Itaú Unibanco, one of the largest banking institutions in Latin America, is known for its commitment to innovation and technological advancement within the financial industry. With a strong presence in both retail and investment banking, Itaú Unibanco continues to drive progress through data-driven strategies and digital solutions.

As a Data Scientist at Itaú Unibanco, you will delve into complex datasets to uncover insights that inform business decisions, enhance customer experiences, and improve operational efficiency. This role demands proficiency in machine learning, statistical analysis, and programming, as well as a keen ability to translate data into actionable insights.

This guide by Interview Query aims to provide you with an overview of the interview process, typical Data Scientist interview questions at Itaú Unibanco, and preparation tips to help you succeed. Join us as we navigate your path to becoming a Data Scientist at Itaú Unibanco!

Submitting Your Application

The first step is to submit a compelling application that reflects your technical skills and interest in joining Itaú Unibanco as a Data Scientist. Whether you were contacted by an Itaú Unibanco recruiter or have taken the initiative yourself, carefully review the job description and tailor your CV according to the prerequisites.

Tailoring your CV may include identifying specific keywords that the hiring manager might use to filter resumes and crafting a targeted cover letter. Furthermore, don’t forget to highlight relevant skills and mention your work experiences.

Recruiter/Hiring Manager Call Screening

If your CV happens to be among the shortlisted few, a recruiter from the Itaú Unibanco Talent Acquisition Team will make contact and verify key details like your experiences and skill level. Behavioral questions may also be a part of the screening process.

In some cases, the Itaú Unibanco Data Scientist hiring manager stays present during the screening round to answer your queries about the role and the company itself. They may also indulge in surface-level technical and behavioral discussions.

The whole recruiter call should take about 30 minutes.

Technical Virtual Interview

Successfully navigating the recruiter round will present you with an invitation for the technical screening round. Technical screening for the Itaú Unibanco Data Scientist role usually is conducted through virtual means, including video conference and screen sharing. Questions in this 1-hour long interview stage may revolve around Itaú Unibanco’s data systems, ETL pipelines, and SQL queries.

In the case of data science roles, take-home assignments regarding product metrics, analytics, and data visualization are incorporated. Apart from these, your proficiency against hypothesis testing, probability distributions, and machine learning fundamentals may also be assessed during the round.

Depending on the seniority of the position, case studies and similar real-scenario problems may also be assigned.

Onsite Interview Rounds

Followed by a second recruiter call outlining the next stage, you’ll be invited to attend the onsite interview loop. Multiple interview rounds, varying with the role, will be conducted during your day at the Itaú Unibanco office. Your technical prowess, including programming and ML modeling capabilities, will be evaluated against the finalized candidates throughout these interviews.

If you were assigned take-home exercises, a presentation round may also await you during the onsite interview for the Data Scientist role at Itaú Unibanco.

Quick Tips For Itaú Unibanco Data Scientist Interviews

• Should contain three tips for interviewing for this specific company based on interview experiences.

Example:

You should plan to brush up on any technical skills and try as many practice interview questions and mock interviews as possible. A few tips for acing your Itaú Unibanco interview include:

• Understand Financial-Institution Context: Itaú Unibanco, being a large financial institution, often integrates financial scenarios into data science tasks. Familiarize yourself with common financial products and services.
• Be Data Driven: Itaú Unibanco’s data science interviews assess how well you can provide business-driving insights with data science. Brush up on your knowledge of statistics and probability, given these questions can be some of the hardest to solve.
• Embody the Spirit: Itaú Unibanco values innovation, digital transformation, and customer-oriented solutions. Practice responding to behavioral questions with answers that touch on these core values.

Typically, interviews at Itaú Unibanco vary by role and team, but commonly Data Scientist interviews follow a fairly standardized process across these question topics.

• Write a function to merge two sorted lists into one sorted list. Given two sorted lists, write a function to merge them into one sorted list.

• Write a function to find the maximum number in a list of integers. Given a list of integers, write a function that returns the maximum number in the list. If the list is empty, return None.

• Write a query to get the top 3 highest employee salaries by department. Given the employees and departments table, write a query to get the top 3 highest employee salaries by department. The output should include the full name of the employee, the department name, and the salary, sorted by department name in ascending order and salary in descending order.

