PayPal · 2 hours ago
Senior Director, Risk Data Science
San Jose, California, United States of America
Full-time
Hybrid
Director/Executive
$268K/yr - $399K/yr
12+ years expPayPal is a global leader in commerce, empowering consumers and businesses to thrive in the economy. They are seeking a visionary Senior Director of Risk Data Science to lead a team of data scientists in developing advanced fraud prevention capabilities using machine learning and AI.
E-Commerce PlatformsFinTechMobile PaymentsTransaction Processing
Responsibilities
Define and drive the strategic vision for machine learning initiatives at the organizational level
Lead the development and optimization of state-of-the-art machine learning models
Oversee the preprocessing and analysis of large datasets
Deploy and maintain ML solutions in production environments
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate ML models into products and services
Monitor and evaluate the performance of deployed models, making necessary adjustments
Mentor and guide junior engineers and data scientists
Publish research findings and contribute to industry discussions
Represent the company at conferences and external engagements
Influence the direction of the company's AI/ML strategy and contribute to long-term planning
Qualification
Required
12+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience
5 years of experience leading others
Fraud Domain Expertise: Extensive, hands-on experience building and managing fraud prevention and / or fraud detection models using large-scale data and advanced ML and AI techniques
18+ Years of Technical Experience: Proven track record of building and mentoring expert AI/ML teams that consistently deliver innovative solutions, resulting in measurable business impact and sustained competitive advantage
5+ Years of Executive Leadership: Experience managing large, multi-layered data science teams (managing managers) and influencing VP/C-level stakeholders
Preferred
Fintech & Payments DNA: Deep familiarity with the payments ecosystem (issuing, acquiring, gateways, ACH/Rails) and the unique adversarial nature of financial fraud
Advanced Degree: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, Operations Research, or a related quantitative field is highly preferred
Applied AI Scale: Experience deploying GNNs or Transformer-based models in a high-throughput, low latency production environment (not just offline research)
Transformation Experience: A track record of modernizing legacy model stacks (e.g., moving from logistic regression/forests to Deep Learning/AI) in a large enterprise
Benefits
Medical
Dental
Vision
Life and disability insurance
Parental and family leave
401(k) savings plan
Paid time off
Company
PayPal
PayPal is a financial service company that provides online payment solutions to its users worldwide.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
PayPal has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (1144)
2024 (917)
2023 (775)
2022 (921)
2021 (1051)
2020 (1049)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$12.17BKey Investors
Kohlberg Kravis RobertsBlueRun Ventures
2025-11-17Post Ipo Debt· $6.95B
2023-06-07Post Ipo Debt· $5B
2015-07-20IPO
Leadership Team
Simon Bladon
PayPal UK CEO
chaloem khompitoon
President & CEO
Recent News
2026-01-23
2026-01-23
2026-01-23
Company data provided by crunchbase