Data Scientist, Candidly
AI Engineering
Student debt solutions
Open for applications
Student debt solutions
101-200 employees
Open for applications
101-200 employees
Company mission
To make trusted, intelligent and comprehensive solutions that enable Americans to reap the rewards of that investment so they can build financial wellness and wealth.
Role
Who you are
- Experience: 2-5 years of experience in a data science, data engineer, machine learning engineer, or backend engineer role
- Strong programming skills in Python and proficiency with libraries such as LangGraph, PyTorch, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, Pandas + Numpy
- Strong understanding of agentic systems, AI agent design patterns, and best practices for evaluating AI agents. Including, but not limited to, multi-agent systems and parallelized agentic workflows
- Hands on experience with foundational model APIs (OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini) and at least one AI Agent framework (LangGraph / CrewAI / Pydantic AI)
- Hands on experience with database systems especially in regard to vector databases and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) approaches
- Previous experience working in a production environment and deploying code to production for example machine learning models, data pipelines, or AI agents
- Intermediate level data and analytical skills, with at least some familiarity of SQL and data visualization
- Familiarity with software development practices and tools, such as code reviews, GitHub / GitLab, and Jira
- Familiarity with backend systems with a focus on serving Generative AI applications
- Basic knowledge of web systems with a focus on understanding how AI agents operate within both a web backend and frontend
- Basic knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS)
- Strong communication skills and ability to explain complex concepts to non-technical stakeholders
- High adaptability and comfort working in a dynamic, fast-paced startup environment
- Proactive, with a passion for building impactful solutions that address real-world challenges
- A love of experimenting and working with new tools and technologies
Desirable
- Experience in FinTech, financial services, or consumer lending domains
- Strong enough technical ability to own and deploy projects end to end
- Previous experience deploying and evaluating AI agents in a production setting
What the job involves
- As a Data Scientist focusing on AI Engineering at Candidly, you will primarily work on designing, developing, and deploying AI agents that enhance our financial wellness platform and serve our clients
- You will partner closely with the product and engineering teams to create products and features that leverage Generative AI to enhance the user experience and improve engagement
- You will contribute to projects ranging from designing and developing new AI agents, enhancing our existing agents in production, including evaluations, and contributing to Candidly’s AI platform as a backend engineer
- Agent Development: Design, build, and deploy AI Agents including custom tools, prompt engineering, orchestration workflows, and agent design patterns
- Agent Evaluation and Tuning: Design evaluation strategies and metrics for assessing the efficacy of AI agents as well as identifying common failure modes. Ensure AI agents and systems are reliable and provide a good user experience
- AI Platform Development: Contribute to the backend infrastructure powering Candidly's AI capabilities, including API development, data integrations, and data pipelines
- Research & Innovation: Stay on the cutting edge of advancements in Generative AI space and evaluate new techniques for application within the Candidly AI platform
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with stakeholders across product, design, engineering, and leadership to translate complex AI concepts into actionable strategies and features
- Data Storytelling: Present findings and insights in a compelling way to both technical and non-technical audiences, contributing to strategic decision-making
Our take
A lack of access to affordable higher education is causing increasing numbers of students to fall into debt. Common advice is to simply save money incrementally, but that is easier said than done. Today, over 48M Americans struggle with over $1.75M of student debt. Candidly, rebranded from FutureFuel.io, offers payment management services for student loans in the form of employee benefits.
The company collaborates with employers to make loan repayment processes easier. Candidly claims that these services help students save between $15,000 to $40,000 and reduce loan repayment time by up to 5 years. Other companies such as Tuition.io also provide employer-paid student benefits to help contribute to debt repayments. However, Candidly's unique set of digital money saving tools provide an edge over competitors by helping students make small savings that can accumulate to big debt payments.
With increasing nationwide interest in reducing student debt, the company experienced 10x revenue growth and a 3,600% increase in payments flowing through its platform through 2022. With a fresh injection of funding in March 2023, Candidly is well-positioned to shake up this field and it will be exciting to see what it does next.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
51% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Mar 2023
$20.5m
SERIES B
Mar 2021
$10m
SERIES A
Total funding: $49.8m
Company HQ
Midtown Manhattan, New York, NY
Leadership
Laurel Taylor
(Founder, CEO & Chairwoman of the Board)Majored in Organizational Behaviour and Spanish at Texas State, before studying for an MBA at MIT's Sloan School. Was VP Sales at Systems Integrations Companies, and then CRO & Executive VP at TEECOM. Joined Google as Head of Industry, Health in 2013. Is a member of philanthropic organization SheGives and the Student Debt Task Force. Founded Candidly in 2016.
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