Borrowing Data at Monzo

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2021 is going to be an exciting year for Monzo. Across the company we’re growing, making investments and rolling out new and better products for our 5 million customers. But two particular areas of Monzo are on the leading edge of this acceleration:  Borrowing  and  Data.

We have huge plans for this year, and we’re looking to hire our next cohort of talented and energetic Monzonauts to help make this vision into reality!

What is Borrowing Data?

💰  Borrowing is the Monzo team that runs our consumer lending business. We call ourselves Borrowing (rather than Lending) because that's what our customers do - they borrow money from us! Keeping the customer's needs in the centre of our focus is a crucial part of Monzo's philosophy.

At Monzo, our mission is to make money work for everyone. Within Borrowing, we help to achieve this goal by constantly innovating our products to make sure they are:

  • valuable and easy to use;

  • transparent and simple to understand;

  • inclusive across our diverse user base.

🤖  Data is a horizontal discipline at Monzo that covers all aspects of the data lifecycle: Data Engineering, Data Science, Analytics, Reporting and Machine Learning.

So  Borrowing Data, the intersection of these two larger teams, is the place at Monzo where we build, curate and report all of the information we need to run the Borrowing business. However it is also where we build and run the Credit Models we use to make lending decisions and measure risk, answering questions such as:

  • Who should we lend to? How much should we lend?

  • What are our expected losses for the next year?

  • What if another crisis hits? Do we have enough money in reserve?

We sometimes refer to ourselves as Borrowing Data & Credit, because we do both!

The Borrowing Data & Credit team (the llama standing next to Theo has a largely ceremonial role)

We’ve made a conscious choice in this team structure to keep Data and Credit together because in Borrowing they are vital to each others’ success: Data needs credit knowledge to provide insight and add value; Credit needs fast and accurate data to build high-quality models and make good decisions 📈

What roles are we hiring for?

Our current round of hiring is focused on two themes: new products and better models.

Director of Decision Science

This role is a keystone for both themes. We are looking for a new director to join us and lead our superb Decision Science team in building our next generation of credit decision models, navigating the data and analytical challenges of the Covid pandemic using the latest machine learning techniques. This person will also be central to achieving one of our longer-term goals: using predictive analytics to help customers improve their financial health and wellbeing.

Working on credit models at Monzo is a unique experience. Our data and engineering infrastructure allow us to quickly build solutions that are shipped to our 5M users. What excites me the most is our opportunity to innovate through data and serve all communities at Monzo, especially those with less access to good financial opportunities.

Valeria, Senior Decision Scientist

Credit Analyst Manager

We have two superb credit analyst managers in our team, one for each of our Borrowing products (Overdrafts and Personal Loans). We are currently developing new products which we hope to launch later in 2021, so we are looking for a third manager to join the team!

This role is all about analytical thinking and strong team management skills. This person will play a central role in helping to lead a cross-functional Product Squad, so it’s important that they can deliver high-quality credit thinking but also communicate well with a wide variety of different specialists from Product, Engineering, Marketing, Design and User Research.

Helping to lead a cross-functional product squad is an exciting and rewarding challenge. With credit analytics embedded within the Product Squad, we can ensure this insight is at the forefront of our decision making, resulting in a better product proposition and better outcomes for our customers.

Jeremy, Credit Analyst Manager

Credit Projects Manager

Moving to the better models theme, we are currently making big investments into our credit models and controls, particularly for IFRS9 Impairments. Our Impairments team is composed of highly skilled analysts and modellers; now we a looking to add an experienced project manager who can help to structure, organise and drive delivery in this area. Once the programme of work in Impairments is complete, this project manager will expand their horizons and tackle other large projects spanning across the whole of Credit.

Accurately forecasting losses as we grow is vital to the success of Monzo, and puts the Impairments team at the heart of our key strategic decisions. In a supportive culture that values collaboration, our project manager will drive through changes and improvements as we seek to optimise the accuracy, efficiency and innovation of our forecasts.

Scott, Head of Impairments

Capital & Forecasting team: Lead & Analyst

As the Borrowing business grows, so does our need to accurately forecast our performance and assess how much reserve capital we might need under a variety of macro-economic scenarios. Doing this well requires better models for Forecasting and Stress Testing, so we are creating a new Capital & Forecasting team to take on this challenge.

The team will consist of:

  • A Team Lead

    — this person will be our expert in capital and forecasting models and will drive methodology decisions, model build and presentation of results to Monzo’s Leadership team

  • An Analyst

    — this person will be a data and coding expert who can design, build and run our models. SQL and Python skills are a must-have

    [NB: This analyst role is not yet live on our jobs page; it is coming soon]

Running our portfolio capital forecasting is a really fun and intellectually challenging role. It requires understanding Monzo’s core customer base and how macro-economic scenarios can shape and impact our long term strategy. I work really collaboratively with the Product, Financial Planning, Impairments, and Regulatory teams to model scenarios to set Monzo’s capital requirements with the Executive and Board committees.

Himesh, Credit Analyst Manager

How can I apply?

All of these roles are posted on the Monzo careers page — you can find them under the Borrowing section. Simply click the relevant link and follow the instructions. The application consists of:

  • CV

  • Cover letter (optional)

  • Two application questions

You can also find information on the package of benefits offered to Monzo employees, which include: stock options, study leave, pension and parental/adoption leave.

We hope to hear from you soon! 🚀