Machine Learning Engineer

Kora is the marketplace for everything payments. We offer a robust payment API for payment collections, disbursements and conversions for businesses anywhere in Africa. 

Our vision, which is at the core of what we do every day, is to create a world void of digital financial barriers. We are committed to delivering reliable, secure, and easy-to-use digital financial solutions to every single customer with a guarantee that it is improving their lives. To achieve this mission, we need people like you. 

We strongly believe in our ability to find Water in the Desert and pick the Sands in the Ocean.

We value positive energy, and clear communication and are committed to building an inclusive environment for people from every background.

Requirements

About the Role

We’re looking for an exceptional Machine Learning Engineer to join the team responsible for Kora’s data architecture and AI strategy to optimize and automate processes, identify and maximize growth opportunities, as well as innovate and build AI products. 

As a member of the AI and Data team at Kora, you will work with cross-functional teams to understand current processes, identify machine learning opportunities, develop custom tools, algorithms and models, build custom solutions to optimize deployment workflows, and develop solutions to business problems using machine learning. The role demands that you are exceptional at problem-solving, able to code to manage big data, capable of extracting valuable insights and coding to automate the extraction of the insights, make predictions, and recommend for decision and action.

Being a tech company that values innovation, competence is also required in designing custom-made solutions from data to aid Kora in achieving her unique objectives and goals.

What You’ll be Doing

As a tech and data-driven company, we enable our people and teams to take responsibility and initiatives to identify areas of improvement and solve problems sustainably. The following, therefore, represents what you will be doing:

• Understanding Kora’s objectives and developing models that help to achieve them, in a way they can be measured and tracked.
• Collaborating with the engineering and product development teams to extract value from Kora’s data and create AI solutions and products.
• Identifying valuable data sources, automating data collection processes, establishing new systems and processes, and looking for opportunities to improve the flow of data.
• Coordinating the data acquisition process, verifying data quality, and finding available datasets that could be used for insights and training.
• Creating automated anomaly detection systems and constantly tracking their performance.
• Designing machine learning systems and self-running AI solutions to automate predictive models.
• Developing machine learning algorithms to analyze data  and solve complex problems to discover trends and patterns to optimize our processes and maximize growth opportunities.
• Training and retraining machine learning systems and optimizing existing machine learning libraries and frameworks.
• Documenting machine learning processes.
• Creating data science prototypes, transforming them, and applying appropriate machine learning algorithms and tools.
• Ensuring that algorithms generate accurate recommendations.
• Harnessing Kora’s data (structured and unstructured), preprocessing them, and turning them into useful information, tools, and insights.
• Presenting information using data visualization techniques.
• Keeping abreast of developments in data science and machine learning and continuously researching to ascertain the quality of output and outcomes..

What You’ll Need

You’re qualified if you are/have:

• 3+ years of experience developing custom solutions to optimize deployment workflows and develop solutions to business problems using data science and machine learning.
• A portfolio featuring your works, especially showing live solutions and already in use.
• An out-of-the-box thinker and enjoy thinking up new ways to disrupt the status quo.
• Passionate about delivering an exceptional user and customer experience.
• A passion for listening and learning from users.
• Data-driven in your approach and can serve as a data champion and leader.
• The ability to take responsibility for the data architecture and development process as well as work as a self-directed member of the team.
• Exceptionally driven and autonomous with a self-starter mindset and deep enjoyment of collaboration.
• A systems thinker: we're building a full payment ecosystem. 
• Great attention to detail.
• Great in the effective use of data science and machine learning tools and software (tableau, python, numPY, jupyter, etc.)
• Someone who frequently loves to and can speak fluently in data as well as dig deep to explore and see patterns.
• Finally, you bring positive energy, are comfortable with change, and can manage your own workload effectively.

Some nice to haves:

• Experience in data engineering and data analysis is a big advantage.
• B.Sc in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Engineering, Data Science or relevant field.
• A portfolio of relevant projects and works done in terms of business problems solved using data science and machine learning. It should illustrate your involvement and how you contributed to solving the specific problems. This is required for consideration.

Reporting Line: This role reports directly to the Head of Operations at Kora.

Interview process 

Below is the interview process you can expect for this role. It may look like a lot of steps, but rest assured that we move quickly and the steps are designed to help you get the information needed to determine if we’re the right fit for you… Interviewing is a two-way street, after all! 

We expect the interview process to take a maximum of 3 weeks and an average of 2.5 hours in total. Please note that the interview is virtual.

👋 Introduction Stage - we have initial conversations to get acquainted with you and overall experience.

[15m] Recruiter Screen - Abayomi Ishmael 

[7 days max] Take-home Assessment/Project 

Project Review -  The AI and Data team

Feedback from the Recruiter (Abayomi Ishmael)

🧑‍💻 [60m] Team Interview Stage ( The AI and Data team ) - We proceed to explore your professional background in greater detail and facilitate introductions to team members, including those from various cross-functional areas.

[60m] Cultural Fit Interview (Our Core Values) - At this stage, you'll engage in a conversation with Kora's COO, the Head of People and Culture, and the head of the team you’re being considered for. The aim is to understand you better and assess the alignment of your beliefs and values with Kora's distinctive culture. We'd like to emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers expected. However, we encourage you to maintain a positive attitude during this session.

Please note that you are welcome to ask questions and inquire during this process. We assure you of complete transparency throughout the interview process.

Working hours

Given that we are an all-remote company and hire almost anywhere in the world, we don’t have a location requirement for this role. However, your working hours must coincide with 9:00 am - 5:00 pm WAT for at least 40 hours/week.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Kora is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, experience, and business needs. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented communities and diverse ethnic groups to apply.

 If you need any accommodations to facilitate your participation in the recruitment process, please feel free to inform us. Any details you share will be used solely to ensure we can support and accommodate your needs appropriately

If you require more information on our HR Data Privacy, please visit Here

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Sponsored and tailored training
• Paid parental Leave
• Paid time-off
• Flexible work style
• Annual performance bonus
• Low-interest loans
• Employee assisted programs
• Day off on your birthday 🎂 🎁 🎉
• Employee resource groups that provide supportive communities within Kora
• Great company culture and the opportunity to work with a highly collaborative team building something great!

Note: We recognize imposter syndrome is real - any candidate who does not perfectly fit every characteristic of this role is still strongly encouraged to apply.