• Write a function to combine sorted integer lists into one sorted list. Given a list of sorted integer lists, write a function sort_lists to create a combined list while maintaining sorted order without using the 'sort' or 'sorted' functions in Python.

• Write a function to swap nodes in a singly linked list. Given the head of a singly linked list and two zero-indexed positions x and y, write a function swap_node to swap the positions of nodes x and y using pointer manipulation and return the new head.

• How would you investigate a decrease in credit card payment amounts per transaction? You work for a financial company and notice that the credit card payment amount per transaction has decreased. How would you investigate the cause of this change?

• How would you build a strategy to find the best small businesses to partner with? You are a credit card company looking to partner with more merchants. You have 100K small businesses to reach out to but can only contact 1000. How would you strategize to identify the best businesses to approach?

• What features would you include in a model to predict pizza order no-shows? Imagine you run a pizza franchise and face a problem with many no-shows after customers place their orders. What features would you include in a model to predict these no-shows?

• How does random forest generate the forest and why use it over logistic regression? Explain how random forest generates its forest. Additionally, discuss why one might choose random forest over other algorithms such as logistic regression.

• How would you build a fraud detection model with a text messaging service for a bank? You work at a bank that wants to build a model to detect fraud on its platform. The bank also wants to implement a text messaging service that will text customers when the model detects a fraudulent transaction, allowing the customer to approve or deny the transaction via text response. How would you build this model?

• What is the relationship between PCA and K-means clustering? Explain the relationship between Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering.

What is the average salary for a Data Scientist at Itaú Unibanco?

Q: What does the interview process for a Data Scientist at Itaú Unibanco involve?

The interview process at Itaú Unibanco for a Data Scientist role typically includes several stages: an initial HR screening, technical assessments, and onsite interviews with team members. The technical assessment often involves coding challenges, statistical problems, and data analysis tasks. The onsite interviews may include case studies and discussions about your past projects and experiences.

Q: What kind of technical skills are required for a Data Scientist position at Itaú Unibanco?

For a Data Scientist role at Itaú Unibanco, you should have a strong foundation in statistics, machine learning, and programming languages like Python or R. Experience with data manipulation tools such as SQL, as well as familiarity with data visualization tools like Tableau or Power BI, is also important. Knowledge in finance or banking can be a plus.

Q: What is the company culture like at Itaú Unibanco?

Itaú Unibanco values innovation, collaboration, and a customer-centric approach. Employees are encouraged to be proactive, continuously learn, and contribute to a dynamic work environment. The company also emphasizes diversity and inclusion, believing that varied perspectives enhance problem-solving and drive better results.

Q: What types of projects might I work on as a Data Scientist at Itaú Unibanco?

As a Data Scientist at Itaú Unibanco, you'll likely work on a range of projects, including predictive modeling, customer segmentation, credit scoring, and fraud detection. Your work will involve analyzing large datasets to derive insights and develop data-driven strategies to improve banking services and operations.

Q: How can I best prepare for my interview with Itaú Unibanco?

To prepare for your interview at Itaú Unibanco, you should familiarize yourself with the company's products and services, and stay updated on industry trends in banking and finance. Practice your technical skills and review common interview questions using resources like Interview Query. Be ready to discuss your past experiences and how they align with the role. Focus on demonstrating your problem-solving abilities and your passion for data science.

Interviewing for the Data Scientist position at Itaú Unibanco brings a unique blend of technical challenges and insightful conversations about real-world applications of data science in the banking sector. If you want to gain more insights about the company and prepare thoroughly, check out our main Itaú Unibanco Interview Guide, where we cover a variety of interview questions you might encounter. We've also created detailed interview guides for other roles, such as data engineer and financial analyst, offering a broader understanding of Itaú Unibanco’s interview processes across various positions.

At Interview Query, we empower you to unlock your interview prowess with a comprehensive toolkit, equipping you with the knowledge, confidence, and strategic guidance to tackle any Itaú Unibanco Data Scientist interview question and challenge.

You can explore all our company interview guides for better preparation, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Good luck with your interview!