Head of Data Science, Compliance Products

Socure; New York (NY); On-site; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity

Comprehensive benefits

Ownership culture

Job summary

Socure is seeking a Head of Data Science, Compliance Products, to lead the data science vision and execution across KYC, AML, and global watchlist initiatives. You will guide teams delivering production models, align with Product, Engineering, Risk, and GTM, and drive measurable product outcomes in high-stakes regulatory environments.

You will partner with executives to articulate model behavior, ensure explainability, and advocate for responsible deployment, while representing Socure as a

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years in data science & ML, with production systems at scale.
• Experience in compliance/KYC/AML, watchlist screening, or risk modeling in financial services or fintech.
• Proven leadership of high-performing data science teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and own data science strategy and roadmap for Compliance Products.
• Lead and develop a high-performing data science team; set quality and speed expectations.
• Advance ML across KYC/International KYC and AML workflows; ensure explainability and governance.
• Improve data-driven components like Advanced Prefill and deceased person detection with safeguards.
• Build and scale Global Watchlist Screening and Monitoring capabilities across geographies.
• Own end-to-end model lifecycle: data strategy, feature development, experimentation, deployment, monitoring.

Skills

Data science leadership

KYC/AML

Machine learning

Python / PyTorch

Team management

Communication

Education

MS/PhD in CS or Statistics

Tools

Python

PyTorch

Apache Spark

Job description

Why Socure?

Socure is building the identity trust infrastructure for the digital economy — verifying 100% of good identities in real time and stopping fraud before it starts. The mission is big, the problems are complex, and the impact is felt by businesses, governments, and millions of people every day.

Why Socure?

Socure is building the identity trust infrastructure for the digital economy — verifying 100% of good identities in real time and stopping fraud before it starts. The mission is big, the problems are complex, and the impact is felt by businesses, governments, and millions of people every day.

We hire people who want that level of responsibility. People who move fast, think critically, act like owners, and care deeply about solving customer problems with precision. If you want predictability or narrow scope, this won’t be your place. If you want to help build the future of identity with a team that holds a high bar for itself — keep reading.

About Socure

Socure is building the identity trust infrastructure for the digital economy—verifying 100% of good identities in real time and stopping fraud before it starts. The mission is big, the problems are complex, and the impact is felt by businesses, governments, and millions of people every day.

We hire people who want that level of responsibility. People who move fast, think critically, act like owners, and care deeply about solving customer problems with precision. If you want predictability or narrow scope, this won’t be your place. If you want to help build the future of identity and compliance with a team that holds a high bar for itself, keep reading.

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly driven, innovative 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, International KYC, Advanced Prefill, Deceased Check, Global Watchlist Screening and Monitoring, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

You will lead teams delivering accurate, explainable, and production-ready models that help customers verify people, complete onboarding, screen against global watchlists, monitor risk, and meet evolving compliance needs. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, Risk, Operations, and Go-to-Market leaders to turn complex customer and regulatory problems into measurable product outcomes. This role calls for a leader who combines strong technical judgment, team-building, and disciplined execution in high-stakes, data-rich environments.

Key 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.

Key Competencies & 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.

Why Socure?

• Work on challenging, high-impact problems in identity verification and financial crime prevention.
• Build data science capabilities behind products used in important customer compliance workflows.
• Join a fast-moving, high-caliber team that values innovation, ownership, and customer impact.
• Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits.
• Help shape trusted digital experiences at global scale.

Please note that we can only hire within ~45 miles of San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Miami. We are unable to provide sponsorship support now or in the future.

Socure is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in all its forms within our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need an accommodation during any stage of the application or hiring process, including interview or onboarding support, please reach out to your Socure recruiting partner directly.

Socure is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in all its forms within our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need an accommodation during any stage of the application or hiring process—including interview or onboarding support—please reach out to your Socure recruiting partner directly.

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Compensation Range: $250K - $300K