Risk Data Scientist

ODS Serbia; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Flexible work options

Healthcare coverage

Education budget

Wellness budget

Vacation policy: 20 days

Job summary

Plata is seeking a Risk Data Scientist to join our team as we launch a new Colombia-based business line. You will build end-to-end ML models for risk decisions, from feature engineering to deployment and monitoring, shaping the function from the ground up.

You will work on models for credit decisions and adjacent areas, ensuring production-grade reliability as data scales. This role offers relocation support, flexible work options, healthcare, education budget, wellness budget, and 20 days of

Qualifications

• 3+ years of hands-on, production-level Data Science experience.
• Hands-on experience across the full ML model lifecycle: development, deployment, monitoring, and decommissioning.
• Experience in banking or financial services strongly preferred, with an understanding of risk decisions in financial products.
• Strong foundation in ML algorithms, feature engineering, and model development.
• Proficient in Python, SQL, Airflow, Git, BI / Streamlit.
• Education: Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or a related STEM field from a top technical university.
• Comfortable working independently and owning problems end-to-end.
• B1 or higher English level for effective communication with an international team.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and own end-to-end machine learning models supporting risk decisions — from feature engineering and model development to deployment, monitoring, and retirement.
• Build predicting models for adjacent functions (e.g., churn/attrition prediction on issued loans, reserve calculations).
• Establish and maintain a managed lifecycle for ML models in production — ensuring models remain stable and reliable as data volume grows.
• Collaborate closely with Risk Analysts, Portfolio Managers, and Risk-tech strategy teams on model implementation.

Skills

Data science experience

ML lifecycle

English communication

Independent work

Education

Mathematics, Physics, CS

Tools

Python

SQL

Airflow

Git

BI/Streamlit

Job description

Brief description of the vacancy

We are looking for a Risk Data Scientist.

We're launching a new business line in Colombia and looking for someone to become the first dedicated Data Scientist in our Risk team, building the function from the ground up as part of this launch.

This is a rare opportunity to shape a function from scratch rather than optimize what someone else already built: you'll be working with a fast-growing dataset, designing the full lifecycle of ML models used in real credit decisions, and setting the technical foundation that the rest of the Risk data science function will be built on.

About The Company

Company Plata

Plata is the fastest-growing fintech unicorn in Latin America, valued at $5 billion. We have more than 4 million active users in Mexico, and our app ranks #1 in the finance category.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and own end-to-end machine learning models supporting risk decisions — from feature engineering and model development to deployment, monitoring, and retirement
• Build predicting models for adjacent functions (e.g., churn/attrition prediction on issued loans, reserve calculations)
• Establish and maintain a managed lifecycle for ML models in production — ensuring models remain stable and reliable as data volume grows
• Collaborate closely with Risk Analysts, Portfolio Managers, and Risk-tech strategy teams on model implementation

Requirements

• 3+ years of hands‑on, production‑level Data Science experience
• Hands‑on experience across the full ML model lifecycle: development, deployment, monitoring, and decommissioning
• Experience in banking or financial services strongly preferred, with an understanding of how risk decisions are embedded in financial products
• Strong foundation in ML algorithms, feature engineering, and model development
• Proficient in Python, SQL, Airflow, Git, BI / Streamlit
• Education: Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or a related STEM field from a top technical university
• Comfortable working independently and owning problems end‑to‑end
• B1 or higher English level for effective communication with an international team

Our Ways Of Working

• Innovative Spirit: A commitment to creativity and groundbreaking solutions
• Honest Feedback: valuing open, transparent communication
• Supportive Team: a strong, collaborative community
• Celebrating Achievements: recognizing our wins together
• High-Tech Environment: a team full of smart and revolutionary people who date to challenge the status quo of incumbent finances

Our Benefits

• Relocation support to one of our hubs with assistance for the employee and their family
• Flexible work from one of our offices or remote
• Healthcare Coverage
• Education Budget: Language lessons, professional training and certifications
• Wellness Budget: Mental health and fitness activity reimbursements
• Vacation policy: 20 days of annual leave and paid sick leave