Data Scientist, Wealthfront
Fraud & Risk
$165-185k
+ Equity + Discretionary bonus
Automated investment management
Open for applications
Automated investment management
201-500 employees
Open for applications
$165-185k
+ Equity + Discretionary bonus
201-500 employees
Company mission
To build a financial system that favors people, not institutions.
Role
Who you are
- A Masters or a PhD degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Operations Research, or Natural Sciences with 4+ years of prior experience in a Data Science role. Exceptions to these requirements may be considered on a case-by-case basis
- Prior experience in financial fraud detection and prevention is preferred, but not required
- Strong communication and collaboration skills and a record of partnering across organizations to sharpen project requirements. Sometimes this includes re-framing the original request to solve a more general problem with similar effort
- Hands-on mathematical and software engineering skills to execute on complex projects
- Proficiency in Python and SQL
- An understanding of the concept of “proportional investment” in approaching Data Science problems
- Desire and ability to mentor junior Data Scientists within the team by exemplifying math, engineering and technical communication skills
What the job involves
- The Wealthfront Data Science Team utilizes our rich financial and behavioral data to influence key product and marketing decisions, as well as to safeguard our client’s information and assets
- The team draws from backgrounds in Computer Science, Natural Sciences, Statistics, Operations Research and Econometrics
- The Data Scientist in this role will be primarily embedded within Wealthfront’s Fraud and Risk (F&R) team. All assets and clients entering in or exiting out of Wealthfront pass through F&R systems and checks
- As such, F&R Engineers and Data Scientists have the dual responsibility of safeguarding our clients’ assets while maintaining a delightful experience for regular clients
- The F&R team relies heavily on production machine learning (ML) models to automate fraud detection
- We constantly update our models and develop new ones to address the fast-evolving financial fraud landscape
- The key desired traits for a Data Scientist in this role are an advanced ability to translate security-related problems into mathematical language, lead research and own the production deployment
- Translate known or newly discovered security-related scenarios into mathematical problem statements
- Formulate project plans with clear rationale, candidate approaches and milestones
- Quantify performance of fraud detection models using appropriate metrics (accuracy, precision, recall) before and after production deployment
- Employ a high degree of mathematical rigor and best practices for software development
- Work with F&R leadership to propose and implement new security enhancements for our products
- Work with cross functional stakeholders to evaluate security implications for proposed new products or features
- Work with Data platform teams to procure required (but unavailable) data
- Explain technical choices, model limitations and trade-offs in a cross functional risk evaluation forums
- Enhance overall Data Science team execution through hands-on help, design feedback and peer review
Our take
Wealthfront's platform takes the hassle and stress out of investing, financial planning, borrowing, and saving with automated services and financial advice. Its robo-advisor allows customers to set a financial limit on their accounts, anything above the limit is moved into an investment account or another account chosen by the customer.
Indeed, it has some similarities to round-up apps like Acorn, which round up purchases and put the spare change into savings. There are other companies working on robo-advisors too, such as Morgan Stanley and Betterment.
Nonetheless, with an impressive and steadily increasing list of clients, with more than $50B of assets under its management, Wealthfront achieved Unicorn status in September 2022. Wealthfront is diversifying its offerings, branching into high-interest checking accounts and investment advice.
Steph
Company Specialist
Insights
Some candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
-4% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Jan 2018
$75m
SERIES E
Oct 2014
$64m
SERIES D
Total funding: $204.5m
Company benefits
- 401(k)
- Medical/Vision/Dental insurance
- HSA contributions for high deductible plans
- Discretionary time off policy
- 16 weeks of paid parental leave (both parents)
- Flexible working hours
- Monthly wellness reimbursement
Company values
- Client-centricity: Wealthfront puts its clients first, providing personalized financial advice and investment management services to help them achieve their financial goals
- Transparency: Wealthfront values transparency in all aspects of its business, from its investment strategies to its fees and pricing
- Innovation: Wealthfront is committed to innovation, using cutting-edge technology to provide its clients with the best possible financial services and products
- Continuous learning: Wealthfront encourages its employees to continuously learn and grow, providing opportunities for professional development and advancement
Company HQ
University South, Palo Alto, CA
Articles
Leadership
Dan Carroll
(CSO)They studied Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona before using this expertise to co-found Wealthfront in December 2008.
Andy Rachleff
(Executive Chairman)Prior to Wealthfront, they co-founded and was General Partner of Benchmark Capital, where they were responsible for investing in a number of successful companies including Equinix, Juniper Networks, and Opsware.
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