Senior Data Scientist

Sony Playstation; San Diego (CA); Remote; USD 163,000 - 246,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company as a Senior Data Scientist, where your expertise in machine learning and fraud detection will shape the future of digital commerce. This role involves developing insights and optimizing risk modeling strategies to enhance security across a vast digital ecosystem. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to innovate and implement data-driven solutions that protect user transactions while driving business growth. With an inclusive culture that values diversity and innovation, this is an exciting opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the gaming industry.

Benefits

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401(k) Matching

Paid Time Off

Wellness Program

Employee Discounts

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data science, ML, and fraud/risk analytics.
• Strong expertise in supervised/unsupervised learning and real-time ML.

Responsibilities

• Develop and refine fraud and risk modeling strategies.
• Design and implement A/B tests to evaluate new product features.

Skills

Machine Learning

Fraud Detection

Causal Inference

Anomaly Detection

SQL

Python

Education

Master's in Computer Science

Ph.D. in Data Science

Tools

Pandas

NumPy

Scikit-learn

Job description

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation5, PlayStation4, PlayStationVR, PlayStationPlus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.

Senior Data Scientist – Store Publishing Operations & Commerce (SPOC)

San Diego, CA (remote considered, west coast hours)

Who We Are

At Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) PlayStation, we create unforgettable gaming experiences—and we're just as committed to building an elite team. As a leader in interactive entertainment, PlayStation operates at a massive scale, supporting millions of players worldwide and processing billions of transactions annually across our digital ecosystem.

Our Store Publishing Operations & Commerce (SPOC) team is responsible for ensuring trust, security, and seamless transactions across PlayStation’s digital store. We provide data-driven solutions to support platform services, customer experience, payments, fraud prevention, and risk management. By using advanced analytics and machine learning, we help protect the commerce ecosystem while enabling business growth and optimizing player experiences.

About the Role

For over five years, SIE has been operating an innovative risk platform powered by machine learning to safeguard the expansive PlayStation Network ecosystem. Our Data Science team plays a critical role in detecting fraud risks, optimizing payment security, and enabling data-driven decisions across PlayStation’s digital commerce.

We’re looking for a Senior Data Scientist to develop insights, design experiments, and enhance risk modeling strategies in collaboration with finance, payments, and security teams. If you’re passionate about large-scale machine learning, real-time risk mitigation, and safeguarding digital transactions, we’d love to hear from you.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and refine fraud and risk modeling strategies, supporting standard processes for model development, deployment, and experimentation.
• Contribute to innovation in ML for fraud detection, real-time inference, and anomaly detection, working closely with engineering and risk teams.
• Design and implement A/B tests to evaluate the impact of new product features and initiatives.
• Apply causal inference techniques to assess the effectiveness of fraud detection, risk management, and user retention efforts.
• Analyze and optimize key business metrics related to revenue, conversion, and engagement.
• Enhance experimentation frameworks, ensuring models and risk mitigation strategies are rigorously validated.
• Collaborate with collaborators across finance, risk, and product teams to drive data-informed decision-making.

Requirements:

• Master’s or Ph.D. in a quantitative field (Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, etc.).
• 5+ years of experience in data science, ML, and fraud/risk analytics, preferably in fintech, payments, or e-commerce.
• Strong expertise in causal inference, anomaly detection, supervised/unsupervised learning, and real-time ML.
• Proficiency in SQL and Python (Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn).
• Experience designing and analyzing A/B tests and applying causal inference techniques.

Bonus:

• Experience with graph-based fraud detection, deep learning for risk, or adversarial ML techniques.
• PlayStation fan

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top-tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package. Click here to learn more.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.

$163,900 — $245,900 USD

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.