Job Details

About Parafin

Parafin is on a mission to grow small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but traditional banks often don't have their backs. We build tech that makes it simple for small businesses to access the financial tools they need through the platforms they already sell on. We partner with companies like DoorDash, Amazon, Worldpay, and Mindbody to offer fast and flexible funding, spend management, and savings tools to their small business users via a simple integration. Parafin takes on all the complexity of capital markets, underwriting, servicing, compliance, and customer service for our partners. We're a tight‑knit team of innovators hailing from Stripe, Square, Plaid, Coinbase, Robinhood, CERN, and more— all united by a passion for building tools that help small businesses succeed. Parafin is backed by prominent venture capitalists including GIC, Notable Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and Thrive Capital. Parafin is a Series C company, and we have raised more than $194M in equity and $340M in debt facilities.

Data Science Team

Data is core to Parafin's mission to grow small businesses. Our platform partnerships and portfolio provide rich insight into SMB financial health, allowing us to create fair, automated, and broad access to financial services. As Parafin scales, the breadth and depth of our data grows with it, amplifying the impact we can have on customers and the trajectory of the business.

Our Team

Enthusiasm, skepticism, and respect for data are in our DNA – two of our co‑founders were PhD data scientists at Robinhood. Since our founding, we have grown the team to include perspectives from graduate studies in physics, mathematics, bioengineering, economics, financial engineering, and electrical engineering and professional experience at Robinhood, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Faire, Segment, Facebook, and Google. We value first‑principles thinking, attention to detail, and craftsmanship.

Role Overview

This role's scope includes:

• Underwriting: Build models and systems to decide which SMBs receive offers for each financial product and on what terms. Example projects:
  1. Training a quantile regression model to forecast the distribution of SMB revenues and precisely size our financing offers
  2. Applying convex optimization to generate competitive financing offers
• Go‑To‑Market: Collaborate with sales leaders to convey the value of embedded finance to prospective partners. Example projects:
  1. Identifying the impact of financial access on platform GMV using quasi‑random variation
  2. Running simulations to assess the risk of offering financial products on specific platforms
• Portfolio Monitoring and Servicing: Develop tooling to maintain portfolio health, driving sustainable growth for Parafin, our capital markets partners, and the small businesses we serve. Example projects:
  1. Estimating survival curves to predict cohorted loss rates
  2. Deploying LLM‑based models to automatically identify bankruptcy from web data

Beyond these focus areas, the team helps expand our impact by recruiting exceptional talent, improving our tools, and supporting each other through regular seminars and project reviews.

About You

You will make an outsized impact on Parafin's trajectory by leading projects from end to end. You will quickly learn new methods, apply them across diverse areas of the business, and implement them robustly. You will develop expertise in specific areas of the business, but may tackle projects across domains as our priorities evolve.

Your Background And Skills

Benchmark: Bachelor's Degree (or higher) in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science (or related fields). The most effective data scientists bring the following skills to their work:

• Statistical Reasoning
  1. Approach data analysis with a critical, intellectually honest eye
  2. Design concise metrics that guide decision making
  3. Use robust causal inference methods
  4. Develop valid and predictive machine learning models
• Business Acumen
  1. Identify and effectively prioritize business problems
  2. Solve business problems using appropriate data science techniques
  3. Anticipate the impact of your work on our financial performance, customers, and compliance obligations
• Engineering Mindset
  1. Write legible, reliable, and tested code
  2. Build or source tools to boost the team's efficiency
  3. Contribute to model and data infrastructure design
• Leadership and Collaboration
  1. Model Parafin's values of efficiency, intellectual honesty, accountability, and empathy
  2. Build trusted relationships with stakeholders
  3. Document work, seek feedback, and share learnings proactively
  4. Mentor other DS members on the team
  5. Management experience, a plus!
• Focused Execution
  1. Prioritize high‑impact use of your time
  2. Scope projects rigorously
  3. Act with urgency

What We Offer

• Salary: $190k-$230k + EQ Senior Level Salary: $240-$300k + EQ
• Equity grant
• Medical, dental & vision insurance
• Work from home flexibility
• Unlimited PTO
• Commuter benefits
• Free lunches
• Paid parental leave
• 401(k)
• Employee assistance program

Additional Information

• Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level
• Employment type: Full‑time
• Job function: Engineering and Information Technology

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre‑employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please contact us.