Meet Capital One's Analysts

Steve Paxton - Senior Associate. Joined January 2007.

I joined Capital One in January 2007, straight from Emmanuel College Cambridge, where I did Maths and Computer Science. My first role was as a Business Analyst in Marketing and Strategy where my work involved deciding how to make best use of our spend on TV and direct mail. After a year I was promoted to Senior Analyst in the Underserved team. I'm currently designing in-market tests to improve our customer data.

Kat Baker - Senior Associate. Joined 2006.

After graduating in Economics from Warwick I joined Capital One's Personal Loans team. My first project saw me using statistical modelling to determine which types of customer would be turned on by different sorts of products. From there I was promoted to Senior Associate in Credit Card Business, and then moved to the Marketing Strategy Analysis team. Today I'm involved in deciding how best to spend our multi-million pound marketing budget and evaluating new opportunities for expansion and optimisation.

Steve Smyth - Senior Director. Joined February 1999.

Steve joined Capital One from Cambridge University after studying History and Philosophy of Science. After working in three roles in his first four years, Steve left to do an MBA at INSEAD in 2003. He returned to work as a Director in the French business and also worked in Spain on a joint-venture with Bankinter. Steve now works as Senior Director in our UK Card business.

Amy Warren - Senior Manager. Joined Sept 2001.

Amy joined Capital One from Cambridge University having done a summer internship with us. She's held a number of roles at analyst then manager level. She was promoted to Senior Manager at the end of 2006 and currently heads up a team which develops innovative new credit card propositions.

Tell us about your career at Capital One

I've held a number of roles at analyst and then manager level. In one of my roles I worked on initiatives to attract balance transfers from existing customers - I was responsible for coming up with ideas for special offers, setting up customer research and in-market testing to assess their effectiveness, and then making recommendations for which propositions should be used in future. I was promoted to Senior Manager at the end of 2006 and currently head up a team which develops innovative new credit card propositions.

What do you enjoy most about Capital One?

My favourite moments in this job are when you get the first data results in from a new proposition that you've been responsible for, right from coming up with the idea, to designing the test and persuading senior management to let you invest in it. It doesn't always work out how you predict, but it's always exciting to see many thousands of customers reacting to your idea.

What do you get from working at Capital One?

The great thing about Capital One is that you're constantly learning new stuff. Instead of months of training courses you get real responsibility right from the start and a direct manager who provides you with plenty of support and one-on-one coaching. It also makes for a fun work environment. A lot of people who come to Capital One are new to Nottingham and eager to meet new people - the result is a lively social scene and a buzz round the office.

Gaurav Chopra - Manager. Joined Sept 2005.

Gaurav came to Capital One following an MSc in operational research at LSE. He was very quickly promoted to the product strategy team for our credit card business. After that he was promoted to his current position of Credit Governance Advisor in our Credit Risk Management team, where he's currently working on a project to ensure we make robust marketing decisions in our current challenging credit environment.

What do you get from working at Capital One?

You get an insight into various parts of the business, exposure to senior management, and a vast amount of training and support all the way. All this comes in an environment that gives you responsibility, challenges and recognition accordingly.

Anything else to add?

In my view, Capital One is a place for people who like to be constantly tested in their careers, seek early responsibility, but nevertheless believe in maintaining a balance between work and fun. There is a great social side to Capital One, which varies from table football, table tennis and play-stations at work, to fancy dress parties and water skiing 'Fun Days' every couple of months.

Meet the Associates