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Q&A with the CEO of Ocrolus, a Fintech Firm Disrupting Document Analysis—and Hiring

Published: Feb 11, 2020

 Finance       Job Search       Technology       Workplace Issues       
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Vault recently spoke with Sam Bobley, the founder and CEO of Ocrolus, a fintech firm whose technology quickly analyzes financial documents of any format or image quality with near-perfect accuracy. Vault recently spoke with Bobley about his firm, trends in fintech, the types of jobs available in the industry, and what job seekers can do to position themselves to get those jobs. Below is an excerpt of that conversation.

Vault: What does Ocrolus do and how does the firm fit into the wider fintech industry?

Bobley: Ocrolus powers business processes for hundreds of customers across the financial sector, including top fintech lenders such as SoFi, OnDeck, and Kapitus. The company has created a unique system that combines computer vision and an elegant human-in-the-loop data validation system to automate high-stakes financial decisions. The solution analyzes financial documents of any format or image quality with over 99 percent accuracy.

The primary market of Ocrolus is fintech lending, where the platform maximizes the speed, cost-effectiveness, and accuracy of data analysis, and eliminates operational complexities. Using Ocrolus, lenders have streamlined credit assessments from days or hours to minutes. Our fraud detection and smart analytics allow customers to reduce bad debt and build more advanced underwriting models. The value of Ocrolus technology for lenders is perhaps best illustrated by its 0 percent customer churn rate.

Vault: What are some of the biggest trends in fintech? And how are they affecting your firm, consumers, and the industry at large?

Bobley: Consumers and small businesses are demanding faster and more intuitive products.  Lending in particular is a domain where speed is paramount, a trend that Ocrolus recognized early and has stayed ahead of. Evolving customer preferences are putting pressure on lenders to be more efficient, and in turn service providers are being forced to innovate.

Vault: What does the future of fintech look like to you? Which types of firms will be the new disruptors?

Bobley: The future will see more embedment of fintech as modular tools that can be used to build financial products more easily than ever. Non-financial companies, especially consumer brands, will face lower barriers to entry and move into payments and lending, among other financial services. The biggest disruptors will be consumer brands that already have a large customer base and can cross-sell efficiently. 

Vault: What are the current job prospects within the fintech industry? And which types of roles and backgrounds are most needed now and why?

Bobley: Fintech is growing rapidly, and there is increasing demand across the spectrum of jobs. Engineering jobs will remain in the highest demand overall. Data science is especially big for Ocrolus. We see partnerships and business development as increasingly important across fintech, as white labeling becomes more common and companies leverage more of each other’s technology. 

Vault: How should job seekers go about looking for fintech positions?

Bobley: Job seekers should read fintech news and be proactive about reaching out to companies. Right after fundraising is a great time to reach out. People don't need a background in fintech, and not necessarily even in financial services, although startup/growth stage experience definitely helps. The industry is changing rapidly, and passion for learning is critical for anyone without a fintech background. At Ocrolus, we're hiring in every department.  You can apply here.

Vault: Is there anything else you recommend to job seekers and students looking to break into fintech?

Bobley: Make sure to consider back-office service providers. While consumer products get a lot of attention, there's a whole world of back-end software for investments, payments, lending and more. There really is more than meets the eye in the back office.

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