Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Varo
$140-180k
Fee-free online banking platform
Job no longer available
Fee-free online banking platform
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
$140-180k
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To improve the financial health of our customers through better technology and total transparency.
Role
Who you are
- If you are interested in working with an impressive team of Software and Machine Learning engineers who collaborate and challenge each other and want to solve interesting problems to propel the company’s growth, apply now!
- Must be proficient in a JVM language (Java, Kotlin, Scala) — technical interview will be in one of these languages
- Bachelor's degree (or foreign equivalent) in Computer Science, Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Mathematics, Physics, or a related field & 3 years of experience involving machine learning systems and model building
- Strong programming and software engineering skills
- Experience with some of the following technologies: Java/Kotlin, Python, gRPC, Terraform, Spring, AWS (Sagemaker, Glue), Kubernetes, Airflow, Spark, databases (DynamoDB, Postgres, Athena), Kafka, Docker, ML tools/frameworks (Keras, Tensorflow, SparkML, pandas, scikit-learn, etc.), Grafana, Kibana
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams (e.g. making complex ML concepts easy to understand, getting buy-in from stakeholders, getting and giving feedback to teammates, etc.)
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Mathematics, Physics, or a related field is preferred
What the job involves
- The Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) engineering team at Varo is passionate about helping customers improve their financial lives with modern state-of-the-art AI and ML technology with fairness, accountability, and explainability embedded into it
- You’ll join the team that improves user engagement and revenue generation by leveraging machine learning, cloud platforms and big data to combat fraud, improve member experience, create user recommendations and much more
- Build feature pipelines/embeddings for batch and real-time data
- Add functionality for the data science team to improve model training, evaluation, and batch inference at scale
- Build and deploy production ML models (model training, batch and real time inference)
- Improve model monitoring and alerting
- Work on services that are implemented in Python and Java/Kotlin
- Accelerate ML development as the team scales up alongside Varo’s increasing adoption of ML solutions
- Design, implement, and own APIs and integrations between our ML model inference services and the company’s broader engineering systems
- Design, develop, and advocate for ML platform observability, scalability, security, and performance
- Work in a cross-functional capacity with data science, product, and business stakeholders
- Solve problems in many different areas, including risk, fraud, lending, engagement, operations, and customer acquisition
Our take
The traditional banking system leaves many US citizens underserved, with some minority groups struggling to access accounts. Varo is one of many companies offering no-fee, high-interest accounts, as it takes on the traditional banks - with additional features such as a rewards program and access to early paychecks.
With many young customers distrustful of traditional banks, Varo has capitalised on this sentiment and grown to serve more than 7 million customers. It has a number of competitors such as Chime and Step, and it's also in competition with established traditional brick-and-mortar banks. However, as the first consumer fintech to be granted a national bank charter in the US, the company is at the front of the fintech revolution with a path to future success.
In response to economic uncertainty, the bank was forced to take cost-reduction measures throughout 2022. The effect has been positive, with a drastic reduction in its burn rate, which had been a primary concern. One point of interest is a shift in marketing strategy that has seen Varo focus more on growing the number of customers using it as their main bank, as opposed to growing overall user numbers. The company also has a new tech unit named "Varo Tech".
Kirsty
Company Specialist
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
-12% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Feb 2023
$50m
LATE VC
Sep 2021
$515m
SERIES E
Total funding: $1.0bn
Company benefits
- Health, dental, vision insurance
- Free life coaching and counseling
- 401k
- Office snacks and drinks
- Flexible PTO
- Company and team outings
Company values
- Customer first: Understand problems our customers are trying to solve. Respond with a sense of urgency. Build relationships that result in loyalty. Be data and insights-driven. Test everything. Achieve results through strong execution. Build a product people love.
- Take ownership: Have a bias toward action and high standards. Be accountable for the results of your work and our product. Trust others to own it.
- Stay curious: Ask why. Dare to make things better. Learn something new each day (even from mistakes). Be open to growth. Develop creative solutions.
- Make it better: Think big. Set high goals. Work toward long-term value rather than short-term wins. Create change. Be resilient.
- Respect: Treat others how you want to be treated. Listen first before being heard. Speak the truth even when it’s not easy. Assume best intentions. Bring your full self to work.
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Articles
Leadership
Colin Walsh
(CEO)Former EVP at American Express. Has also worked in banking at Wells Fargo, Visa, Executive Networks, and Lloyds.
Salary benchmarks
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Diversity & Inclusion at Varo
- Varo takes a long-term, strategic approach to Diversity and Inclusion. We’re committed to building long term awareness and engagement with employees at all levels, our customers, and our communities. We grow and strengthen the Varo team by acquiring, developing, promoting, and retaining exceptional and diverse talent.
- Voluntary employee-led resource groups let us connect with each other, boost engagement, and keep important conversations going. Our groups include; "Women", that aims to increase women’s leadership roles, hiring and retention; "Adept", that sustains Varo’s efforts to support employees with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities; "Unity", that works to advance representation and opportunity for Black and African American employees; and "Pride", that helps us build a fully inclusive workplace offering education, support, and networking for LGBTQ employees.
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