Principal Data Scientist, Real-Time Payments

Eliassen Group; Santa Fe (NM); Remote; USD 117,000 - 131,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision

401k with match

Life insurance

Job summary

Eliassen Group is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for a remote, contract-to-hire role to scale our data science and AI capabilities for end-to-end payment optimization. You will collaborate with ML engineers and product partners to deploy real-time models, drive strategy, and mentor senior data scientists.

Expect hands-on contributions across architecture, reviews, and production-grade ML solutions. The role balances strategic leadership with hands-on execution, mentoring a high-caliber team

Qualifications

• 7+ years in ML research or engineering with 5+ years building real-time ML systems in production.
• Proficiency in Python (Pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn) and strong SQL experience.
• Experience leading solution design and translating complex business requirements into actionable technology solutions.
• Bonus: Payments/fintech domain and cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, Snowflake, Databricks, or Vertex AI.

Responsibilities

• Define technical vision and strategy for data-driven product initiatives focused on payment optimization, aligned to business goals.
• Develop scalable and reusable capabilities for real-time ML models including classification, ranking, optimization, rapid experimentation, and continuous monitoring.
• Oversee and contribute to conceptualization, development, deployment, operation, validation, and maintenance of ML models and update systems.
• Establish and enforce best practices for ML modeling while evaluating and adopting modern tools, frameworks, and infrastructure.
• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and collaboration while mentoring an elite team of data scientists.
• Partner with product, engineering, data, and compliance teams to integrate ML into products and communicate complex concepts to varied audiences.
• Collaborate with Data Science leaders to establish an operating model for ML R&D that optimizes end-to-end delivery of business value.

Skills

Python

Real-time ML

SQL

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree

PhD preferred

Tools

NoSQL databases

Cloud platforms

Job description

Eliassen Group is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for a remote, contract-to-hire role to scale our data science and AI capabilities for end-to-end payment optimization. You will collaborate with ML engineers and product partners to deploy real-time models, drive strategy, and mentor senior data scientists.

Expect hands-on contributions across architecture, reviews, and production-grade ML solutions. The role balances strategic leadership with hands-on execution, mentoring a high-caliber team