Quantitative Scientist, Forecasting & Demand Planning
Santa Ana, CA - USA
Job Summary
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. Were 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 the UK 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.
Were 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. Youll 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.
Youll join a small early-stage team and work directly with its leader on modeling and infrastructure. Were looking for someone who wants to ship real models and grow quickly alongside the function.
What Youll 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 teams 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
- 35 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 youve 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 youre fluent with the standard data stack (pandas scikit-learn or similar) and comfortable working directly with large datasets
- Financial modeling foundations youre familiar with concepts like time series forecasting scenario analysis and asset pricing
- Forecasting experience youve 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 youre excited (not intimidated) by the prospect of modeling asset classes that dont 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. Youll build models on top of a dataset that simply doesnt exist anywhere else.
- Early-stage team. Youll 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. Youll help build the quantitative infrastructure that makes that possible.
- Room to grow. Youll work directly with the functions 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 $187400 - $253500. 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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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
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.
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Required Experience:
IC