Staff Researcher – Applied Science

Navi; Bengaluru Urban; On-site; INR 6,000,000 - 12,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Navi is seeking a Staff Researcher to lead applied data science across the organization, architect scalable ML systems, and align initiatives with Navi’s strategic goals across Lending, KYC, and Ads.

You will mentor senior data scientists, shape the roadmap, run rapid experiments with state‑of‑the‑art ML and GenAI, and establish governance, MLOps, and cross‑functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated thought leadership and deep expertise in modern ML techniques and statistics.
• Proven track record of driving long-horizon research initiatives with measurable impact.
• Experience mentoring senior data scientists and setting technical vision for large teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional, enterprise-level data science initiatives across the organization.
• Define and enforce standards for model development, deployment, validation, and monitoring.
• Develop, mentor, and inspire a diverse team of senior data scientists and leads.
• Identify opportunities and lead rapid experiments with cutting-edge ML/GenAI advances.

Skills

Advanced ML

Mentorship

Leadership

Experiment design

A/B testing

Education

Master's or Bachelor's degree in Engineering

PhD in relevant domain

Tools

TensorFlow / PyTorch

Job description

The Data Science team at Navi plays a central role in building intelligent solutions that power our products and drive business impact. We work across key domains such as Lending, Collections, KYC, UPI Growth and Ads recommendation, applying advanced machine learning/deep learning/GenAI techniques to solve high-impact challenges. Our work involves a diverse range of data types—including text, image, and tabular data—and we closely collaborate with cross-functional teams like Product, Business, Engineering, etc. to deliver end-to-end solutions.

About the Role

As a Staff Researcher at Navi, you will play a pivotal role in defining and advancing the applied data science vision across the organization. This role offers the unique opportunity to lead cross-functional, enterprise-level data science initiatives that have a direct and lasting impact on Navi’s most critical business strategies. You will operate at the forefront of advanced machine learning, large-scale data engineering, and domain innovation—architecting and deploying scalable solutions that set industry benchmarks. Collaborating with senior leaders across multiple business units, you will address Navi’s most complex and high-value challenges, foster a culture of technical excellence, drive innovation, and develop the next generation of data science talent. Your leadership will be instrumental in establishing data science as a key strategic differentiator for Navi’s future growth.

In Navi Data Science team, you will get opportunity to work across high-impact initiatives like:

• Credit Risk and Fraud prediction
• Income, Loan amount and Credit line management
• Retention and Personalisation
• Ads Recommendation
• Cross sell initiatives and conversion optimisation
• Strategy & Operations
• Collections operations optimisation
• Quant fund management

What We Expect From You

• Advance Applied Research: Drive innovation in ML, AI, optimization, causal inference, and allied areas to solve problems that go beyond current product needs. Produces foundational deliverables in terms of data science improvements as well as scalable platforms which can be adopted across all domains for driving data science initiatives
• Thought Leadership & Technical Strategy: Shape the data science roadmap for the organization. Champion state-of-the-art approaches, set technical standards, and guide teams in solving ambiguous, high-stakes business problems.
• Mentorship, Coaching & Talent Development: Develop, mentor, and inspire a diverse team of senior data scientists and leads. Foster a culture of continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and technical excellence across the entire data science organization.
• Rapid Experimentation: Identify emerging opportunities and lead the development of POCs using the latest ML and AI advancements, ensuring rapid experimentation and best-in-class solution delivery.
• Strategic Cross-Functional Influence: Cultivate and maintain strong partnerships with executive leadership, business, product, engineering, and analytics teams. Influence business priorities, evangelize data-driven decision-making, and translate insights into high-impact actions.
• Governance & Model Excellence: Define and enforce industry-leading standards for model development, deployment, validation, monitoring, and lifecycle management. Ensure solutions are reliable, scalable, and deliver sustained business impact.
• Organizational Impact: Drive the adoption of best practices in MLOps, code management, experiment design, cost optimization, and monitoring frameworks across teams. Lead quarterly, annual, and long‑term planning for the data science organization and contribute to company‑wide strategic initiatives.

Must Haves

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Engineering with at least 9 years of relevant experience
• OR PhD in relevant domain with at least 5 years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated thought leadership and deep expertise in modern machine learning techniques, advanced statistical methods, and hands‑on experience with leading ML framework
• Proven track record of driving long‑horizon research initiatives (6–24 months) that delivered measurable business or product impact.
• Significant experience mentoring and developing senior data scientists; demonstrated ability to set and drive technical vision for large teams
• Strong business acumen and a history of translating data‑driven insights into actionable, high‑impact business strategies
• Deep expertise in experiment design, A/B and multivariate testing, and measurement frameworks to optimize data science solutions
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive influencing skills, with a track record of working across business, product, engineering, and leadership functions
• Proven ability to drive innovation, operationalize best practices in MLOps, and stay at the cutting edge of machine learning and AI advancements
• External visibility through publications, patents, talks, or open‑source contributions will be a plus

About Navi

Navi is on a mission to make finance simple, accessible, and affordable for a billion Indians. Guided by a strong customer‑first approach, the company is building tech‑first solutions that work at scale. Their offerings include a range of financial products and services across Loans, Insurance, Mutual Funds, Digital Gold, and UPI. Founded by Sachin Bansal & Ankit Agarwal in 2018, Navi is one of India’s fastest‑growing financial services organizations.

Our Culture

At Navi, ambition meets opportunity, and ideas turn into impact quickly. We empower people with high ownership from the start, encouraging them to solve meaningful problems and build with excellence. Teams work in an environment that values speed, collaboration, and craftsmanship, while celebrating learning, growth, and shared wins. The company is guided by The Navi OS—a set of principles that shape how we work and win together. You can explore them at navi.com/our-values to see what drives them every day.

If this feels like you, Navi is the place to grow, thrive and make a real impact.