Acko Senior MLE / Data Scientist Interview Guide
Acko is one of India's digital-first general insurers. Senior MLE / DS roles cover actuarial pricing, claims fraud, telematics-based motor pricing, health-claims processing, and customer churn. The interview tests insurance ML specifically. This guide covers it.
Acko is India's digital-first general insurance player, operating across motor, health, electronics, and travel. Senior MLE / DS roles work on actuarial pricing (premium calculation), claims fraud, telematics-based motor pricing, health-claims OCR + processing, customer churn, and customer-lifetime-value modeling.
The loop structure (Senior MLE / DS)
Standard loop: recruiter screen → ML + actuarial fundamentals → ML system design → behavioural with senior leadership.
Round-by-round breakdown
Round 1 — Recruiter screen. 30 min.
Round 2 — ML + actuarial fundamentals. 90 minutes. Standard ML rigour plus actuarial concepts (GLMs, frequency-severity modeling, GAMs for non-linear pricing curves, IRDA compliance for insurance pricing).
Round 3 — ML system design. 75 minutes. Actuarial pricing for motor / health, claims fraud detection, or telematics-based pricing.
Round 4 — Behavioural with senior leadership. 60 minutes.
What Acko weights distinctively
1. Actuarial fluency. GLMs (Gamma, Tweedie distributions), frequency-severity modeling. Many candidates fail here. 2. IRDA compliance. Insurance pricing must comply with IRDA rules. 3. Claims fraud. Specific patterns: staged accidents, exaggerated claims, identity theft. 4. Long-tail data. Insurance has very rare events (large claims) — handling tail risk matters.
Top 10 questions Acko senior MLE / DS candidates face
1. "Build an actuarial pricing model for motor insurance. Tweedie GLM vs gradient boosting — when do you use each?" 2. "Frequency-severity decomposition — explain and when to use it." 3. "Claims fraud detection — what patterns and what model?" 4. "Telematics data (acceleration, braking) for motor pricing — feature engineering?" 5. "IRDA file & use vs use & file — what's the modeling implication?" 6. "Tail risk in insurance — how do you handle extreme but important rare events?" 7. "Calibration: why is it critical for premium calculation?" 8. "Diagnose: loss ratio jumped in a specific motor segment. Approach?" 9. "Churn prediction at policy renewal — features?" 10. "Walk through your most impactful project."
The prep path through MSL
Compensation
Acko Senior MLE / DS in 2026 ranges roughly ₹30 lakh – ₹55 lakh for 5-7 YOE. Lead actuarial roles ₹70 lakh+.