Acknowledging that it takes more than lawyers and examiners these days to keep tabs on the financial services industry, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced an initiative where it plans to hire 25 technologists to join the agency, who will be tasked with supporting the CFPB’s efforts to uncover misconduct and unlawful activities.
Adding technologists to the teams investigating, examining, and supervising companies in the financial services industry will help the CFPB better hold those companies accountable, and “regulate the constantly evolving financial marketplace,” wrote Erie Meyer, the CFPB’s Chief Technologist, in a blog post announcing the hiring initiative.
The CFPB is looking to hire individuals with skillsets in data science, software engineering, product management, and design and user experience. Salaries for the different positions range from $112,154 for a technologist to a top salary of $240,000 for a senior technologist, according to a published report. Individuals who are hired will work at the CFPB for two years, according to the agency. Individuals may work remotely, if they so choose.
Among the possible areas in which the technologists will work are:
- Helping uncover situations in which companies try to take advantage of consumers using design tricks
- Ensure that companies are not violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act with the data they are using to make credit-based decisions
- Making sure that companies relying on aging or legacy technology platforms are not creating significant risks to the financial system
“The bureau’s got really, really smart attorneys … but it’s a huge difference when you go from a more homogenous team to an interdisciplinary team,” Meyer said in a published report
