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ABOUT ONE ACRE FUND
Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund supplies 1 million smallholder farmers with the agricultural services they need to make their farms vastly more productive. Our 8,000+ team is drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. With operations across six core countries in Africa, we make farmers more prosperous by providing quality farm supplies on credit, delivered within walking distance of farmers’ homes, and agricultural training to improve harvests. On average, our farmers harvest 50 percent more food after working with One Acre Fund.
To learn more about our work, take a look at our Why Work Here blog for more information.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Kenya Innovation Lab leads the design and field testing of new products and programs to help One Acre Fund Kenya reach more clients and provide more impactful services. We are hiring a Data Scientist to join our Finance portfolio. Our farmers are historically underserved when it comes to their ability to buy farm inputs on credit and One Acre Fund has over ten years of experience meeting that need. With the projects in the Finance Portfolio, we are planning to reach 350k new farmers in the next two years, and we are looking for someone to help us harness our wealth of data and experience to design the best possible products for those farmers while mitigating risk to One Acre Fund. You will own the entire data pipeline for projects within this portfolio from ideation to production. High priority projects in the first 4-6 months will be:
- To explore our existing credit data to improve our repayment strategies. You'll use our existing trial data and run new A/B tests to design a repayment strategy that segments clients into risk categories and optimizes our spending per client on collecting repayment.
- To build an in-house credit scoring model to segment clients between our loan products. We are expecting to triple the number of clients in our new operating model within the next year, and your task will be to build our capacity to match new and existing farmers to a lending product that they are most likely to repay. You'll use publicly available data and multiple datasets from within One Acre Fund and our trials team, and you'll determine the modeling needs and outcomes for new Finance Portfolio interventions as we grow. You'll use a mix of machine learning models including linear and logistic regressions and random forest algorithms, but you'll also need to turn what you learn into actionable directions for the team.
As the portfolio grows, the Data Scientist will take increased ownership of launching new projects within the Innovation Lab with the potential to increase the financial well-being of our farmers. You will oversee the modeling cycle through scoping, development, deployment, and after-sale and monitoring, with a focus on outcomes for both One Acre Fund and the farmers we serve. This is an Associate Level role reporting to the Finance Portfolio Lead.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Loan Product Design
- Lead client segmentation work
- Create target client profiles and assess the overall market size
- Identify repayment trends and highlight the opportunities for redesigning loans
- Run pilots to test changes to loan structures or launch entirely new loan products
Repayment Strategy Design
- Analyze repayment results as a function of unique repayment touchpoints
- Design and run trials to improve repayment strategies for each loan
CAREER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.
QUALIFICATIONS
Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:
- You have a background in data science and can manage multiple complex datasets. You have experience in statistical modeling, data mining, and building regression and predictive models, and you're able to leverage most machine learning techniques. You're fluent in one or more programming languages such as R or Python and can use SQL and NoSQL to pull data from databases. Demonstrated by 3+ years of experience in financial modeling and analysis using multiple datasets and complex functions.
- Make strategy recommendations and good at providing quick, insightful analyses of the stories behind the numbers
- You take a structured approach to problem-solving, are results-driven, and approach your work practically rather than theoretically. You have some project or trial management skills, demonstrated by 3+ years of experience delivering projects in a field setting or other experience working on applicable data science projects.
- You have a customer-centered design approach and can think about the end-users experience in addition to what the data is telling you.
- You have experience working with big, ambiguous goals
- You have 3+ years of experience in one of our countries of operation
- English required in all locations. Other notable and useful languages are Swahili or regional languages within Kenya.
PREFERRED START DATE
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, start dates can vary significantly by role. We are adapting rapidly to Covid-19 and most of our team is now working remotely. Given the changing environment, we will appreciate your flexibility in confirming a start date.
JOB LOCATION
The role will be based in Kakamega with up to 25% remote time in a location of choice
BENEFITS
Health insurance, housing, and comprehensive benefits
ELIGIBILITY
One Acre Fund can support a work permit for this role. However, nationals of (or those with an extensive professional background and work history in) our countries of operation are preferred.
APPLICATION DEADLINE
19 July 2021
One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here (globalhotline@oneacrefund.org), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feels consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.
We are committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity, or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
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Job Details
| Level | : | Senior level |
| Industry | : | Business |
| Salary | : | Confidential |
| Experience | : | 3 Years |
| Applications | : | 1 |
| Locality | : | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Eligibility | : | Bachelor |
| Company | : | Kaziweza limite... |