SVP, Data

About Tala Tala is a global technology company building the world’s most accessible financial services. With more than $350 million raised from visionary investors, we are serving millions of customers around the world who have been overlooked by traditional financial institutions – and our plan is to serve millions more, and have been named by the Fortune Impact 20 list, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, and Forbes’ Fintech 50 list for four years running. We are expanding across product offerings, countries and crypto and are looking for people who have an entrepreneurial spirit and are passionate about the mission. By creating a unique platform that enables lending and other financial services around the globe, people in emerging markets are able to start and expand small businesses, manage day-to-day needs, and pursue their financial goals with confidence. Currently, more than 6 million people across Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico, and India have used Tala products. Due to our global team, we have a remote-first approach, and also have offices in Santa Monica, CA (HQ); Nairobi, Kenya; Mexico City, Mexico; Manila, the Philippines; and Bangalore, India.  Most Talazens join us because they connect with our mission of enabling financial agency for underbanked people around the world. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Tala, we’d love to hear from you! We are looking for an SVP of Data who is interested in expanding Tala’s ability to serve the underbanked through their strong leadership and technical vision. The data challenges and opportunities at Tala are unique and endless - how do people with little to no access to the traditional banking system gain credit via their mobile phone? How can we leverage machine learning and data to reach and serve this population while ensuring Tala continues to grow? Being creative about new data sources. Building a robust production environment for a sophisticated suite of ML models that can scale to the whole globe. Designing best-in-class models in the spirit of financial inclusion. Using data to gain insight into our customers so we can better serve them with new products. This is the mission of the Data Org at Tala. Headquartered in Santa Monica with operations in Kenya, Philippines, Mexico, and India, we are one of the top fintech companies in the world and data and machine learning are at the forefront of our revolution.  What you’ll do:  -Identify, grow, and lead best-in-class talent across all data disciplines (data engineering, data platform, machine learning research and engineering, data science and analytics). -Build a strong culture of execution and ownership where impact is paramount. -Have passion for the Tala mission and ensure data practices align with the spirit of financial inclusion and robust stewardship of our customer’s data.  -Bring a sophisticated leadership practice to the data organization and the tech organization more broadly; have an effective POV when it comes to decision-making, communication, performance management, and partnership with the business. -Work directly with peers in the business, product, and finance organizations to ensure data leads to business impact. -Create and communicate a technical vision that inspires your team and rallies the business around new investments in data and technology. -Make the right investments in infrastructure the company needs to scale, especially our suite of ML models that power Tala.  Qualifications: -Masters in a quantitative field (Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering etc) -10 years leading data engineering, data infrastructure, or data science teams  -Strong track record in hiring and inspiring high-performing technical talentExperience with financial services or consumer internet  -Fluency in industry-leading techniques in the data domain, including data eng, data infrastructure, and ML  -Experiencing in scaling a data organization through new infrastructure, data model design, etc -Holistic leader across technical depth, technical breadth, and broad leadership skills -Demonstrated ability to cultivate a strong execution and ownership-oriented culture -Inclusive leader who fosters an environment of candor, humility and passion Our vision is to build a new financial ecosystem where everyone can participate on equal footing and access the tools they need to be financially healthy. We strongly believe that inclusion fosters innovation and we’re proud to have a diverse global team that represents a multitude of backgrounds, cultures, and experience. We hire talented people regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.