Staff Marketing Data Scientist, Machine Learning

The role:

The Marketing Data Science (MDS) team is seeking an experienced Machine Learning professional to join the group. This team is essential for supporting SoFi's Marketing organization by providing data-driven decision-making through rigorous analytics, modeling, experimentation, and measurement.

The primary responsibility of this role is to build and scale machine learning models that drive marketing and growth across SoFi's product suite. The focus will be on developing predictive models for key areas: acquisition, conversion, retention, and customer lifetime value (LTV), utilizing behavioral, transactional, and credit data. This role requires strong collaboration across teams to identify the business needs, manage the end-to-end model development cycle, implement the model in production, and monitor performance, while maintaining strict compliance with all regulatory standards.

What you’ll do: 

• Design, develop, and deploy machine learning models to optimize customer acquisition, onboarding, and lifecycle engagement across financial products (e.g., loans, credit cards, money, invest, crypto and etc).
• Build predictive models for critical business outcomes, including Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), conversion propensity, cross-sell/upsell effectiveness, and retention across various channels (e.g., direct mail, email, in-app, Operations).
• Leverage structured and unstructured data (e.g., behavioral signals, transaction data, credit attributes) to drive audience segmentation and personalization at scale. Develop and maintain a robust feature store to accelerate the end-to-end model development lifecycle.
• Build experimentation frameworks to support A/B testing and measure the incremental business impact of the models. Work with the other team members to incorporate the models in marketing/campaign strategies.
• Collaborate with Fair Lending (FL) and Model Risk Management (MRM) to ensure the models and targeting strategies adhere to fair lending laws, privacy regulations, and responsible marketing practices.
• Support the efficient scoring and implementation of models through both real-time and batch processes, ensuring the timely availability of scores for marketing execution and deep analytics.
• Monitor model performance with a focus on business outcomes (conversion, retention, revenue, risk-adjusted returns) and continuously iterate based on insights.
• Partner closely with team members within MDS and key business stakeholders on defining business requirements, prioritizing the model pipeline, providing development updates, and monitoring performance.
• Stay at the forefront of modeling, data, and AI innovations to support scalable marketing growth in financial services.

What you’ll need:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Math, Physics, Engineering, or a quantitative field required; Master's degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in machine learning, data science or applied AI, ideally in marketing, fintech, or consumer tech.
• Strong proficiency in Python, SQL, and ML frameworks (scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow).
• Familiarity with ML governance, model monitoring, and compliance frameworks (MRM, Fair Lending, etc.) is a plus.
• Experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, and AI application development preferred.
• Demonstrated experience with experimentation and hypothesis testing.
• High intellectual curiosity and a quick learner of new technical skills.
• Ability to initiate and drive projects independently to completion, and ability to clearly communicate technical information to diverse audiences.
• Strong relationship-building and collaborative skills.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, cross-functional environment with keen attention to detail.