[Hiring] Founding Data Scientist @Calliper

At Calliper, we believe that data should be for the many, not the few. Data is one of the most valuable assets companies have. Yet, most struggle to unlock its potential. We're here to change that.

We help companies win by making better decisions with data, faster. Calliper is a mission control centre for the whole company - making data accessible and actionable for everyone.

Aggregate fragmented sources. Remove noise. Align teams.

This is Collaborative Analytics.

 

We're a fast-growing startup backed by Sequoia and 35+ operator angels and late-stage startup founders who have first-hand experienced the challenges of building data-driven organisations. See a short demo of what we are building here.

As a company, we deeply care about our people and the culture we’re building. Learn more about us here.

This is a unique opportunity to deliver data insights and impact across 10s, 100s and then 1000s of companies. Here’s some of what you will drive:

• Own insight models: Lead the development of human and actionable insight models. These models detect patterns, trends or correlations in our customer’s data. We use these findings to point the user in the right direction and guide them at every step of their data exploration journey thereafter (much like an in-house data team would).
• Build an anomaly detection engine: It’s integral that the insights we provide customers are as accurate as possible. To achieve this, we need a way to quickly flag anomalies or discrepancies to users and to get them resolved seamlessly and accurately. These anomalies could include missing data, incorrect spelling, wrong tagging and other data quirks.
• Work side-by-side with customers. You will be on the frontline with our early users (startup leaders) to understand their businesses and how we can iterate our insight models to best serve their needs.
• Plan system expansion. Execute expansion as needed to support Calliper's growth and data science needs. Build out the roadmap on how the data stack evolves with the team.

A great Founding Data Scientist will be able to step up into a Team Lead role as the company scales. This means that you will have the opportunity to:

• Get more involved in hiring and building a world-class, global Data Science team
• Coach and mentor team members from many different backgrounds to grow in both their technical and leadership skills
• Enhance our data science capabilities by utilising the latest machine learning approaches and tooling
• Work on the longer-term strategic vision of Calliper, communicating with senior leadership, product management and operations

Requirements

• Mission-driven. We are looking for missionaries, not mercenaries. Empowering teams with better data insights and enabling more cross-functional collaboration is something we are deeply passionate about
• Excited by the culture we are building. Culture is very important to us, and we want you to be committed to working hard to help us create a long-lasting, high-performance culture
• Data Science Degree? ML Bootcamp? Self Taught? Whatever... We aren’t precious about titles, and whilst a traditional statistics/data science background might be great, so will many others. The important thing is you love to ship high-quality data outputs fast and can’t live without getting user feedback‍
• Some startup experience. You should be aware of what you’re getting yourself in for with an early-stage company. Things can be intense and stressful and then thrilling and euphoric all in the same day, so you need to be ready for the emotional rollercoaster. Also, you are comfortable when faced with a lot of ambiguity, both technically and organisationally. You’re happy to tackle problems without a clear definition or solution

• We’re creating a Data Analytics best practice. There are 100s of metrics which you can calculate to measure a business and each company today chooses its own subset and defines them in its own way. This breeds complexity and no way to disentangle signal from noise. We want to have customers narrow down to the handful of metrics and insights that really matter. Every function has gone through its own process of defining best practice: Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Software engineering, etc. so it’s natural that Data Practice follows the same steps.
• Exciting data and machine learning challenges. As a data company, we’re always trying to push the quality bar and impact of the algorithms we develop for our customers. However, it’s not just about the quality of data science, we also work really hard to package them in sleek, interactive and low latency product experiences
• Protected deep work sessions. Throughout the week we make time to shield the team from distractions and reactive work. Close Slack and turn off your notifications and ship some high-quality work
• Strong advocation for great employee experience. We like using services that take care of undifferentiated work. Obviously, there are a handful of areas of the product where we need to build something custom ourselves, but in most cases, we are happy to pay for what’s already tried and tested
• No BS. No ego. Just direct communication and an honest search for truth. We want to always be improving as a team and individuals, so we leave ego at the door and always try to be intellectually honest
• Tight processes, clear goals and limited chaos. We are considerate and intentional with what we are building, so we always have a clear view of the roadmap and priorities. Startups are hard enough we don’t want to do crazy pivots every month

 

You can learn more about the wider company culture here.

 

We have made some intentional technical choices but we're still early in our journey so there is plenty of room to contribute to our roadmap. Currently, we are working with the following technologies:

• Pandas, numpy, SQL for data transformations
• Python3 with type hints
• Snowflake as a data warehouse
• Fivetran for data ingestion
• Postgres as a hot data storage
• Prefect for running jobs

We strive to be thoughtful and intentional with the culture we build at Calliper.

🏆 Take ownership, deliver work you’re proud of.

Having high personal standards and delivering quality work is very important to us. We care about the details.

⛩ Choose simplicity, bring order to the chaos.

Less is more, don’t try to overcomplicate things and always find out how things can be reduced to their core.

📣 Create transparency, communicate proactively and authentically.

Be honest and upfront about what’s working and what’s not. When you disagree with something, speak your mind.

🏗. Find leverage, create lasting impact.

Find ways to make your work to continue delivering value after it’s been shared - deliver compounding returns.

We're excited to meet you! 🥳

We're a small, agile team, made up of only senior contributors, so we've designed this process to stretch and test you across both technical and soft skills. Across 2-4 weeks through this process, you will get a real glimpse into what it would be like to work at Calliper and get to know the team you will be working with.

1. Introduction Call (30 mins). We can tell you more about us and the role, and we want to learn more about your background, ambitions and values. This is as much about selling ourselves to you as you telling us how awesome you are.
2. Take Home Task (3-4 hours). What better way to find out if we would enjoy working together than actually working together. We will give you an open-ended, fun task to showcase both your technical and commercial skills then we will to invite you to present your work to us. This is a compensated task.
3. Values Interview (1 hour). Now that we have established that you have not only the potential to be a strong cultural fit, but also are a proficient and pragmatic data scientist, this will be a chance for you to meet the wider team and get to know your potential future colleagues.
4. Final Conversation (30 mins). A final opportunity to review whether everyone is happy with the fit and discuss salary and equity options.

Please note that we are also open to a trial period where we can work with you as a consultant to get to know each other better.

💜 We strongly encourage candidates of all different backgrounds and identities to apply. We believe that our team is stronger with a variety of perspectives, and we’re eager to further diversify our company. If you have a background that you feel would make an impact at Calliper, please consider applying. We’re committed to building an inclusive, supportive place for you to do the best work of your career.

Benefits

We’re not Google but want to provide you with everything you need to feel productive and empowered to operate at your best.

🌍 Remote-First

We love working together and getting together but are remote-first as a policy. Work anywhere in a European timezone.

🌴 4 Weeks Holiday Minimum

We encourage and enforce team members to take time away from work.

🌿 Personal Goals Support

Up to £500 funding per year is offered to pursue personal growth or wellness projects (from marathons to meditation camps).

🖥️ Home Office Budget

Get the best computer, desk, chair, headphones, or whatever else you need to work from home comfortably with a generous budget.

🥪 Lunch & Learn Tuesdays

Have lunch with us every Tuesday, with great talks from colleagues and industry leaders.

✈️ Bi-Annual Adventures

Twice a year we do a stimulating team-building activity to evolve and grow as a team. This could be anything from climbing a mountain to a treasure hunt.