Data Scientist (Fraud)

Moniepoint Group; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Culture

Learning

Compensation

Job summary

Moniepoint is seeking a Data Scientist to sit at the heart of how we fight fraud — building the models, experiments, and detection systems that protect millions of customers and merchants across our platform. This is a high-impact role at the intersection of machine learning, product, and engineering, where your work will directly shape how Moniepoint detects and responds to emerging fraud threats.

You are a data-driven, intellectually curious Data Scientist who is energized by hard problems in

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or higher in Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, or a similar quantitative field.
• 3+ years in data science, decision science, or risk analytics within fraud, payments, or financial crime.
• Hands-on experience deploying ML models in production.

Responsibilities

• Prototype, evaluate, and help produce ML models for fraud detection; own monitoring and retraining cycles.
• Design and run experiments to measure fraud interventions and balance customer experience against loss reduction.
• Size fraud typologies across product lines to inform prioritization and investment decisions.
• Build and maintain anomaly detection systems to surface novel fraud vectors before they scale.
• Collaborate with fraud operations, engineers, product managers, and data analysts to translate model outputs into real-world mitigations.

Skills

Python

SQL

Statistics

Fraud detection

Education

Quantitative degree

Job description

Who we are

Ranked in 2024 by the Financial Times, Moniepoint is Africa’s fastest-growing fintech, trusted by over 10 million business and individual accounts, processing billions of Naira in transactions monthly .
Our mission is to enable financial happiness for every African, everywhere .

About this role:

We're looking for a Data Scientist to sit at the heart of how we fight fraud — building the models, experiments, and detection systems that protect millions of customers and merchants across our platform . This is a high-impact role at the intersection of machine learning, product, and engineering, where your work will directly shape how Moniepoint detects and responds to emerging fraud threats .

You are a data-driven, intellectually curious Data Scientist who is energized by hard problems in fraud and financial crime . You'll prototype and ship ML models, design experiments, and uncover new fraud signals across our ecosystem — partnering closely with engineers, product managers, and analysts to turn your work into production-grade systems .

Responsibilities:

Prototype, evaluate, and help produce machine learning models for fraud detection; own their ongoing monitoring and retraining cycles .

Design and run experiments to measure the impact of fraud interventions, balancing customer experience against loss reduction .

Size fraud typologies across our product lines to inform prioritization and investment decisions .

Build and maintain anomaly detection systems to surface novel fraud vectors before they scale .

Work closely with fraud operations, engineers, product managers, and data analysts to translate model outputs into real-world mitigations .

Experience & Background:

A strong foundation in statistics with a degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, or similar).

3+ years of experience in data science, decision science, or risk analytics within fraud, payments, or financial crime.

Hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning models in a production environment.

Fraud, risk, or financial services experience is a strong plus.

Solid grounding in data science fundamentals: experimentation, statistical inference, model evaluation, and feature engineering.

Comfort working in fast-paced, cross-functional teams with high ownership expectations.

Proficiency in Python and SQL; comfort working across the full model development lifecycle .

An investigative instinct — you enjoy digging into data to find patterns others miss .

The ability to communicate technical findings clearly to non-technical stakeholders and translate insights into action .

What Success Looks Like in This Role:

Production-grade ML models and anomaly detection systems that effectively surface and mitigate novel fraud vectors before they scale .

Well-designed experiments that successfully balance customer experience against fraud loss reduction .

Clear sizing of fraud typologies that effectively drives product prioritization and strategic investment decisions .

Seamless cross-functional alignment where technical model outputs are consistently translated into real-world fraud mitigations .

Why Join Us?

• Culture: We put our people first and prioritize the well-being of every team member . We've built a company where all opinions carry weight and where all voi ces are heard . We value and respect each other and always look out for one another . Above all, we are human .
• Learning: We have a learning and development-focused environment with an emphasis on knowledge sharing, training, and regular internal technical talks .
• Compensation: You'll receive an attractive salary, pension, health insurance, annual bonus, plus other benefits .

Moniepoint is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and candidates.