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Exploring Data Science Careers at Capital One: Takeaways from an Exclusive Graduate Lunch
On UVA Company Day, the School of Data Science and longtime industry partner Capital One hosted an exclusive event for MSDS and Ph.D. students. Over lunch in the Capital One Hub, students met recruiters, senior leaders, and data scientists from across the company and got an inside look at both the people and the projects that make Capital One a tech-forward financial institution.
The event began with introductions from the Capital One team. Amy Majeski, recruiting manager for data science, kicked things off, followed by senior directors, managers, and data scientists from lines of business like credit cards, banking, marketing, and compliance. The mix of early-career professionals and senior leaders gave students a clear picture of the potential career paths available.
Career Opportunities at Capital One
The associates gave an overview of the institution's internship and full-time employment opportunities. Katelyn Stringer, a former Capital One intern turned senior data scientist, highlighted the company’s 10-week summer internship program. "I can personally vouch for the internship program I went through in 2019, so if you have a chance to apply, I would highly recommend it," Stringer said.
Interns get hands-on experience creating, monitoring, and validating models while collaborating with stakeholders to solve complex business problems. She highlighted the program as a chance to see how data science drives decisions in large organizations, and Stringer personally vouched for the program as a transformative experience for students early in their careers.
Students also got a sense of the variety of work data scientists do at Capital One. Some focus on analytics and innovation, experimenting with new techniques, building papers, and designing models to decide which customers get which offers. Others help with risk and governance, ensuring models are built correctly and responsibly.
Sneak Peek: Sequence Modeling
The real highlight of the session was the peek behind the curtain at some of Capital One’s cutting-edge work. Stringer explained how the company has moved beyond traditional models like gradient boosted machines (GBMs) for certain challenges like fraud detection. Fraudulent activity can happen over time, making it tricky to catch with standard models. That’s where transformer-based models, similar to those used in AI and large language models, come in.
Senior director of data science Crystal Acosta went deeper into this work, showing how her team uses sequences of transactional data to detect risky payments. Unlike older models that rely on aggregated features, transformers can automatically learn patterns from raw sequences, making fraud detection faster and more accurate. Acosta noted that transformer models have boosted detection rates by 53%, with an average improvement of 10%.
The lunch wrapped up with a lively networking session. Students rotated between tables to chat with team members from different lines of business, asking questions about day-to-day work, career paths, and what recruiters look for. Recruiters encouraged students to be proactive by signing up for alerts on the Capital One career site, asking questions, and making connections.
Capital One also offers full-time professional roles across its main hubs in McLean, Richmond, New York City, Plano, Chicago, and Boston. These positions require technical skills in Python, R, SQL, and big data tools, similar to the internship program.
