About Turaco:

It is existentially urgent to figure out a way to insure people who are not insured. Turaco’s mission is to free people from the fear of financial shocks. Our 25-year goal is to insure a billion people, doubling the number of people insured in the world.

Turaco is a fast-growing financial services start-up in Africa that is bringing a new model to health and risk financing for emerging customers. Turaco offers subscription-based insurance for the mass market bundled with regular transactions that people are already doing. Turaco works through business partnerships to offer affordable insurance products that add real value to people’s lives. At Turaco we value simplicity, communication and transparency and strive to transform the way insurance works. When it comes to claims, our goal is to pay out and fast.

Turaco embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace - we’re building a team where our differences complement each other and make us stronger. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic.

Since launching in Feb 2019, Turaco has acquired 100,000+ end users. Over the next 24 months, that will grow to 1,000,000+ end users. We are growing very fast, and we’re looking for team members who can grow with us.

To learn more, visit www.turaco.insure

About the Role

We are looking for a Data Scientist who will proactively fetch data and information from various sources to support our product, sales, leadership, operations, and marketing teams with insights gained from analyzing company data.

The ideal candidate is adept at sifting through data points to create organized categories, comparing data points to current company processes and writing reports outlining business predictions or proposals. You are great at using large data sets to find opportunities for product and process optimization and using models to test the effectiveness of different courses of action.

You have proven ability to drive business results with their data-based insights through a variety of data mining/data analysis methods, using a variety of data tools, building and implementing models, using/creating algorithms and creating/running simulations. And you are comfortable working, collaborating and communicating with a wide range of stakeholders and functional teams.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Working with stakeholders throughout the organization to identify opportunities for leveraging company data to drive business solutions.
Developing and improving data collection procedures for use in analytic systems.
Preprocessing, cleansing, and validating the integrity of structured and unstructured data for use in further analysis.
Mining and analyzing usable data from company databases to facilitate optimization and improvements in product development, marketing, sales, and other business strategies.
Assessing the effectiveness and accuracy of new data sources and data-gathering techniques.
Developing custom data models and algorithms to apply to data sets.
Using predictive modelling to increase and optimize customer experiences, fraud detection and other business outcomes.
Coordinating with different functional teams to implement models and monitor outcomes.
Developing processes and tools to monitor and analyze model performance and data accuracy.
Analyzing large amounts of information to find patterns and solutions.
Developing prediction systems and machine learning algorithms.
Communicating and presenting findings in a clear manner.
Proposing solutions and strategies to tackle business challenges.

Key Qualifications & Your Profile:

5+ years of experience manipulating data sets and building statistical models.
A degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or another quantitative field. A Masters or Professional certification is an added advantage.
Programming Skills – knowledge of and experience with Statistical programming languages like R, Python, SQL, Java, Scala, C++, or JavaScript
Experience using web services: Redshift, S3, Spark etc.
Experience working with and creating data architectures.
Experience with different machine learning techniques and algorithms (clustering, regression, simulation, scenario analysis, modeling, decision tree learning, artificial neural networks, k-Nearest Neighbors, Naive Bayes, SVM, etc.) and their real-world advantages/drawbacks.
Experience in statistical and data mining techniques (text mining, GLM/Regression, Random Forest, social network analysis, Boosting, Trees, etc.)
Experience visualizing and presenting data for use by stakeholders using Tableau, D3, matplotlib, ggplot, etc.
Statistics – Good applied statistical skills, including knowledge of statistical tests, distributions, regression, maximum likelihood estimators, etc. Proficiency in statistics is essential for data-driven companies.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for coordinating across teams and communicating findings to technical and non-technical teams.
Desire to learn and master new technology skills and techniques.
Strong problem-solving skills and aptitude.
Ability to navigate ambiguity.

Our Company Culture

We define the “Turaco Way” as Low ego, Collaborative, Honest & Compassionate, Coach/Coachable, Customer Centric, Fun & Flexible, Takes Initiative & Ownership. If these words describe you then please come join us!

Total Compensation & Benefits:

Turaco offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience. We combine that with a mix of useful employment benefits like stock option plans and healthcare and a company culture that allows you to enjoy your work while making meaningful connections.