Tarfin

About Tarfin

Tarfin is a digital platform that provides farmers with access to high-quality farm inputs with competitive credit terms. Our mission is to use cutting-edge technology and big data analytics to reduce the costs of fertilizers, feed and other farm inputs. We are making agriculture profitable even for the country's smaller, underbanked farmers. 

Tarfin is the most innovative company in its space: We are the first digital platform to focus on providing instant credit terms to farmers, first fintech company to partner with Turkey’s Credit Bureau for data sharing in agriculture, and the first non-financial services company to issue and sell an asset-backed security. Tarfin is a post-Series A scale-up backed by Quona Capital, Syngenta Ventures, Elevator Ventures, Collective Spark Fund and Wamda Capital.

Who we are

If you would like to get to know our Data Science team, here are our own Tarfin experiences from the viewpoint of the team!

• As the Tarfin data science team, we have a direct impact on Tarfin's success and decision processes.
• As a dynamic engineering team, we speak the same language, understand each other and work in an environment that keeps us highly motivated.
• We have the advantage of being a data scientist in a fintech start-up. We involve the whole team in business processes, research, idea generation, solution finding, mathematical modelling, testing and deployment processes. In machine learning projects, we ensure that everyone in the team sees the big picture and participates in the projects end-to-end. 
• We care about our education. We keep our technical skills up to date with our training budget.
• We act as a team, supporting each other and guiding constructively. We know that we are only as strong as our weakest link.
• We are the limit of what we can do. We keep our academic side strong by reviewing literature in order to exceed our own limits and expand our vision. As the data science team, we encourage reading and publishing academic papers. Under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Mustafa Baydoğan from Boğaziçi University, we approach the problems academically and review the literature periodically. We discover, evaluate and adapt up-to-date and state of the art academic publications related to our topic. We don't let our learning curve drop.
• We are responsible. From the first day, we provide the opportunity to take responsibility and manage projects.

The role

We use mathematical models to provide our farmer customers with the most competitive and convenient financing terms. You’ll be responsible for helping with developing predictive models and analyses that run our receivable risk engine, fraud detection systems, pricing, and portfolio risk diversification algorithms. We expect Tarfin’s data scientists to research, develop and apply advanced modeling and statistical techniques to help thousands of farmers instantly save money on their farm inputs purchases. The ideal candidate is expected to have proficiency in Python.

What we focus on

With our data science team, we develop decision-making models that measure real-time, micro and macro-scale risk in the field of finance. 

Our main applications areas and projects;

• Credit Risk Modelling 
• Probability of Default and Risk Estimation
• Forecasting
• Reject Inference
• Fraud/Anomaly Detection 
• Variable Pricing
• Portfolio Risk Diversification
• Collection Scoring

Qualifications

• At least 2 years of professional experience in Data Science
• Deep understanding of statistical and machine learning models and proven experience with applying models to data science problems
• Strong knowledge of SQL
• Solid programming skills in Python
• Data preparation, modification, analysis and reporting to business units
• Familiarity with data visualization tools (matplotlib, seaborn, ggplot2 etc.)
• Experience in credit risk modeling is a plus
• Experience in risk management is a plus
• Familiar with AWS is a plus
• Being a team player

Nice to have

• Experience in credit risk modeling 
• Experience in risk management 
• Familiar with AWS
• Large and/or numerous contributions to open source projects.
• Published blog posts and/or tech talks about your work.

About You

• Passionate about the latest technologies, strong academic mentored literature review, and extensive research platforms
• Celebrating your successes learning from your failures
• Encouraging creative thinking and excited to build new models by developing new approaches
• Deeply enjoys spending time with machine learning and data science projects
• A great communicator, has an excellent analytical perspective and is prone to teamwork

Why this job is exciting

Tarfin’s data science team researches, develops and applies advanced modelling and statistical techniques to help thousands of farmers access to their products and instantly save money on their purchases. You will be part of our data team and develop models and analyses that run our risk, fraud, pricing, optimization, and behavior engines.

You will be analyzing large sets of data, coming up with actionable insights. You will also be expected to utilize data mining techniques for exploration and visualization for reporting and analytical purposes. You will be working with outside partners Asst. Prof. Mustafa Baydogan from Bogazici University.

By joining the Data Science team, you will be a partner in Tarfin's growth story and you will gain an experience that makes a difference with the responsibilities you take.

Would you like to take a look at how the first six months will go?

In a month;

• A good start by meeting all the teams with a planned orientation
• Experiencing Tarfin's perspective and the positive impact it has had on the industry
• Knowing that you are an important part of the team and sharing your ideas
• Obtaining details about carried out and developed projects

Within three months;

• Become an effective communicator within the team
• Better understanding of projects and taking responsibility
• Creating your initial models and products by taking responsibility in the projects carried out

Within six months;

• Become an expert on the Tarfin data science team
• Increasing your influence on models and perspectives

Interview process

1. We receive your applications
2. Our Data Science team examines your application in detail and determines whether it meets the qualifications for the position. (We will let you know if there is another open position that we think might be better for you.)

And our Phase One begins;

1. Our Human Resources team will reach you and schedule a 45-minute meeting.
2. To answer your questions about Tarfin, our HR team provides information about Tarfin. 
3. We listen to your valuable experiences, the wonderful projects you have accomplished, the subjects you are an expert in and are eager to learn. “What did you aim for in your projects, how did you choose the methods you used while carrying out the project, what kind of result did you get, were you satisfied with the result you achieved?” questions are among the ones we are curious about! 
4. Our Data Science team leader tells you what kind of a team we are, what kind of method we follow while working, our perspective, the projects we carry out and the projects we are dying to carry out. Our Data Science team leader informs you about the tools we use, the external resources we benefit from and the academic publications we read.
5. After answering your questions, we ask a few technical questions and focus on your approach and give you feedback.
6. We have a task that we expect you to submit in a few days! If you want to do this task and continue the process, we will send it to you. Don't forget that we are always available for any issue you have in mind.
7. Towards the end of the 45-minute meeting, our HR team ends the meeting by talking about life in Tarfin, our corporate culture and our values.

Our Task Phase;

• The task sent to you includes all the details and the deadline.
• We would be happy to answer all questions about the Task and listen to your feedback.
• Tasks that reach us before the deadline are carefully reviewed by our Data Science team.
• A final meeting is scheduled after the task review.
• What we are most interested in here is your point of view!

The last step of the interview process;

• Our CEO Mehmet Memecan, our CFO Kerimcan Aycibin and our Data Science Team Oğuz, Mehmet, Onur, Övünç, Candaş and Sadullah are also present in this meeting.
• In our meeting, we expect you to present your Task to us and to meet our team.
• Our team participating in the interview ask questions about you.
• We answer your questions about our team.
• After a productive 60-minute meeting, we thank you for that day.

Our Human Resources team checks your references and makes you a job offer.