Senior Data Scientist — NLP & AI Risk Leader

Bank of America; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 125,000 - 188,000; Full time

Job summary

Bank of America is seeking a senior data scientist to coordinate and optimize data analysis for revenue opportunities and risk management strategies. You will work with lines of business, deploy advanced analytics, and mentor junior data scientists while delivering practical, scalable AI solutions.

The role requires 5+ years in data science, strong Python/SQL skills, experience with NLP/LLM, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams in a regulated financial environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of work experience in a Data Science role or related field.
• Proven ability in learning and strong programming (Python, SQL) skills.
• Strong interest in using data for business insight and experience in building and deploying models.
• Strong desire to learn and willingness to acquire needed knowledge and skills.
• Demonstrated project management skills, including ability to prioritize, meet deadlines and follow through on completion of high-profile projects or initiatives.
• Positive attitude, willingness to collaborate, strong work ethic, and demonstrated personal initiative.
• Organized; able to effectively prioritize and balance multiple efforts in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to lead and influence stakeholders across multiple levels and organizations, aligning technical teams and business stakeholders to deliver actionable insights.
• Ability to identify and remediate risks in a timely manner.
• Ability to navigate the enterprise / source information across multiple functions.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• General knowledge of Enterprise Credit businesses, processes, systems, and policies.
• Experience building and implementing Natural Language Processing (NLP) solutions from scratch.
• Experience using Python packages such as: pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, spaCy, NLTK, PyTorch, TensorFlow or other advanced scientific/ML/NLP Python packages.
• Hands‑on experience with Large Language Models (LLMs), including prompt engineering, fine‑tuning, or parameter‑efficient adaptation (e.g., LoRA, adapters) for enterprise use cases (e.g., document understanding, semantic search, summarization, or decision support).
• Strong understanding of modern NLP architectures, including transformers, embeddings, attention mechanisms, and vector similarity search.
• Demonstrated experience operationalizing NLP/ML solutions, including model validation, monitoring, drift detection, and iterative improvement post‑deployment.
• Strong understanding of model risk, bias, explainability, and governance considerations, especially in regulated financial environments.
• Ability to document assumptions, limitations, and controls for NLP and generative AI solutions in a manner suitable for senior stakeholders and risk partners.
• Experience mentoring junior data scientists, providing technical guidance on NLP, modeling best practices, and code quality.

Responsibilities

• Coordinates data collection, trend identification, and pattern recognition to drive decision making and data insights.
• Communicates how enterprise information products answer material banking questions leading to decisions.
• Applies agile practices for project management, solution development, deployment, and maintenance.
• Oversees technical documentation capturing business requirements and specifications for analytical solutions.
• Reviews work products for quality and timeliness of models, data science products, and visualizations.
• Identifies potential risks and develops controls to mitigate them.
• Keeps up-to-date with advances in data science and AI to support business analytics.
• Evaluates Proofs of Concepts for Enterprise Credit using emerging AI technologies; assesses feasibility and value.

Skills

Python

SQL

Data analysis

Leadership

Communication

Education

High School Diploma or equivalent

Graduate degree in Data Science

Tools

Pandas

NumPy

scikit-learn

TensorFlow / NLP packages

Job description

Bank of America is seeking a senior data scientist to coordinate and optimize data analysis for revenue opportunities and risk management strategies. You will work with lines of business, deploy advanced analytics, and mentor junior data scientists while delivering practical, scalable AI solutions.

The role requires 5+ years in data science, strong Python/SQL skills, experience with NLP/LLM, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams in a regulated financial environment.