Director, Data Science

CardWorks; United States; Hybrid; USD 146,000 - 163,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus Target or Variable Pay

Medical, Dental, Vision

401(k) Match

Disability Insurance

Wellness Programs

Vacation & Holidays

Job summary

CardWorks Financial Group is seeking a Director of Data Science – Competitive Intelligence, AI Insights & Strategic Analytics. This role leads enterprise reporting, competitor benchmarking, and AI-powered intelligence across lending, payments, and fintech sectors.

The candidate will champion an AI-first, market-first mindset, deploying LLMs, RAG, and AI copilots to drive data-driven strategy and executive decision support. Hybrid/remote options available across multiple US locations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field required; Master’s preferred.
• 5+ years in Business Analytics, Data Science, or related roles.
• Experience in Financial Services, consumer lending, or FinTech.
• Strong background in SQL, Python, Snowflake, and AWS.
• Experience with Power BI, SAS, R is a plus.
• Proven ability to communicate complex insights to executives.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise reporting, dashboards, KPI scorecards, and portfolio analytics.
• Analyze industry trends, competitive dynamics, and market opportunities.
• Apply ML, AI, and predictive analytics to forecast market changes.
• Design AI-powered market intelligence and competitive research solutions.
• Utilize LLMs to summarize earnings calls and filings.
• Develop RAG solutions and AI agents for continuous monitoring.
• Build executive AI copilots to support planning and decisions.
• Integrate external datasets with internal performance data.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Executive communication

Stakeholder management

Problem solving

Curiosity-driven

Education

Bachelor's degree in quantitative field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

SQL

Python

Snowflake

AWS

Power BI

PowerPoint

SAS

R

Job description

Become an everyday champion — and build a career where your impact fuels financial progress.

What We Do

CardWorks Financial Group is a diversified financial services platform building ethical solutions across credit, lending, and the full customer lifecycle. Through our family of companies, CardWorks Financial Group tackles the complex challenges that larger financial institutions leave behind. We’re embedded throughout the credit card ecosystem as a lender, servicer, and merchant acquirer.

Who We Are

• Merrick Bank: The bank that builds
• CardWorks Servicing: One partner, total performance
• Carson Smithfield: Resolution with respect

With nearly 40 years of operating history, our track record is solid: disciplined in downturns and built to accelerate in recovery. The CardWorks Financial Group companies take precise approach in complex markets, as a top three non-prime focused general purpose card issuer and a top fifteen U.S. merchant acquirer.

Our team tackles the industry’s most complex credit and payment challenges. And we believe that excellent work starts with a team that feels supported, respected, and empowered to grow.

CardWorks Servicing, LLC provides end-to end operational servicing functions for credit cards, secured cards, and installment loans. We service consumer and small business loans across the credit spectrum and offers backup servicing and due diligence services to capital providers and trustees.

Founded in 1997, Merrick Bank is an FDIC®-insured financial institution headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, with over $10 billion in assets. A wholly owned subsidiary of CardWorks Financial Group, Merrick Bank serves roughly five million cardmembers and more than 100,000 merchant customers, offering credit cards, recreational loans, deposit accounts, merchant services and bank sponsorships to consumers and businesses.

Carson Smithfield, LLC provides a variety of post-charge-off debt recovery services, including digital self-service, IVR, live agent, and external agency management.

Position Summary and Role Impact:

The Director, Data Science – Competitive Intelligence, AI Insights & Strategic Analytics is a highly visible leadership role responsible for transforming internal, external, structured, and unstructured data into actionable business intelligence, competitive insights, and strategic recommendations. Sitting at the intersection of analytics, risk, strategy, technology, and market intelligence, this role leads the development of enterprise reporting, competitor benchmarking, AI-driven intelligence solutions, and executive decision support capabilities across CardWorks Financial Group.

This position combines advanced analytics, machine learning, Generative AI, competitive intelligence, and industry research to identify growth opportunities, anticipate market movements, evaluate competitor performance, monitor emerging risks, and support strategic decision-making. The role serves as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, business unit leaders, risk management, regulators, auditors, and board stakeholders by delivering data-driven insights that influence business strategy, portfolio performance, and market positioning.

The successful candidate will champion an AI-first and market-first mindset, leveraging machine learning, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and AI-powered automation to accelerate intelligence gathering, uncover hidden opportunities, and create sustainable competitive advantage. This leader will also drive the build-out of enterprise analytics capabilities, including KPI reporting, portfolio performance measurement, market intelligence platforms, competitor monitoring solutions, and executive AI copilots.

