Quantitative Scientist, Forecasting & Demand Planning

PSA

$187K — $253K *
Finance & Insurance
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 3–5 years of experience in quantitative finance, data science, or a related field
  • Solid machine learning fundamentals with hands-on experience in model building and production
  • Strong proficiency in Python and SQL, comfortable with large datasets
  • Familiarity with financial modeling concepts like time series forecasting and asset pricing
  • Experience in producing scenario ranges from forecasts rather than just point estimates
  • Production mindset focusing on model reliability and monitoring
  • Ability to navigate ambiguity and define problems with limited precedent
  • Demonstrates clear communication skills to explain models to non-technical partners
  • Intellectual curiosity about alternative asset classes like collectibles

Responsibilities

  • Leverage proprietary grading and transaction data for modeling advantages
  • Deploy models into production systems with monitoring and feedback mechanisms
  • Continuously improve models using new data sources and methodologies
  • Validate valuation models through backtesting and experimentation
  • Collaborate with experts to enhance feature engineering for market nuances
  • Build models forecasting market dynamics and asset prices in collectibles
  • Generate insights to inform product and pricing strategies across the portfolio
  • Contribute to the team roadmap and collaborate cross-functionally with stakeholders

Benefits

  • Health Insurance: Eligibility for medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • 401(K) Matching Plan: Competitive matching to support financial goals
  • Vacation: Paid vacation for full-time employees
  • Holiday Pay: Eligibility for ten company-paid holidays
  • Employee Discounts: Discounts on select services
  • Flexible Hours: Opportunities for varied schedules and remote work
  • Fun Working Environment: Participation in company events and outings
Full Job Description

We're looking for a Quantitative Scientist, Forecasting & Demand Planning to help build the quantitative modeling capability at the core of Collectors' next phase of growth.


This is unlike almost any other quantitative role in fintech or financial services. You'll be modeling asset classes — vintage sports cards, rare coins, sealed video games — where the data is uniquely ours, the domain expertise lives in-house, and the opportunity to build something from first principles is wide open.


You'll join a small, early-stage team and work directly with its leader on modeling and infrastructure. We're looking for someone who wants to ship real models and grow quickly alongside the function.



What You'll Do


Modeling & Production:

  • Leverage Collectors' proprietary grading, authentication, search and transaction data — one of the deepest datasets in the collectibles industry — as a core modeling advantage
  • Partner with Engineering to deploy models into production systems with appropriate monitoring, explainability, and feedback loops
  • Continuously improve model performance using new data sources, features, and methodologies
  • Partner with other members of the Product & Technology team to validate valuation models through rigorous backtesting and experimentation.
  • Collaborate with domain experts to improve feature engineering to ensure our models reflect the market nuances that drive sale prices

Financial Forecasting:

  • Build quantitative models that forecast market dynamics, asset valuations, and pricing trends across collectible categories (cards, coins, comics, banknotes, games, and beyond)
  • Develop and refine intelligence that supports and enhances our grading and authentication businesses
  • Generate insights that inform product, pricing, and go-to-market strategy across the Collectors portfolio

Team & Collaboration:

  • Join the Quantitative Sciences function as one of its first members, working directly with its leader
  • Contribute to the team's roadmap, research agenda, and technical standards
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Finance, and Operations to understand business needs and turn them into well-scoped modeling work.

Who You Are


  • 3–5 years of experience in quantitative finance, data science, machine learning, or a related field, with hands-on experience in pricing, demand forecasting, or asset valuation
  • Solid ML fundamentals — you’ve built and validated supervised models on real data and have helped get at least one into production, not just in notebooks
  • Strong Python and SQL — you’re fluent with the standard data stack (pandas, scikit-learn or similar) and comfortable working directly with large datasets
  • Financial modeling foundations — you're familiar with concepts like time series forecasting, scenario analysis, and asset pricing
  • Forecasting experience — you’ve built time series or demand forecasts and can produce scenario ranges (downside, base, upside), not just point estimates
  • Production mindset — you care about model reliability, monitoring, drift detection, and working closely with engineering teams
  • Comfort with ambiguity — you can make progress in a fast-moving environment and are comfortable working on problems with limited precedent
  • Ownership and follow-through — you can take a loosely defined problem, scope it, and carry it to a shipped result with guidance from your lead
  • Clear communication — you can explain your models and results to non-technical partners and back your recommendations with data
  • Intellectual curiosity about alternative assets — you're excited (not intimidated) by the prospect of modeling asset classes that don't have decades of structured financial data behind them

Nice to Haves


  • Experience in fintech or alternative/exotic asset valuation
  • Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in a quantitative discipline — statistics, applied math, CS, physics, economics, operations research, or similar
  • Exposure to demand planning or capacity planning in an operations-heavy business
  • Personal interest in collectibles, trading cards, coins, or related hobbyist markets (not required, but it helps)

Why This Role


  • Proprietary data. Collectors has authenticated and graded hundreds of millions of collectibles. You'll build models on top of a dataset that simply doesn't exist anywhere else.
  • Early-stage team. You'll join the Quantitative Sciences function near its start and help shape the models, the roadmap, and the culture.
  • Tangible business impact. The models you build will directly power how we price, plan capacity, and grow across a rapidly expanding market.
  • Category-defining work. Collectibles are becoming a recognized asset class. You'll help build the quantitative infrastructure that makes that possible.
  • Room to grow. You’ll work directly with the function’s leader, get hands-on coaching, and take on more scope as the team and the models mature.



Compensation & Benefits


The estimated salary for this role is $187,400 - $253,500. Actual compensation may vary based on relevant experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other role-specific factors.



Reasons To Join Us


  • Health Insurance: All full-time employees are eligible to enroll in Medical, Dental, and Vision
  • 401(K) Matching Plan: We are proud to offer a competitive 401k matching plan to our employees to support their future financial goals
  • Vacation: All full-time employees are eligible for paid vacation
  • Holiday Pay: All regular, full-time employees are eligible for ten company-paid holidays
  • Employee Discounts: Employees receive discounts on select grading services for different segments
  • Flexible Hours: Many of our teams offer flexible schedules with varying shifts and work-from-home opportunities
  • Fun Working Environment: Our team members are invited to company-wide events, celebrations, and department outings

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