Job Description

DATA SCIENTIST | ACORNS

At Acorns, we're building a financial wellness system that enables everyday Americans to save and invest every day. We are transforming the category and recruiting a team that is relentless at fulfilling our mission. The Acorns team comes together every day to deliver a revolutionary product to its customers, the up-and-coming. If you thrive in an environment where you can push yourself beyond all previous thresholds of possibility, come join us at Acorns.

Acorns is actively seeking a motivated, detail-oriented, and solution-focused Data Scientist. This position will reside in the Data Science group, which serves as the central data science team for the company. The team is responsible for developing and using mathematical modeling, data mining, and machine learning techniques to be agents for good by helping look after the financial best interests of the up-and-coming.

The Acorns Data Science group is focused on solving problems that directly affect customers, including recommendation engines, fraud prevention, and customer intention inference. But these aren't Kaggle-type problems; we operate with urgency and often with imperfect data. We know that solving problems with data is an art and a science. Data Scientists at Acorns are as good at communicating and collaborating as they are at building models and writing code.

At Acorns, Data Scientists have broad latitude around data and you will collaborate with groups including: Analytics, Engineering, Product Management, Marketing, Operations, Risk, and Business Development.

This role has the option to be remote or based in our Irvine or New York offices.

You are not expected to have experience with all listed requirements. If you feel passionately about Acorns' mission, vision and values, please apply. 

WITHIN 1 MONTH, YOU WILL:

• Learn Acorns products, data warehouse, and how data fits into the products.
• Discover new opportunities to apply data science concepts to the portfolio of products.
• Present findings to the Data Science team members.
• Interact with multiple teams.

WITHIN 3 MONTHS, YOU WILL:

• Have established architecture and implementation for an intelligence-driven product feature in a data-rich environment.
• Made production quality code commits into the team's repository.
• Contributed to the broader team's success by offering ideas and constructive feedback to other team member's projects.
• Proposed novel ML research directions that will eventually power new products.

WITHIN 6 MONTHS, YOU WILL:

• Collaborated with the Product Management team to plan projects and recommend areas for the next generation of Acorns products.
• Partnered with Engineering teams to deliver data science solutions into the product with proper API design.
• Be able to responsibly represent the Data Science team with other departments.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING TO ACORNS:

• Empathy for our customers' financial situations and the desire to help our customers in need of personalized products and services.
• The ability to uphold the values of transparency, honesty, and support for the team.
• An ability to explain complex problems in a simple way.
• Capability to build algorithms that touch statistics and machine learning.
• Knowledge of scalable and efficient methods for large scale data analysis and model development.
• Pride in your work

REQUIREMENTS:

• BS in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Physics, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 3-4+ years experience in working with noisy real world structured and semi-structured data.
• Python or Scala, with related statistical and machine learning packages.
• Background in data mining, machine learning, statistical analysis, or mathematical modeling, with experience deploying models in a production environment.
• Experience with A/B testing methodologies and experiments.
• Hunger for impact, drive, and creativity
• Strong SQL abilities and experience with massive relational database systems.
• Able to take a complex, ambiguous topic and turn it into a defined problem that answers the business question we are trying to solve.
• Excellent communication skills

BONUS

• MS or PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics, Physics, Engineering or other quantitative field. 
• Experience writing production quality, version controlled code.
• Knowledge of basic macroeconomic concepts.
• A belief that your work is tied to your life's mission.
• Optimistic about the potential of societal change.

WHAT WE OFFER:

• Competitive salary and stock options.
• A comprehensive benefits package to meet the needs of you and your family.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Numerous career possibilities that allow you to grow with Acorns.
• Talented and motivated team members who care deeply about one another, our mission and our customers.
• The rare opportunity to create a new world. We inspire one another every day to do meaningful work that solves big societal challenges.

ABOUT ACORNS:

Acorns is the leading micro-investing app in the U.S. It allows users to round up their daily purchases and automatically Invest the Change® into a low-cost, diversified portfolio of exchange-traded funds offered by some of the world's top asset managers (including Vanguard and BlackRock). Founded in Newport Beach, Calif., by father and son team Walter and Jeff Cruttenden, Acorns provides a simple entry-point using the Acorns app on iPhone or Android. Customers accumulate fractional shares in one of five portfolios constructed by world-renowned Nobel Laureate economist Dr. Harry Markowitz. Acorns' smart portfolio algorithms automatically work in the background of life, helping users build wealth naturally, pennies at a time. From Acorns mighty oaks do grow.

MISSION:

With benevolence and courage, we look after the financial best interests of the up-and-coming; beginning with the empowering step of micro-investing. 

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION:

Acorns believes diversity, equity and inclusion are fundamental obligations that strengthen our team. We need a diverse, multi-disciplinary team to build a meaningful company and culture. 

VALUES:

• Lead with heart
• Make bold decisions
• Always build trust
• Never stop growing
• Find a way