Senior Director of Decision Analytics

Payactiv, Inc.; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401K with company match

Tuition assistance

Unlimited PTO

Gym reimbursement

Volunteer time off

Paid Family Leave

Office lunches

Career growth

Job summary

Payactiv, a FinTech company in Silicon Valley, seeks a Senior Director of Decision Analytics to lead the risk decisioning function for our Earned Wage Access products. Based in Milpitas, you will guide data-driven decisions impacting growth and loss performance across products.

Role requires 8+ years in consumer fintech risk, strong SQL/Python, and a proven ability to lead analytics teams. You will partner with Product, Engineering, Finance, and Compliance to deliver scalable risk solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative discipline; advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in consumer credit risk, risk analytics, or decision science, including 3+ years leading analytics teams.
• Direct experience owning risk at a consumer fintech — earned wage access, cash advance, BNPL, or near-prime consumer lending — strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of owning risk decision strategy and loss outcomes at scale, with U.S. workers experience.
• Hands-on experience debiting consumer financial instruments at scale across methods (ACH, debit, real-time rails).
• Hands-on technical depth in SQL and Python, with knowledge of modern ML approaches to risk modeling.
• Executive-level communication skills to distill risk trade-offs for C-suite and board audiences.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the risk decision strategy for Payactiv’s product offerings, balancing access, growth, and loss performance.
• Own end-to-end risk decisioning strategy: eligibility criteria, limits, repayment risk models, debit and recovery strategies, portfolio management.
• Build loss forecasting, vintage and cohort analysis, and unit-economics frameworks; report portfolio metrics to leadership.
• Build and mentor a high-performing team of risk data scientists and analysts.
• Champion a test-and-learn culture, design and run experiments to expand access while controlling losses.
• Establish model governance standards: documentation, validation, monitoring, controls.

Skills

SQL

Python

Risk analytics

Leadership

Executive communication

Experimentation

Financial risk

Education

Bachelor's degree in Quantitative field

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

SQL tooling

Python libraries

Job description

Senior Director of Decision Analytics

Location: Milpitas, CA

Job ID: 229 | # of Openings: 1 | Reports to: Senior VP of Finance

About Payactiv

At Payactiv, we believe everyone is worthy of financial dignity. Our team is built on a shared obsession to create products that reduce financial stress and improve lives. We thrive on curiosity, strive for excellence, and act with purpose every day. If you’re inspired to reimagine what’s possible for workers everywhere, explore our openings—or reach out and introduce yourself. There’s always room at the table for passionate problem-solvers.

We are Payactiv, a FinTech company in the heart of Silicon Valley, devoted to giving workers access to their earned wages when they need them. Payactiv is the pioneer and industry leader in Earned Wage Access. We are the only Certified B Corporation and Public Benefit Corporation in our industry. Our app provides millions with financial services that help them avoid debt, manage their finances, and regain flexibility to pay for things on their own schedule. As Payactiv expands its product offerings to serve workers throughout the U.S., the Decision Analytics team is seeking a Senior Director of Decision Analytics, based out of our Milpitas office, to further build out and lead the decision analytics function behind our product offerings. This is a high-visibility leadership role for a proven risk leader who has scaled risk analytics at a consumer fintech and is passionate about expanding financial access. The Decision Analytics team is responsible for building the data-driven intelligence that powers many of Payactiv’s financial products and business decisions. We develop forecasting models, decision engines, risk strategies and other analytical solutions that help drive business performance at scale. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Operations, Finance and other stakeholders, we turn data into actionable insights and automated decisions that improve customer outcomes, strengthen partner relationships, and support long-term growth.

What you will do

• Define and own the risk decision strategy for Payactiv’s product offerings — partnering with executive leadership to strike the right balance between expanding access, growth, and loss performance.
• Own end-to-end risk decisioning strategy: eligibility criteria, advance limits, repayment risk models, debit and recovery strategies, and portfolio management — from initial design through deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Build loss forecasting, vintage and cohort analysis, and unit-economics frameworks; own portfolio metrics such as approval rates, loss rates, repayment performance, and risk-adjusted profitability, and report on them to executive leadership.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing team of risk data scientists and analysts — setting the bar for technical rigor, speed, and business impact.
• Champion a test-and-learn culture — design, run, and read experiments that expand access to more workers while holding losses within appetite.
• Establish model governance standards — documentation, validation, performance monitoring, and controls that keep pace with regulatory expectations.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Product, Engineering, Finance, Compliance, and executive stakeholders, translating complex analyses into clear decisions; partner with fraud and identity teams where risk domains intersect.

What you need

• Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative discipline – Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Engineering, etc.; advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in consumer credit risk, risk analytics, or decision science, including 3+ years building and leading analytical teams.
• Direct experience owning risk at a consumer fintech — earned wage access, cash advance, BNPL, or near-prime consumer lending (e.g., EarnIn, Dave, Brigit, MoneyLion, Affirm, Klarna) — strongly preferred.
• A proven track record of owning risk decision strategy and loss outcomes at scale, including experience serving U.S. workers — with deep fluency in loss forecasting, portfolio management, unit economics, and experimentation, and the ability to connect risk decisions directly to P&L outcomes.
• Hands-on experience debiting consumer financial instruments at scale across methods — ACH debits (standard and same-day), merchant-initiated debits of debit and prepaid cards via payment networks (e.g., Visa, Mastercard), and emerging real-time rails (RTP, FedNow) — including debit timing, sequencing, and retry strategies, and managing returns, NSF, chargebacks, and disputes.
• Hands‑on technical depth in SQL and Python, with working knowledge of modern ML approaches to risk modeling (e.g., gradient boosting frameworks) — credible going deep with your team.
• Executive‑level communication skills — able to distill complex risk trade‑offs for C‑suite and board audiences and influence decisions across functions.
• Working knowledge of U.S. payment rails and the rules that govern consumer debits (e.g., Nacha operating rules, Regulation E), and of the broader regulatory landscape for earned wage access and consumer credit, is a strong plus.

What we offer

• Company sponsored Health, Dental, and Vision insurance
• 401K, traditional, and Roth with a company match
• Tuition Assistance or Tuition Reimbursement
• Unlimited Paid Time off
• Monthly Gym Reimbursement
• Paid time off to volunteer
• Paid Family Leave
• Complimentary office lunches
• Opportunity to grow
• Opportunity to work with a great team committed to making a difference.
• Salary range $240k to $260k + Bonus

Working here has its perks

Payactiv is a certified B-Corp and Public Benefit Corporation. Not only are we dedicated to conducting business with the highest standards, it’s our legal commitment.

Certified good guys

Payactiv is a certified B-Corp and Public Benefit Corporation.

Make it meaningful

Our purpose is to help lower income workers reduce financial stress and improve wellbeing. Your work here would impact millions of people every single day.

Culture is key

We have a highly collaborative and lively environment. Join monthly team bonding events, workout groups, interest groups, or the dance party in the marketing office.

We want you to excel

We encourage team members to attend events, find online courses, and explore their creative ideas. Ask about our education reimbursement programs.

We got you covered

We offer our employees health, dental, and vision coverage with a medical expense card to cover most co-pays. We also offer a monthly internet and cell phone reimbursement.

Payactiv is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members.

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