Lead Data Scientist

Mastercard Inc.; Holladay (UT); On-site; USD 140,000 - 231,000; Full time

Job summary

Mastercard Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah, is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to drive production-grade data science capabilities across financial applications. You will mentor a team, shape the technical roadmap, and partner with product and engineering to deliver high-impact models.

You’ll apply advanced ML techniques, NLP, and GenAI to improve risk, transaction classification, and decisioning, while communicating findings to executives and clients.

Qualifications

• Mentor and lead data science teams, guiding production-grade services.
• Extensive experience in data science/model development and deployment.
• Exposure to financial transactional data, transaction classification and risk modeling is a plus.
• Strong NLP, statistical modeling, visualization and advanced DS techniques.
• Experience with SQL and modern ML tooling.
• Familiarity with GenAI/LLMs, TensorFlow, Python, Scikit-Learn, Pandas.
• PhD or Master’s in CS/IT/Engineering/Math/Stats; MS preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and grow the data science team and tech stack for production-grade services.
• Plan and direct data science / machine learning projects within the team.
• Design and implement ML models for financial applications including risk and classification.
• Measure, validate, implement, monitor and improve model performance in production.
• Present technical findings to business leaders and clients succinctly.
• Collaborate to develop scalable data engineering solutions.

Skills

Data science leadership

Machine learning

NLP

SQL

Python

Education

PhD or Master’s in CS/IT/Engineering/Math/Stats

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

REST APIs

TensorFlow

Scikit-Learn

Pandas

Job description

Title and Summary Lead Data Scientist

Who is Mastercard? Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

Overview

Finicity, a Mastercard company, is leading the Open Banking Initiative to increase the Financial Health of consumers and businesses. The Data Science and Analytics team is looking for a Lead Data Scientist. The Data Science team works on Intelligent Decisioning; Financial Certainty; Attribute, Feature, and Entity Resolution; Verification Solutions and much more. Join our team to make an impact across all sectors of the economy by consistently innovating and problem-solving. The ideal candidate is passionate about leveraging data to provide high quality customer solutions. Also, the candidate is a strong technical leader who is extremely motivated, intellectually curious, analytical, and possesses an entrepreneurial mindset.

Role

• Lead, mentor and grow the data science team and tech stack focused on developing production-grade services and capabilities
• Plan and direct data science / machine learning projects within the team.
• Design and implement machine learning models for a number of financial applications including but not limited to: Transaction Classification, Temporal Analysis, Risk modeling from structured and unstructured data.
• Measure, validate, implement, monitor and improve performance of both internal and external facing machine learning models.
• Apply various Machine learning (i.e. SVM, Radom Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, CATBoost etc), Deep learning techniques (i.e. LSTM, RNN, Transformer etc.) and LLMs to solve analytical problem statements.
• Propose creative solutions to existing challenges that are new to the company, the financial industry and to data science.
• Present technical problems and findings to business leaders internally and to clients succinctly and clearly.
• Leverage best practices in machine learning and data engineering to develop scalable solutions.
• Identify areas where resources fall short of needs and provide thoughtful and sustainable solutions to benefit the team.
• Be a strong, confident, and excellent writer and speaker, able to communicate your vision and roadmap effectively to a wide variety of stakeholders.

All about you

• Experience mentoring and leading data science teams
• Substantial experience in data science/ machine learning model development and deployments
• Exposure to financial transactional structured and unstructured data, transaction classification, risk evaluation and credit risk modeling is a plus.
• A strong understanding of NLP, Statistical Modeling, Visualization and advanced Data Science techniques/methods.
• Gain insights from text, including non-language tokens and use the thought process of annotations in text analysis.
• Solve problems that are new to the company, the financial industry and to data science
• SQL / Database experience is preferred
• Experience with Kubernetes, Containers, Docker, REST APIs, Event Streams or other delivery mechanisms.
• Familiarity with relevant technologies (e.g. GenAI, LLMs, Agentic AI, TensorFlow, Python, Sklearn, Pandas, etc.).
• Strong desire to collaborate and ability to come up with creative solutions.
• Finance and FinTech experience preferred.
• PhD or Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, M.S preferred

Equal Opportunity Statement

Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role.

In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact [e-mail] and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must: Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices; Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed; Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.

Compensation and Benefits

In line with Mastercard’s total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in the US, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive base salary and may be eligible for an annual bonus or commissions depending on the role. The base salary offered may vary depending on multiple factors, including but not limited to location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Pay Ranges

Salt Lake City, Utah: $140,000 - $231,000 USD

Full time benefits

• insurance (including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance)
• flexible spending account and health savings account
• paid leaves (including 16 weeks of new parent leave and up to 20 days of bereavement leave)
• 80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time, 25 days of vacation time and 5 personal days, pro-rated based on date of hire
• 10 annual paid U.S. observed holidays
• 401k with a best-in-class company match
• deferred compensation for eligible roles
• fitness reimbursement or on-site fitness facilities
• eligibility for tuition reimbursement
• and many more

Intern benefits

• 56 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time
• jury duty leave
• on-site fitness facilities in some locations

Position Filling Information

THIS POSTING RELECTS ONE OR MORE CURRENT VACANCIES ON OUR TEAM, AND MASTERCARD INTENDS TO FILL THIS POSITION BY 09/20/2026. If the fill date has passed, Mastercard intends to fill this position as soon as possible.

Everyone wants easier ways to pay; we invent them. Checkout lines are slow; we speed them along. Merchants want more sales; we give them data and insights. People need financial access; we connect them. Corporate purchasing is complicated; we make it simple. Commuters are busy; we speed them on their way. Governments need greater efficiencies; we help create them. Small businesses are virtual; we give them access to a world of buyers. Retailers want to fight fraud; we provide the tools.