Lead Data Scientist – Cyber Security Operations Center

Salesforce, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 173,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

401(k) plan

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

Salesforce, Inc. is seeking a Lead Data Scientist for the Cyber Security Operations Center to guide AI-driven threat detection at cloud scale. You will architect end-to-end detection frameworks and partner with executives, threat intelligence, and engineering teams to deliver autonomous defenses.

You will lead a team to deploy agentic AI systems, monitor performances, and continuously improve models. Strong collaboration and strategic communication are essential to inform security leadership and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of industry experience in applied data science, ML, or AI engineering (or 6+ years with MS/PhD).
• 3+ years in a technical leadership capacity owning project lifecycles from ideation to production.
• Deep expertise in statistics, probability, and ML techniques (deep learning, sequence modeling, anomaly detection, NLP/LLMs).
• Experience deploying ML pipelines and models over large-scale datasets (multi-terabyte or petabyte).
• Production-level programming in Python, Java, or Scala with Spark/PySpark/Flink and modern MLOps.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical vision, methodology, and roadmap for data science and AI-driven detection within CSOC.
• Architect, build, and oversee proofs-of-concept for threat detection models and scale to production.
• Lead partnerships with incident response, threat intelligence, detection engineering, and product security teams.
• Own enterprise AI-driven capabilities including agentic monitoring systems and automated threat correlation.
• Mentor data scientists and establish code quality, model governance, testing, and pipeline reliability.
• Translate ML models and security signals into actionable insights for leadership and engineers.

Skills

Applied statistics

Machine learning

Python/Java/Scala

Big data frameworks

ML pipelines

Cross-functional leadership

Threat analytics

Tools

Spark

PySpark

Flink

Job description

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

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.

Lead Data Scientist – Cyber Security Operations Center

The Team

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.

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.
• Force Multiplier: You are a natural collaborator and mentor who elevates those around you. You partner fluently with threat intelligence experts to decipher emerging attack vectors and collaborate with principal software engineers to set the architectural standards for production security algorithms.
• You wanna stop bad guys: You enjoy creating chaos for cyber attackers and want to disrupt their operations.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Required Experience & Skills

• 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.

Preferred Skills

• 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).

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

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Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including:

• time off programs
• medical
• dental
• vision
• mental health support
• paid parental leave
• life and disability insurance
• 401(k)
• an employee stock purchasing program

More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions.The typical base salary range for this position is $172,500 - $260,100 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $207,800 - $285,800 annually.The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.