By Francie Fink
Key Takeaways
- Synchrony Mentors and Hires — The data-focused company concentrates on mentorship and long-term commitment to student success at its Research Park location, preparing interns for a full-time position.
- Data Heavy — Data science is integral to everything Synchrony does. It helps drive decision-making across credit risk modeling, fraud detection, and operational optimization.
- Big Intern Yield — Synchrony’s ETC at UIUC hosts between 45 and 60 student interns from more than 20 majors at any given time.
- Connection to Campus — The company co-hosts datathons on campus and incorporates its own data for classroom projects to deliver real-life data problems to students.
At Synchrony, a leading consumer financial services company, data science involves more than coding, data analysis, and machine learning—it also encompasses mentorship and a long-term commitment to student success. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Synchrony is not only recruiting talent but also actively cultivating it.
Through its unique location at the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) at the University of Illinois Research Park, Synchrony has built a mutually beneficial relationship with students. We spoke with Karin Dor Markovich, Josh Janda, and Himank Dave—Synchrony employees engaged with the campus community—to learn more about the company’s approach to talent development, involvement in campus events, and long-term vision for recruitment and retention.
Synchrony partners with various businesses to offer financing solutions, primarily focusing on retail credit cards, promotional financing, and loyalty programs. Among other activities, Synchrony is the largest provider of private label credit cards based on purchase volume and receivables. “We’re the company behind the company,” said Karin Dor Markovich, Associate Director of Technology Centers & Early Career Development leading the ETC. “If there’s a retail credit card, for instance, it might say that company’s name on the front, but it’s Synchrony on the back-end. That’s why we work hard to get our name out there on campus. We want to make sure students know who we are and what we do.”
Interns and full-time staff alike work across a wide range of data science and analytics workstreams central to Synchrony’s portfolio. As Himank Dave, Manager of Credit Operations Modeling, explained, “Data science is integral to everything we do. It helps drive decision-making across credit risk modeling, fraud detection, and operational optimization.”
Synchrony’s Talent Pipeline and Pathways Into Data Science Careers
At any given time, Synchrony’s ETC hosts between 45 and 60 student interns from more than 20 majors, including statistics, computer science, information management, and even disciplines like cognitive science and philosophy. Students work 10-20 hours per week during the school year and full-time in the summer.
Dor Markovich hires students for many different roles Synchrony teams are looking to fill. Sometimes, she said, a Synchrony team might reach out to her saying they are looking for an intern who enjoys puzzles and solving problems. In that case, they might learn many of the technical skills outside of basic data analysis on the job. Other times, teams might be looking for a student who is proficient in Python and other tools with some industry experience.
“I think half our team is from [Dor Markovich] at this point,” Josh Janda, AVP of Credit Model Development at Synchrony and an Illinois alum, joked. “It just makes sense. You invest in teaching someone as an intern. If you’re able to keep that person, it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Regardless of the position, Synchrony’s culture focuses on retention. “Our site and the internships we host are a pipeline into the company,” Dor Markovich said. “We don’t just offer internships to check a box. We want to try to train students with the ultimate goal of hiring them. If the fit is right, we want our interns to continue their early career journey and join us full time.”
As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened for Dave, who interned at Synchrony as a graduate student in UIUC’s iSchool and now works full time. “I’ve been with the same team for three years,” he said. “It sounds surprising, but speaks to the opportunities for growth within Synchrony.”
Mentorship As Part of Synchrony’s Model
Coming full circle, Dave now helps mentor student interns himself. “We look for students who know Python generally, and within it, PySpark and Pandas. Most of our work is done in Jupyter Notebook. We also look for some financial acumen,” he said. “Apart from that, technical experience can be taught. We have a technical bootcamp in the early weeks of our internship where we are able to polish skills. What matters most, though, is curiosity and a willingness to ask for feedback and improve.”
Mentorship is widespread at Synchrony. Each intern is paired with an “Assignment Leader” who serves as their day-to-day mentor. On top of that, Synchrony also assigns peer guides, who provide additional support to new team members.
Building Pipelines for All Students
Synchrony is also committed to building broader pipelines into the data science workforce, building out support networks for neurodiverse students, for example. “We partnered with the University of Connecticut and the University of Illinois to develop a summer internship program for neurodiverse students” said Dor Markovich. ”This summer we will have a group of students from Illinois that will spend 10 weeks with us working with different teams and expanding their knowledge and skillset in a corporate setting. We’re super excited for them to start with us and bring their unique perspectives and skills” said Dor Markovich.
Datathons and Campus Events
Synchrony also creates opportunities for students to test their skills on real-world problems. In the 2025 Illinois Statistics Datathon, co-sponsored by Synchrony with the College of LAS and the Department of Statistics, over 180 student teams competed to solve a problem statement involving credit risk and customer spending. Using real (anonymized) Synchrony data, participants built models to predict spending behaviors and assess risk.
Janda helped with the datathon. “We try to come up with a unique and engaging problem for the students. We want it to be something challenging but doable,” he said. “The idea is to keep them interested and show them that what we do is meaningful, complex, and fun.” Janda noted that Synchrony staff were available throughout the weekend to provide guidance and answer questions, which gave participants insight into the company’s brand and culture.
Dor Markovich explained that the Datathon is also a recruiting tool for Synchrony. They use the event as a way to demonstrate the opportunities that arise within the company. “A couple of years ago, we extended an opportunity to the winning team to present their solution to our CEO and other company leaders. That led to an internship offer, and eventually, a full-time offer. It’s pretty cool to be able to present your deliverables to executives of a company with over 20,000 employees.”
Partnering with Campus and Making the Research Park Known
Synchrony’s presence on campus extends beyond internships and events. The company is excited to collaborate with faculty and students. “We don’t always have the capacity to do big capstone projects with confidential data,” said Dor Markovich, “but programs like Business 101 that are offered at Gies are great for both us and the class. We talk about our company to students, then they research us, analyze our business, and propose real ideas for how we can improve our business. It’s great exposure for us. After the class is finished, I have students emailing me independently to learn more about professional opportunities.”
Synchrony hopes to make their ETC location more well-known. “Most students don’t even know that the Research Park exists,” Dor Markovich said. She sees potential for stronger partnerships between university faculty and the company. “We’d love to speak to students across departments, not just computer science and engineering. I spoke to an agriculture class once, and it was productive because many of those students study business analytics and other areas that align with our world. I’d also love for faculty to promote the Research Park as a resource for students.”
Learn More and Get Involved
To contact Karin Dor Markovich about student internship opportunities, campus events, and other opportunities, reach out at Karin.DorMarkovich@syf.com. To learn more about the Datathon, read the recent Department of Statistics article. For more information about Synchrony, visit their website. To learn more about the Research Park and its importance as a tech hub, visit the Park’s webpage.
Contact the Office of Data Science Research if you’re aware of other people or resources we could profile here. ODSR is a campuswide convening organization that facilitates collaborations, resource sharing, and public engagement focused on data science research activities at the University of Illinois.