Head of Data Science, Compliance AI & Risk

Socure; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Competitive compensation

Benefits

Job summary

Socure is seeking a highly driven data science leader to build and scale AI-powered compliance products. As Head of Data Science, Compliance Products, you will set the data science vision and lead execution across KYC, AML, watchlist screening, and related workflows.

You will lead teams delivering accurate, explainable, and production-ready models that help customers verify people, onboard securely, and monitor risk globally.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD preferred) in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in data science and machine learning, including a strong record of delivering production systems at scale.
• Significant experience in compliance, KYC/AML, watchlist screening, identity verification, fraud prevention, or risk modeling in financial services, fintech, or an adjacent domain.
• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing data science teams.
• Strong understanding of modern machine learning, statistical modeling, entity matching, information extraction, and decision systems.
• Experience working with heterogeneous and large-scale data, including structured data, text, and third-party data sources.
• Demonstrated ability to move ambiguous, high-impact problems from discovery to production while balancing rigor, speed, and business outcomes.
• Hands-on experience with Python and modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch; experience with Apache Spark or comparable distributed data systems.
• Practical understanding of model evaluation, monitoring, explainability, governance, and responsible deployment in regulated or high-stakes settings.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex systems and trade-offs to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience in customer-facing technical discussions, executive briefings, or public speaking is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the data science strategy and roadmap for Compliance Products, aligning investments to customer outcomes, product priorities, and business goals.
• Lead, grow, and develop a high-performing team of data scientists and applied researchers; set a high bar for technical quality, collaboration, speed, and accountability.
• Advance machine learning and decisioning across KYC and International KYC, including identity verification, risk assessment, and onboarding workflows.
• Improve Advanced Prefill through methods that select, validate, and rank relevant data to reduce customer effort while maintaining accuracy and transparency.
• Develop and improve deceased-person detection and associated risk signals using reliable data, robust evaluation, and appropriate safeguards.
• Build and scale Global Watchlist Screening and Monitoring capabilities, including entity matching, alert prioritization, ongoing monitoring, and false-positive reduction across geographies and data sources.
• Advance AML and compliance risk models that help customers identify and investigate potentially suspicious activity, with clear performance measurement and appropriate human review.
• Establish rigorous evaluation practices, including representative test data, segment-level performance, ongoing monitoring, drift detection, and feedback loops from customer and operations outcomes.
• Own the end-to-end model lifecycle: data strategy, feature development, experimentation, validation, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure models and AI-enabled workflows are explainable, auditable, reliable, and designed to support applicable compliance and governance requirements.
• Assess where automation and agent-assisted workflows can improve screening, monitoring, and investigations; define suitable human oversight and operational controls.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Risk, Operations, Legal/Compliance, and Go-to-Market teams to shape roadmaps and deliver scalable products.
• Serve as a senior technical partner to customers and executives, explaining model behavior, performance, limitations, and trade-offs in clear terms.
• Represent Socure externally as a thought leader in applied data science for identity verification and compliance.

Skills

Data science leadership

KYC/AML expertise

Distributed ML systems

Python & PyTorch

Spark / big data

Model governance

Communication

Education

MS or PhD in CS/Statistics/Math/Engineering

Tools

PyTorch

Apache Spark

Job description

Socure is seeking a highly driven data science leader to build and scale AI-powered compliance products. As Head of Data Science, Compliance Products, you will set the data science vision and lead execution across KYC, AML, watchlist screening, and related workflows.

You will lead teams delivering accurate, explainable, and production-ready models that help customers verify people, onboard securely, and monitor risk globally.