Lead Quantitative Scientist

Collectors is the leading creator of innovative technology that provides value-added services for collectors worldwide. We grade, authenticate, vault, and sell millions of record-setting collectibles, all while modernizing and digitalizing the process to further our mission of helping collectors pursue their passions. We’re always on the lookout for talented people to join our growing team.

Our services span collectible trading cards, autographs, comic books, coins, video games, event tickets, and memorabilia. Our subsidiaries include PSA, PCGS, Beckett, SGC, and Card Ladder.

Since our founding in 1986, we have graded and authenticated millions of items. We employ more than 3000 people across our headquarters in Santa Ana, California and offices in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and France.

As part of our interview process, we request that candidates have their cameras on during video interviews. This helps foster meaningful conversation and allows us to create an experience that closely resembles our standard working environment. Certain interview steps may take place by phone. For remote roles, and at our discretion, candidates may be asked to participate in an on-site interview as part of the final stages of the process.

We understand there may be occasional circumstances requiring accommodation and are happy to discuss them as needed. Your recruiter will be able to clarify expectations and answer any questions you have.

We’re transforming the collecting experience with technology that brings authentication, grading, and trading into the modern era. Our products are equalizing the playing field by providing tools that make complex research analytics — including pricing, scarcity reports, and historic sales data — accessible to every collector, old or new. Grading is an opinion service — but behind that opinion sits decades of expertise and an increasingly powerful data and technology engine. We authenticate and grade collectibles across cards, coins, banknotes, video games, tickets, and more through our iconic brands — PSA, Beckett, SGC, PCGS and more — which serve as the industry’s trusted standard of quality and integrity. As the collectibles market evolves into a mature, data-driven asset class, we are investing heavily in the quantitative infrastructure that underpins our business — from market pricing and grading intelligence to lending and financial products built on top of our dataset.

We’re looking for a Lead Quantitative Scientist to build and lead the quantitative modeling capability at the core of Collectors’ next phase of growth. You’ll own two critical domains: Lending & Underwriting — designing and scaling the ML and quantitative models that power automated underwriting for our lending business, where collectibles authenticated and graded by our brands serve as collateral — and Financial Forecasting — building predictive models that forecast collectible valuations, market dynamics, and pricing trends, strengthening the intelligence layer beneath PSA, Beckett, PCGS, and our broader ecosystem. You’ll operate as the founding, senior individual contributor going deep on modeling and infrastructure, with an opportunity to grow a high-caliber team over time.

You will report into VP of Corporate Development and Strategy and work out of the office from our Santa Ana, CA or Jersey City, NJ location. Remote or hybrid candidates will also be considered, this will be discussed further during the recruiting process. We believe that there is significant value in in‑person collaboration. If you live within a 1‑hour commuting distance to one of our offices, you will be required to be onsite most of the time. This will be discussed further as part of the recruiting process.

What You’ll Do:

• Design, build, and iterate on the ML and quantitative models that power Collectors’ automated underwriting engine for collectible-backed lending

• Develop collateral valuation models, credit risk frameworks, loss forecasting, and pricing models that operate reliably at scale

• 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

• 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

• Serve as the founding leader of the Quantitative Sciences function at Collectors

• Define the team’s roadmap, research agenda, and technical standards

• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Finance, and Risk to translate business needs into modeling priorities

Who You Are:

• 10+ years of experience in quantitative finance, data science, machine learning, or a related field, with meaningful depth in credit/lending, pricing, risk modeling, or asset valuation

• Strong ML fundamentals/Technical Rigor — you’ve built, validated, and deployed supervised/unsupervised models in production

• Financial modeling fluency — you’re comfortable with concepts like probability of default, loss given default, expected loss, time series forecasting, and asset pricing

• Production mindset — you care about model reliability, monitoring, drift detection, and working closely with engineering teams

• Entrepreneurial orientation — you thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and are comfortable owning a problem end-to-end with limited precedent

• Emerging leadership skills — you may not have managed a large team yet, but you’ve mentored others, led projects, and are excited to grow into a people-leadership role

• Strong communication skills — you can translate complex quantitative concepts for non-technical stakeholders and influence decisions 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

• Experience in fintech, marketplace lending, or alternative/exotic asset valuation

• Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in a quantitative discipline — statistics, applied math, CS, physics, economics, operations research, or similar

• Experience building underwriting or credit decisioning systems from scratch

• Familiarity with alternative data sources and feature engineering for non-traditional collateral or thin-file credit assessment

• Personal interest in collectibles, trading cards, coins, or related hobbyist markets (not required, but it helps)

The salary range for this position is $235,347-$331,754. Actual compensation on this range varies based on a variety of non-discriminatory factors, including location, job level, experience, and skill set. This role may be eligible for bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation, please ask your recruiter for details.

Reasons To Join Us:

• Health Insurance: All full-time employees are eligible to enroll in Medical, Dental, and Vision

• Additional Benefits: Full-time employees are eligible for fertility, commuter, and educational assistance benefits

• 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 salaried employees are eligible for flexible time-off

• Holiday Pay: All regular, full-time employees are eligible for ten company paid holidays

• Employee Discounts: Employees receive discounts on select grading services for approved submissions

• Flexible Hours: Many of our teams offer flexible schedules with varying shifts and will work with you to accommodate your needs

• Fun Working Environment: Our team members are invited to participate in celebrations, holiday events, and team building activities

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We are aware that there are instances where individuals are receiving job offers that fraudulently allege to be from Collectors or one of our business units. This type of fraud can be carried out through false websites, through fake e-mails claiming to be from the company or through social media. We never ask for personal information such as your bank account, Social Security numbers or National IDs, nor do we send or request payments for the purchase of business-related equipment. If you suspect fraud, please reach out to [email protected].

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, national origin, gender, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or parental status, disability, veteran status, or other class protected by applicable law. We believe that a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills will better service the diverse community of collectors we support.

If you require an accommodation to apply or interview with us due to a disability or special need, please email [email protected].

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If you are based in California, you can read information for California residents here.