Head of Risk Data Science

At Shakepay, we’re on a mission to usher in the Bitcoin golden age. We’re reimagining financial services to give every Canadian their fair shake.

Our culture is built around doing work that matters, winning as a team, and celebrating success. If you’re the kind of person who values growth, shipping fast, and sharing your ideas openly with a group of like-minded people, come and build with us!

About Shakepay

Since 2015, we’ve been building the Shakepay app to make buying and earning bitcoin fast, easy, and secure. In 2022, we launched the Shakepay Card, allowing shakers to earn bitcoin rewards when they shop. Today, more than one million Canadians use Shakepay to grow their bitcoin savings and take control of their financial future. 

We’re regulated across all Canadian provinces and territories, and backed by renowned venture capitalists with a funding of $44M. We have a passionate, loyal, and growing community, and we’re looking for people who want to help us build something truly special.

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.

What you’ll be doing 

• 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.

Who we’re looking for

• 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).

Bonus points

• 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 us?

• Help shape the future of money: Be part of a team that’s revolutionizing financial services in Canada, one sat at a time.
• Impact millions: As cryptocurrency continues to gain traction, our potential for growth is massive. You can help us bring Shakepay and Bitcoin to all Canadians.
• Grow your career: We’re growing, and so can you! We have programs in place to encourage continuous learning, growth, and development.
• Ideas, not titles: We want the best ideas to make their way through, no matter where they come from.

Perks and benefits

• Competitive compensation and stock options: Get rewarded with competitive pay and join our employee stock option plan.
• Health benefits from day 1: Access to comprehensive health and dental coverage, including health and wellness spending accounts. 
• Remote-friendly: Work from anywhere in Canada, with optional access to our office spaces in Montreal and Toronto.
• Learning and development: A $2,000 annual budget for courses, certifications, and training to support your career growth.
• Time off: 20 days of vacation per year. And if you use all your vacation, we give you a $1,000 bonus.
• Parental leave: Enjoy a parental leave top up to 100% of your salary for 18 weeks.
• Home office setup: A MacBook, a $1,200 budget for home office improvements, and a monthly stipend for home and internet expenses.
• Salary in bitcoin option: Choose to receive your salary in bitcoin – the soundest money to ever exist.
• Team and company offsites: Whether team-specific or company-wide, these events offer a great chance to connect and collaborate in person. 

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.