Director, Data Science

Location

Spartanburg, SC | United States

Job description

About American Credit Acceptance

A national leader in the auto finance industry, American Credit Acceptance partners with car dealerships across the country to empower the emerging credit consumer to purchase reliable, affordable transportation. We are a fast-paced, entrepreneurial company that has delivered excellent profitability, regulatory rigor and over 20% annualized growth since our inception in 2007.

About the Team

A key driver of ACA’s growth and profitability, our Data & Analytics team is comprised of 50+ associates of various back grounds with one thing in common - a passion for problem solving. Here, Financial analytics and data management, statistical modeling, and data science teams act as internal management consultants to solve real business problems. You’ll go beyond basic predictions and partner with business leaders to maximize performance of our loan portfolio, minimize risk and losses, and identify key leverage points to drive efficiencies.

What You’ll Do

As a core member of our Senior Leadership team, you’ll utilize your business acumen and advanced knowledge of statistical and machine learning techniques to empower a team of 10 associates to uncover insights, build solutions, and influence business direction.

Who You Are

• Passionate about using math and logic to solve problems
• Catalyst for business change with a desire to make decisions that are implemented fast
• Driver of “think tank” culture with a desire to build teams that openly debate new ideas and embrace experimentation
• Experienced leader who puts the team first and is excited to work in a collaborative, team environment
• Enthusiastic coach who enjoys the process of providing actionable feedback to teammates (not just to direct reports but also to peers and senior executives) to help individuals and the team maximize its potential
• Fulfilled by the journey of continuous improvement, inclusive of having the humility to recognize and learn from mistakes

Your Role

• Lead teams to analyze large amounts of structured and unstructured data using scientific methods and machine learning algorithms to uncover knowledge and insights for high impact areas including pricing modeling, financial returns, web analytics, speech analytics, fraud, forecasting, and auction analysis.
• Understand the mathematical theory, as well as practical benefits and pitfalls, of various predictive modeling techniques including (but not limited to) boosting, bagging, regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM), survival methods, deep learning, artificial intelligence and experimental design.
• Leverage R, Python, SQL, Tableau, and other quantitative analytical platforms to extract and manipulate large datasets, as well as to develop, analyze, validate and deploy predictive models.
• Partner with business leaders across functional areas, including Operations, Legal, Compliance, Information Technology, Vendor Management, and Finance to develop an understanding of fields to which statistical techniques can be applied effectively.
• Leverage statistical models and collaborate closely with technology and business groups to analyze operational feasibility, implementation, and production integration; monitor performance and determine when it is appropriate/necessary to update/refresh.
• Formulate hypotheses and develop statistically derived tests to grow and measure business knowledge.
• Coach and develop a team of direct reports.

Qualifications 

• 8+ years of relevant work experience including 4+ years in a leadership role
• Master’s degree or higher in Mathematics, Statistics, or a related analytical field with exceptional past academic performance (3.4 or higher GPA).
• Exceptional written and verbal communication with the specific ability to convey technical results to non-technical audiences.

** This role is onsite at our headquarter office in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Non-local candidates must be able to relocate. Custom relocation packages may be available as part of total compensation package.

EEO Statement

ACA provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. ACA complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

You are not officially considered an applicant unless you have completed an employment application in ACA’s online applicant tracking system, iCIMS.

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