Principal Data Scientist

Job Description

This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship, now or in the future. Candidates must be a US Citizen or Green Card Holder.

This position is remote in the Greater Boston Area only or hybrid 3 days per week in our Cincinnati, OH or Atlanta, GA office.

Ready to take your career global?

Make your mark at one of the biggest names in payments. We are seeking an experienced and visionary Principal Data Scientist to help scale our Data Science and AI team. In this role, you will collaborate closely with ML software engineers, product managers, and other product delivery teams to build ML models and data‑driven algorithms into robust, scalable, and production‑ready products that optimize the end‑to‑end payment process.

You will act as payment subject matter expert and apply strong system and product thinking to create new product concepts, influence and build development roadmaps, design intelligent decision engines, drive cross‑functional initiatives and mentor senior DS/ML engineers. You will balance strategic leadership with hands‑on technical contribution, dividing your time between setting technical direction and actively participating in architecture, design reviews, code reviews, and selected implementation efforts.

Strategy and vision:

• Define the technical vision and strategy for new data‑driven product initiatives with a focus on end‑to‑end payment optimization, aligning them with business goals.
• Develop scalable and reusable capabilities to power real‑time machine learning models (classification, ranking and optimization), enable rapid experimentation at scale, and support continuous monitoring of ML products.

Technical contribution and leadership:

• Oversee and participate hands‑on in the conceptualization, development, production deployment, operation, validation, and maintenance of ML models and model update systems.
• Establish and ensure adherence to best practices for ML modeling. Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies in ML and payment optimization, driving adoption of modern tools, frameworks, and infrastructure.
• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and collaboration. Mentor an elite team of data scientists.

Cross‑functional collaboration:

• Partner with product, engineering, data, and compliance teams to integrate ML into products.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Collaborate with other Data Science leaders to establish an operating model for machine learning R&D that optimizes end‑to‑end delivery of business value.

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, engineering, or related field (PhD preferred).
• 7+ years in ML research or engineering; 5+ years building large‑scale, real‑time ML systems in production, including significant hands‑on experience.
• Expertise in machine learning, statistical modeling, and data analysis; strong experience across the ML lifecycle and experimentation processes.
• Proficiency in Python (Pandas, Num Py, scikit‑learn), strong SQL and database experience (No
  
  SQL and/or graph database experience a plus).
• Demonstrated ability to lead solution design and execution, translating complex business requirements into actionable technology solutions.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively across technical and business audiences at all levels, including executive leadership.

• Experience in payments, fintech, or financial services.
• Knowledge of payment systems (authorization lifecycle, tokenization, fraud/risk, real‑time payments).
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Snowflake, Databricks, Vertex AI).
• Agile development experience.
• Experience in large companies, mature ML teams, and/or highly regulated industries.

Our inclusive and global teams win together every day. We’re proud to have the best minds in the industry, who you can learn from as you grow your career. The people, the energy, the connections – it’s unmatched. Come and be part of an ever‑evolving company and get dynamic opportunities that go…