Lead the development of cutting-edge fraud detection models as the Head of Machine Learning for Application Fraud. You'll oversee a growing team of data scientists, guiding them through the full lifecycle of model creation—from data strategy and feature engineering to deployment and monitoring. Your work will directly shape identity verification products used in real-time decision systems.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage and scale a team of 2–3 data scientists, eventually growing to 5–6 members.
- Provide hands-on technical leadership, offering detailed guidance and mentorship on modeling approaches and code quality.
- Collaborate with product, engineering, and executive teams to define priorities, allocate resources, and communicate progress.
- Drive the full model development process: identifying data needs, designing features, training models, running experiments, and ensuring reliable production deployment.
- Investigate emerging fraud patterns and translate findings into new product capabilities.
- Develop scalable, production-grade Python code that supports real-time fraud decisions.
- Conduct and present analytical insights that influence risk operations, product direction, and business strategy.
Qualifications
- Advanced degree in a quantitative field or 10+ years of relevant experience (Master’s) or 7+ years (PhD).
- 2–5 years managing data science teams, preferably in a startup setting.
- Proven success delivering data science solutions to complex, high-stakes business challenges.
- Solid foundation in machine learning and statistics, with the ability to quickly prototype and refine models.
- Experience writing and testing production code in Python.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to present technical results to non-technical stakeholders.
- Detail-oriented mindset with a track record of making impactful business decisions.
- Comfortable operating in fast-paced environments with ambiguous, high-leverage problems.
- Must be authorized to work in the United States and reside within the country.
Preferred Background
Experience in fintech, identity verification, or related domains is a plus.
Technology Environment
Python 3, PostgreSQL, AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, Redshift)
Work Model
This role supports hybrid arrangements in Austin, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Gurugram (Delhi), and Bengaluru. While flexible work options exist, some positions require office presence, particularly within the India engineering team.
