experience among other factors. Origence maintains a highly competitive compensation program. Under company guidelines, this position is eligible for an annual bonus to provide an incentive to achieve targeted goals. Bonuses are awarded at company’s discretion on an individual basis.

Origence is an equal opportunity employer. All recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, benefits, discipline, and other terms and conditions of employment will be based upon an individuals’ qualifications regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, military service, marital status, pregnancy, age, protected medical condition, genetic information, disability or any other category protected by federal, state or local law.