CV

Career History

Head of Data Science, VALD
Brisbane, Australia
Mar 2023 – Current

Hired as VALD’s first Head of Data Science to define and execute data roadmap, aligning with business goals and building an 8-person Data Science & Engineering team in two years.
Spearheaded an enterprise data lakehouse on Azure Databricks, delivering $1M annually through new product features and operational efficiency, while establishing robust data governance practices.
Championed VALD’s data strategy through a keynote client conference speech, investor due diligence (leading to $10M investment), webinars, and industry-leading podcast.
Technologies: Azure Databricks, PySpark, R, MLflow, SQL, Power BI, Git.

Senior Manager (Analytics), Affirm
San Francisco, CA
Oct 2019 – Jan 2023

Established a 7-person Merchant Pricing Foundations team responsible for data management strategy, analytical tools, partnership deal pricing, and international expansion, increasing pricing efficiency by 20%.
Led a Covid-19 lending strategy transformation, building a transaction-level P&L model under stressed scenarios and adjusting merchant financing programs to deliver $9M in annual contribution margin.
Owned Go-To-Market pricing strategy, modeling the impact of consumer offers on loan economics and launching simplified ‘financing bundles’ that increased annual margin by $5M. Drove cross-functional approvals, Salesforce rollout, and seller enablement.
Architected a dynamic optimization system that uses a predictive engine to recommend merchant financing program changes to optimize loan economics, increasing steady-state ROA by 25bps.
Technologies: Snowflake, dbt, Python, SQL, Looker, Git, Redshift.

Senior Data Scientist, Quantium
San Francisco, CA
Sep 2018 – Sep 2019

Led a team of four data scientists to configure the Q.Refinery transaction enrichment data product for Wells Fargo, winning a vendor selection process.
Developed propensity models in PySpark for a cross-functional 1:1 marketing personalization pilot at a major US bank.
Technologies: PySpark, SQL, Apache Hadoop, Git.

Pricing Optimization Manager, Direct Line Group
London, UK
Mar 2015 – Aug 2018

Led a 4-person team responsible for Motor Renewals pricing optimization. Oversaw project plans, reviewed customer retention models, and managed employee performance and day-to-day workstack.
Rebuilt the renewal price optimization algorithm for a £1.4B motor insurance portfolio, delivering £12M additional profit and a streamlined process with robust controls.
Ran A/B experiments of new optimization strategies and created automated insights dashboard for P&L owners.
Technologies: Radar, Emblem, SAS, Qlik.

Actuarial Analyst, Quantium
Brisbane, AU
Jan 2011 – Dec 2014

Responsible for data extraction, cleansing and feature engineering.
Created a de-biased sample of retail customers, which powered the Q.Checkout BI data product used by CPG clients.
Developed technical cost models for a comprehensive motor insurance product using SAS and Emblem.
Implemented an automated vehicle risk monitoring suite while seconded to a leading motor insurer.
Built benchmark cost GLMs for an industrial gas client, along with an Excel scorecard rolled out to pricing managers.
Prepared a monthly report analysing trends in key steel indices and other global markets.
Created and presented a SAS tutorial for colleagues.
Technologies: SQL, SAS, Teradata, Emblem, VBA.

Associate of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (AIAA)
Brisbane, Australia
Mar 2011 – Dec 2013

Bachelor of Applied Science (Mathematics) (First Class Honours)
Brisbane, Australia
Jan 2008 – Dec 2010

Major Achievements:

Dean’s Scholars Accelerated Honours Program: four-year honours degree completed in three years
GPA: 7.0 out of 7 (high distinction)
Average Grade: 98%

Software: SQL, Python, PySpark, R, SAS, Power BI, Tableau, Looker, Databricks, Snowflake, dbt, Microsoft Azure, VBA, Emblem, Radar.
Technical: Data Visualization, Predictive Modeling, Experimentation & A/B Testing, Forecasting, Funnel Analysis, Feature Engineering, Price Optimization.
Personal: Leadership, Team Development, Stakeholder Engagement, Problem Solving, Executive Communication, Self-motivation.

University Medal, Queensland University of Technology (2010)
Staff Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Honours Year, Queensland University of Technology (2010)
Staff Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Second-Year Subjects, Queensland University of Technology (2008, 2009)
Head of School’s Award for Excellence in Mathematics, Queensland University of Technology (2009)
Dean’s Merit Award, Queensland University of Technology (2008, 2009)
Research Scholarship, Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (2009)
Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship, Queensland University of Technology (2008)
Australian Student Prize (2007)
Dux of College, Iona College (2007)

Volunteer, Coffee Brigade (2023 – Current)
Food Kitchen Volunteer, St Anthony’s Foundation (2019 – 2022)
VP of Public Relations, SF Downtown Toastmasters (2020 – 2021)
Social Buddy, Share Community (2016 – 2018)
Team Leader, Rosies Youth Mission (2011 – 2014)