Essential Functions:

• Lead the development and delivery of enterprise reporting, executive dashboards, KPI scorecards, portfolio analytics, competitor benchmarking, and strategic business insights.

• Conduct in-depth analysis of industry trends, competitive dynamics, emerging technologies, market opportunities, and regulatory developments affecting the consumer lending, credit card, banking, payments, and fintech industries.

• Apply advanced statistical techniques, machine learning models, and predictive analytics to identify patterns, forecast market changes, and support strategic business decisions.

• Design and implement AI-powered market intelligence and competitive research solutions that automate the collection, synthesis, and interpretation of market data.

• Utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) to analyze and summarize earnings calls, SEC filings, analyst reports, press releases, industry publications, and competitor disclosures.

• Develop Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions and AI agents that enable continuous monitoring of competitor activity, customer trends, market signals, and regulatory developments.

• Build executive AI copilots that support strategic planning, competitive analysis, and business decision-making.

• Integrate external market, economic, customer, and industry datasets with internal business performance data to generate comprehensive insights.

• Analyze portfolio performance across lending products, identifying opportunities related to growth, profitability, customer behavior, risk management, and operational efficiency.

• Partner with business, product, marketing, digital, risk, technology, and finance leaders to translate analytical findings into actionable business recommendations.

• Support board presentations, regulatory requests, audit reviews, second-line risk reviews, and executive strategic initiatives through rigorous analysis and communication.

• Prepare audit-ready analyses and documentation to support regulatory, compliance, and governance requirements.

• Present complex analytical findings and strategic recommendations to executive leadership in a clear, concise, and compelling manner.

• Foster a culture of innovation, analytics excellence, data-driven decision-making, and AI adoption across the organization.

Requirements for Success:

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, Data Science, Business Analytics, Financial Engineering, or related quantitative discipline required; Master’s degree preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in Business Analytics, Data Science, Competitive Intelligence, Market Research, Strategy Analytics, Risk Analytics, or related analytical roles.
• Experience within Financial Services, Consumer Lending, Credit Cards, Banking, Payments, or FinTech industries required.
• Strong understanding of lending economics, including interest income, interchange, fees, charge-offs, delinquency, portfolio performance, and risk management frameworks.
• Proven experience applying machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to solve business problems and generate strategic insights.
• Experience working with Generative AI, LLMs, RAG architectures, AI agents, and market intelligence automation solutions preferred.
• Strong proficiency in SQL, Python, Snowflake, AWS, and modern analytics platforms.
• Experience with Power BI, PowerPoint, SAS, R, or similar analytical and visualization tools preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical findings and strategic recommendations to executive leadership, regulators, auditors, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Highly analytical self-starter with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a fast-paced, highly regulated environment.

Leadership Competencies

• AI-first and market-first mindset.
• Strategic thinker with strong business acumen.
• Executive presence and storytelling capability.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Curiosity-driven approach to problem solving and innovation.
• Ability to challenge assumptions with data and evidence.
• Commitment to driving measurable business outcomes through analytics and intelligence.

Ideally, the qualified candidate will work at the following location(s): South Jordan, UT, Woodbury, NY, Wilmington, DE. A hybrid work model or fully remote model can be considered based on hiring manager decision and priorities of the role.

The salary range for this position, if located in NY Metro/NY State is $146,409 to $162,676. However, please note that the salary range will vary for other geographic areas.

Our Employee Value Proposition

• Competitive Pay, including a Bonus Target or Variable Pay Incentive Program
• Benefits Package -Medical, Dental, and Vision (plus much more)
• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Short- & Long-Term Disability
• Wellness Programs
• Group Life and AD&D Insurance
• Paid Vacation, Sick Days and bank Holidays
• Employee Engagement Activities including Employee Appreciation Day, DEI Employee Resource Groups, Corporate Social Responsibility, Service Recognition

We offer a total rewards package comprised of a competitive base rate of pay, variable pay incentive programs based on the role, and a comprehensive benefit suite. Offered rates of pay are determined based on job-related knowledge, relevant experience, skills, certifications, and geographic location.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to age, race, color, sex, or gender identity/expression (including pregnancy, childbirth, transgender status, or sexual orientation), religion or creed, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, disability, military or veteran status, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. Employment decisions are based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs. Everyone is welcome here, and we hire based on your ability to do the job, not any protected characteristics.

If you need help or reasonable accommodation during the application or hiring process, please let your TA Partner know.