Lead Data Scientist – Cyber Security Operations Center

Salesforce; Bellevue (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce, Inc. seeks a Lead Data Scientist to drive AI-driven detection capabilities within the Cyber Security Operations Center. Lead end-to-end architecture, partner with incident response, threat intelligence, and product security teams to deploy scalable defenses at cloud scale.

You will mentor data scientists, govern ML pipelines, and translate complex models into actionable security insights for leadership and engineers.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of industry experience in applied data science, machine learning, or AI engineering (or 6+ years with a relevant Master’s or Ph.D).
• 3+ years in a technical leadership capacity owning project lifecycles from ideation to production.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, or Scala and experience with big data frameworks and ML pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical vision, methodology, and roadmap for data science and AI-driven detection within the CSOC.
• Architect, build, and oversee proofs-of-concept for novel threat detection models for high-throughput production.
• Lead partnerships with incident response, threat intelligence, detection engineering, and product security teams.
• Champion, design, and maintain enterprise AI-driven capabilities, including agentic monitoring and continuous model feedback loops.
• Mentor senior and junior data scientists, establish code quality and model governance.
• Translate complex ML models and signals into actionable insights for security leadership and engineers.

Skills

Applied data science

Machine learning

AI engineering

Technical leadership

Tools

Python

Java

Scala

Spark

PySpark

Flink

Job description

Job Category

Software Engineering

Job Details

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn't a buzzword - it's a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.

Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You're in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

The Experience

The Data Science & Analytics team in the Salesforce Cyber Security Operations Center seeks an experienced, visionary, and driven Lead Data Scientist to help protect our customers and identify malicious activity on our platforms. We explore, invent, build, and scale advanced capabilities to secure the Salesforce platform. We leverage AI, machine learning, and contemporary data techniques to advance behavior- and signature-based detection mechanisms.

As a technical leader on a growing and highly visible team, you will establish technical direction, architect end-to-end detection frameworks, and partner with executive, threat, product, and engineering teams to deliver autonomous defenses that operate at cloud scale-evolving through agentic-based monitoring, testing, and continuous improvement.

What You'll Actually Be Doing

• Strategic & Technical Leadership: Define the technical vision, methodology, and roadmap for data science and AI-driven detection capabilities within the CSOC.
• Architecture & Delivery: Architect, build, and oversee the execution of proofs-of-concept for novel threat detection models, ensuring seamless transition into high-throughput, scalable production software.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Lead partnerships with incident response, threat intelligence, detection engineering, and product security teams to identify detection gaps and model evolving adversary behavior.
• AI & Agentic Systems Ownership: Champion, design, and maintain enterprise AI-driven capabilities, including agentic monitoring systems, automated threat correlation, and continuous model feedback loops.
• Mentorship & Technical Governance: Mentor senior and junior data scientists, establish best practices for code quality, model governance, testing, and ML pipeline reliability.
• Executive Communication: Translate complex machine learning models and security signals into actionable insights and strategic proposals for security leadership, engineers, and non-technical stakeholders.

You’re Our Person If...

• 8+ years of industry experience in applied data science, machine learning, or AI engineering (or 6+ years with a relevant Master’s or Ph.D.).
• 3+ years in a technical leadership capacity (e.g., Lead Data Scientist, Tech Lead, or Principal Individual Contributor) owning project lifecycles from ideation to production.
• Deep expertise in applied statistics, probability, and advanced machine learning techniques (deep learning, sequence modeling, anomaly detection, NLP/LLMs).
• Demonstrated experience architecting and deploying ML pipelines and models over large-scale datasets (multi-terabyte or petabyte scale).
• Production-level programming skills in Python, Java, or Scala, along with fluency in big data frameworks (e.g., Spark, PySpark, Flink) and modern MLOps ecosystems.
• Proven track record of guiding cross-functional technical decisions and mentoring engineering and data science team members.
• Exceptional strategic communication skills, with the ability to influence technical roadmaps and articulate complex concepts to leadership.

Even Better If...

• Domain expertise in Cybersecurity, specifically in threat propagation, signal correlation, security log analysis (SIEM, EDR, network flows), and behavioral threat modeling.
• Hands-on experience building and deploying agentic AI systems, automated reasoning, or generative AI workflows in high-consequence operational environments.
• Experience in other high-throughput, low-latency domains involving pattern recognition and behavioral analysis (e.g., quantitative finance, high-frequency trading, genomics, or fraud detection).

About You

Technical Leader & Strategist: You possess a deep passion for AI and data, combined with a proven track record of converting complex security challenges into scalable data science initiatives. You bridge rigorous statistical theory with high-impact business and operational security outcomes.

Innovator & Architect: You thrive on researching, evaluating, and architecting cutting-edge techniques in generative AI, agentic workflows, data mining, and machine learning, driving innovations from initial concept through production deployment.