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About Upstart

Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload.

Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; and New York City, NY (opening Summer 2026).

Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!

The Team

As a Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Upstart, you will collaborate closely with our Research Scientists, Data Scientists, and other engineering teams to increase ML productivity through better software and infrastructure, improving how we research, train, deploy, serve, and monitor our models. You’ll help reduce the time it takes to go from idea to production, enabling us to quickly test and iterate on new approaches so we can more effectively deliver on our mission of expanding access to credit. In addition, you’ll design and implement code and algorithms that directly improve our models’ predictive power.

How you’ll make an impact

You will set engineering & coding standards for the team and set technical direction to identify investments necessary drive model quality, system reliability, and iteration velocity
Build repeatable workflows and automation that enables scientists to spend more time on high leverage tasks (methodology, writing, analysis) and less on keeping the lights on or getting things to run
Discover and develop a short and long-term roadmap of engineering improvements Explore new algorithms and methodologies for our machine learning models
Interface cross-functionally with other engineering teams (data engineering, machine learning platform, pricing, and growth software engineering), to provide feedback and requirements, so that we can build high-quality systems end-to-end

Basic Qualifications

Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or equivalent experience) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Operations Research, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
4+ years of industry experience as a Machine Learning Engineer or Research Scientist with a strong focus on implementation and tooling
Proficiency in multiple object-oriented programming languages (e.g. Python, C++)
Experience building and productionizing innovative end-to-end Machine Learning systems
Experience in exploratory data analysis, statistical modeling, hypothesis testing, and experimental design
Experience working with cross-functional teams(product, science, product ops etc)

Preferred Qualifications

PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Operations Research, Statistics, or other related quantitative fields or related field
Publications at industry recognized ML conferences
Experience in modern deep learning architectures and probabilistic modeling
Experience with optimization techniques, including reinforcement learning (RL), Bayesian methods, causal ML meta learners, genAI LLM
Experience with CI/CD, data validation, and automation tools (e.g. metaflow)
Expertise in the design and architecture of ML systems and workflows

The Teams:

Personal Loans, Underwriting:

This team is focused on leveraging machine learning to power Upstart’s underwriting models. This team is responsible for building the underwriting model which determines credit decisioning at Upstart. This model plays a central role in Upstart’s overall performance as a company and includes numerous challenging problems to solve.

Growth Team:

Upstart’s Growth Team engages in marketing and borrower acquisition through direct mail (DM) campaigns and targeted loan offers on partner sites, leveraging machine learning to drive growth. The Growth ML team develops models to optimize borrower targeting, predict conversion probabilities, and refine pricing strategies across these channels. Our team has an outsized impact on Upstart’s success; the majority of the loans we originate can be directly attributed to the growth team’s efforts. The Growth ML organization is currently growing rapidly and expanding our scope into new problem spaces.

Partnerships Team:

The ML Partnerships team is focused on expanding and scaling Upstart’s competitive rate offerings on partner sites. This team leverages machine learning to optimize the rates and offers shown to customers with the goal of maximizing conversions to Upstart. As the largest channel, Partnerships has an outsized impact on Upstart’s success, and we work closely with cross functional product, engineering, and partner teams to continue driving growth across our platform(s).

Position location: This role is available in the following locations: Remote

Travel requirements: As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites.The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

What you'll love:

Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
Generous 401(k) plan with Upstart matching $2 for every $1 contributed, up to $15,000 per year
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Life and disability insurance
Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices

#LI-REMOTE
#LI-MidSenior

At Upstart, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the below range. Your actual base pay will depend on your geographic location–with our “digital first” philosophy, Upstart uses compensation regions that vary depending on location. Individual pay is also determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

In addition, Upstart provides employees with target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k).

United States | Remote - Anticipated Base Salary Range$199,500—$276,000 USD

Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. Just as we are dedicated to improving access to affordable credit for all, we are committed to inclusive and fair hiring practices.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email candidate_accommodations@upstart.com

https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy