How Does Working with a Partner Help My Internal Modeling Team?

If you already have smart people on your team—and you’re not looking to fully outsource your modeling work—why bring in an outside partner?

We’ve partnered with all sorts of modeling teams, from small startups creating their first model to established lenders and banks with mature modeling talent and fully built-out systems. Across all of them, we’ve learned how to make our presence a multiplier, not a crutch. Here’s how.

1. We meet you where you are

We don’t sell prebuilt models or plug-and-play platforms. That customization extends to how we structure our engagement. It starts with understanding your modeling team’s size, experience, and capacity. Sometimes we’re the lead modelers, doing hands-on development ourselves. Other times, we’re advisors, meeting weekly or biweekly to review your progress, provide feedback, and troubleshoot difficult parts. We’re not passive reviewers—we stay sharp by doing hands-on work ourselves, so we can give grounded, useful advice.

These aren’t static roles. Even within a full-model-build engagement, the degree of collaboration varies. In one case, we might work hand-in-hand with a lean but skilled internal team, splitting modeling tasks and jointly delivering the final product. In another, we might take the reins while your team focuses on building infrastructure or launching operations.

In all of these cases, our job is to increase what your team can do, not duplicate it.

2. We bring credit-specific experience

Even when your data science talent is strong, our experience can help sharpen and accelerate their work. That’s because we’re not generalist modelers or academics. We’re industry experts who’ve built credit models across nearly every segment of consumer lending—from cards to BNPL, subprime auto to POS installments, and in markets from the U.S. to Latin America to Asia. We’ve seen—and solved—a lot of the credit-specific modeling, regulatory, and operational challenges you’re likely to face.

3. We help you stay lean when you want to be

Sometimes our clients grow a modeling team during or after our engagement. In other cases, they stay lean and continue to rely on us as an extension of their team. Both can work well.

One client, a startup auto lender in the U.S., brought us in to build their first model while they stood up the rest of the business. Once the model launched and they hired a data team, we supported their transition to full ownership.

Another client, an established lender in Central America, didn’t plan to build a large modeling team. They brought us in to build their first model and have kept us on board for several years, updating the models and expanding to new products. Their core credit team is still lean, but they’ve become more advanced as model users and decision-makers.

Even when we continue as the primary modeling partner, our clients become more sophisticated stewards of the models—asking better questions, interpreting model output more fluently, and making smarter credit decisions.

4. We don’t compete with your team

We’ve worked with teams where internal modelers were initially skeptical of our role. Sometimes, that skepticism comes from previous experience—where “external help” really meant replacement or critique. Other times, it comes from a belief that the internal team already knows everything they need.

We don’t come in with the goal of proving we’re smarter or taking credit for your work. We come in with the goal of helping your team succeed faster, smarter, and with fewer missteps. Our best partnerships happen when teams are open-minded, curious, and ready to learn. If that’s your mindset, you’ll get a lot out of working with us.

5. We help you avoid the wrong engagements, too

It’s worth acknowledging that partnership isn’t always the right answer.

Engagements falter when:

• There’s no real path to production—it’s just a “science project” that dies in committee.

• We’re brought in by leadership, but the modeling team resents or ignores our input.

In those cases, no amount of modeling firepower can fix a broken dynamic. We don’t push a partnership where it doesn’t make sense.

Ready to Multiply Your Team’s Impact?

With the right partnership, world-class modeling is achievable for lenders of all stages and sizes. Contact us to chat about how Ensemblex can complement your team.