Principal Applied Scientist

Upstart

14h•$238,400 - $330,200•Remote

About The Position

About Upstart At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence. As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress. We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you. If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you. The Team: Upstart’s Growth and Marketplace Optimization teams are responsible for building the decision systems that determine how offers are presented, optimized, and evolved across the customer journey. These systems sit at the intersection of machine learning, optimization, pricing, marketplace dynamics, and borrower behavior. The work spans partner channels, onsite experiences, and marketplace optimization, with the goal of improving conversion, borrower experience, lender surplus, and overall marketplace efficiency. As these systems continue to evolve, the organization is investing in a more unified technical vision that connects decision-making across stages rather than optimizing individual components in isolation. The Role: As a Principal Applied Scientist at Upstart, you will help define the long-term technical direction for some of Upstart’s most important offer optimization and conversion modeling systems. You will work across multiple teams to define how conversion modeling, offer optimization, and system design should fit together, ensuring models and optimization systems account for downstream effects, marketplace constraints, and customer outcomes. This role is intentionally broad and high leverage. You will help structure ambiguous problem spaces, design solutions that account for interactions across multiple stages of the customer journey, and provide technical oversight to ensure work across multiple teams converges toward a coherent long-term vision. The work sits at the intersection of operations research, optimization, causal machine learning, and production decision systems.

Requirements

Advanced degree in a quantitative field such as statistics, mathematics, economics, computer science, operations research, or a related discipline
8+ years of experience building and deploying machine learning models into production at scale
Experience with optimization, operations research, or constrained decision-making problems
Working knowledge of causal inference or causal machine learning
Strong grounding in statistics and probability
Experience leading large cross-functional technical initiatives with multiple stakeholders
Experience working across multiple technical teams to align approaches, define interfaces, and move toward a shared vision
Experience solving real-world machine learning or data science problems in a high-impact production environment

Nice To Haves

PhD in operations research, statistics, economics, computer science, or another quantitative field
Experience with offer optimization, pricing systems, marketplace optimization, or related decisioning systems
Experience with end-to-end modeling from problem framing through productionization
Experience in fintech, lending, marketplaces, or other domains where decisions must account for downstream constraints and business tradeoffs
Experience serving as a principal-level technical lead across multiple teams or product areas
Experience mentoring other senior scientists or raising the technical bar across an organization

Responsibilities

Define the technical vision for how offer decisioning systems should interconnect across partnerships, always-on systems, and marketplace optimization
Build and guide conversion modeling approaches that optimize decisions across multiple stages of the customer journey rather than in isolated local steps
Ensure models and decision policies at one stage account for downstream impacts, business constraints, and later-stage optimization opportunities
Design interfaces between decision systems and optimization or constraint-specification components
Drive cross-functional technical alignment across teams that currently own adjacent pieces of the problem
Scope and lead large, ambiguous initiatives that require both deep modeling judgment and strong systems thinking
Partner with scientists, engineers, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate analytical insights into durable production approaches
Help ensure ongoing work across domains progresses toward a unified architecture and decisioning strategy
Contribute directly to implementation and experimentation efforts, including prototyping models, reviewing code, and helping teams operationalize new approaches in production environments.

Benefits

Competitive compensation, including base pay, bonus opportunities, and annual equity grants that vest quarterly
Retirement benefits to help you plan for the future, including a 401(k) or Group Retirement Savings Plan with a company match of $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 annually (USD in the US, CAD in Canada)
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with discounted stock purchase options for eligible employees (US only)
Comprehensive health coverage designed to support you and your family, including medical, dental, vision, and wellness resources for US and supplemental health coverage for Canada.
Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart for eligible plans (US only)
Income protection benefits, including life insurance and disability coverage for added financial security
Paid time off, sick leave, and company holidays, in line with local requirements
Paid family and parental leave to support caregiving and major life moments (duration varies by country)
Family-centered benefits to support fertility, parenthood, and caregiving needs
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offering mental health support and life-centered resources
Financial wellness resources, including access to financial planning tools and a financial concierge service (US Only)
Annual wellness allowance to support your physical and emotional well-being and personal development, based on what matters most to you
Annual productivity allowance to invest in relevant tools and resources you need to do your best work, no matter where you work from
Connection and community through team events, all-company updates, and employee resource groups (ERGs)
Onsite perks, including catered lunches and fully stocked micro-kitchens when working from one of our offices in the Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, and New York City (opening Summer 2026!)