Lead Data Scientist

An Introduction to Primer

The 21st century has witnessed remarkable expansion within the payments ecosystem with the introduction of new payment methods, growth in cross-border commerce, and development of multi-payment processer payment strategies.

The bottom line is payments aren't just another step in the purchasing funnel; they're a strategic asset that facilitates business growth and innovation.

Enter Primer - the world's first unified payment infrastructure, empowering businesses worldwide to unleash their payment potential. By choosing our platform, merchants can take control over their payment stack, create unique commerce experiences, accelerate their roadmap and increase payment success.

Primer's enterprise-grade infrastructure, frameworks, and tooling allow merchants to unify their disparate payment solutions and services to build optimised payment flows tailored to their unique business needs with no code or additional complexity. We strive to make something complex incredibly simple and intuitive.

Our success so far has been reflected in the trust placed in us by category leaders such as Printify, NewLook, Voi, and Dabble, who are using Primer to transform their payments into a growth lever. Moreover, the world's top investors, including Accel, Balderton, Iconiq, and Tencent, have also invested in Primer's vision to rebuild payments and commerce from the ground up.

Join us in shaping the future of payments and commerce. Let's pave the way for a world where businesses can fully realise their payment potential.

What will the role involve?

• Owning Primer’s Data Science function! You’ll own and design our data products, working closely with the Head of Product.

• Lead a small, growing data team in the race to own the data space within the payments world.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities for applying statistical & machine learning techniques to optimize payment success

• Building innovative and impactful data products, harnessing the unique data set Primer continues to build over time

• Work closely with software engineers to integrate machine learning solutions into production systems and ensure robustness, scalability, and reliability

• Optimize model performance through experimentation, tuning hyperparameters, and implementing best practices in machine learning.

• Develop, document and implement processes to put in place as the team scales

What are we looking for?

• Previous experience in leading a data/ML team

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related field

• Confidence in communicating and collaborating with the teams - Engineering, Product, Sales, and more

• Passionate and committed to solving highly complex problems

• Strong proficiency in machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn) and programming languages (Python required)

• Solid understanding of statistical methods, probability theory, and data analysis techniques.

• Familiarity with software development best practices, version control systems (e.g., Git), and agile methodologies.

• Attention to detail and able to document your work thoroughly

What’s the culture like at Primer?

We’re building a culture where people can come and do their best work and enjoy it. We want our people to be proud of the impact that they have at Primer, and of the work that they are doing. You will be working with a team of people who are mission-driven, smart, and reflective, and who are invested in building exceptional products and delivering success for our merchants (and we also know how to have fun along the way).

We work remotely. We believe that building a successful, profitable company goes beyond proximity. We invest in our relationships with each other through great remote working practices and thoughtfully designed face-to-face time together. Our heads-together time comes in the form of workstations, our annual company retreat, and co-working space access worldwide.

Finally, let’s go ahead and say it. The work that we do is challenging. Startups are a challenge, building category defining products is a challenge. You should be prepared for a challenge at Primer. But, there’s a big difference between a challenge and a struggle. The key difference is that the right challenge comes with the right support structures, an acceptance that not everything always goes to plan, a collaborative environment, and a great team around you. It’s never a challenge that you will face alone.

Our benefits:

• We are fully remote

• Competitive share options

• Uncapped holiday, with 25 days minimum to be taken

• Co-working space access

• Workations & company retreat

• The best equipment for your role

• £500 towards your home office setup

• Generous learning budget

• Medical insurance

• A broad set of additional perks and benefits (depending on location)

Don’t meet every single requirement?

At Primer, we’re dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply. You may be the right candidate for this or other roles. Primer is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees, regardless of background or beliefs—see our diversity commitment statement for more details

Equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging policy

Primer adopts a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.

We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all current and prospective employees regardless of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.