Staff Analyst

About the role

You will own the monitoring, analysis, and clear communication of model and credit performance for Upstart's Personal Loans product, directly shaping strategic decisions at the highest level. In this capacity, you will serve as the primary data steward for key performance indicators, translating complex outcomes into narratives that drive action. You will exercise ownership by proactively diagnosing unexpected results and spearheading investigations into emerging portfolio trends with rigorous statistical methods. This role empowers you to build the automated frameworks that standardize reporting, ensuring efficiency and scalability across critical processes. You will partner closely with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders, translating ambiguous business questions into precise analytical plans. Your work will directly influence how the organization understands and optimizes its lending model in a rapidly evolving market. If you are motivated by problem-solving and the impact of data-driven decisions, this role offers a central vantage point into the core of Upstart's business.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own the end-to-end monitoring and reporting of credit and performance metrics for the Personal Loans product.
• Identify and investigate performance trends, conducting deep root-cause analysis and recommending targeted treatments to stakeholders.
• Drive rigorous statistical analyses to evaluate the outcomes of past experiments and natural experiments, extracting actionable insights.
• Design, build, and maintain automated workflows and tools that scale standard reporting and improve data reliability.
• Translate complex analytical findings into clear, compelling narratives for senior leadership and diverse audiences.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define key questions, align on methodologies, and ensure analytical rigor.
• Proactively surface emerging risks or opportunities within the portfolio through continuous monitoring and hypothesis testing.
• Collaborate with data engineering and product teams to improve data infrastructure and enhance analytical capabilities.
• Champion data quality and integrity, establishing best practices that ensure consistency across all reporting outputs.
• Contribute to the development of new analytical frameworks that support more informed and timely business decisions.

Requirements

• Hold a Master's degree in a quantitative field such as Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Operations Research, Physics, or a closely related discipline.
• Bring hands-on experience with Python and SQL to manipulate data, build queries, and create analytical solutions.
• Demonstrate strong analytical and first-principles thinking, with a proven ability to tackle complex and ambiguous problems independently.
• Exhibit exceptional communication, presentation, and collaboration skills, particularly in articulating complex analytical concepts to varied stakeholders.
• Possess a minimum of 6+ years of professional experience in analytics, data science, or a related quantitative field.
• Show a disciplined approach to work, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Display intellectual curiosity and a commitment to investigating anomalies and driving continuous improvement.
• Align with Upstart's mission to leverage technology and AI to expand access to affordable credit.

Nice to have

• Earn a PhD in a quantitative field such as Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Operations Research, Physics, or a related discipline.
• Bring prior experience and familiarity with the finance industry, specifically within the context of lending and credit decisioning.

Practical notes

This role is based in the United States and offers remote flexibility, allowing you to perform most of your work from any location where you are productive. As a digital-first organization with teams across more than 80 cities in the United States and Canada, Upstart values both independent focus and intentional in-person collaboration through team onsites and planning sessions. The role operates on a full-time basis, and while specific hours are not detailed in this description, you should expect to engage proactively with cross-functional partners during standard business hours. No domestic or international travel, visa sponsorship, or specific deadlines are outlined in this posting.