Remote Lead Data Scientist — Fintech | Unlimited PTO

Placements24; Kempton Park; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Unlimited PTO

Home office budget

Remote work arrangement

Professional development budget

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to guide data analytics initiatives in a remote-first fintech environment. You will lead a team, architect advanced ML models, and shape data-driven products for Banking & Finance.

The role emphasizes production deployments, experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration with engineering and product teams. Remote work across South Africa is supported.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field.
• 7+ years in data science with at least 2 in leadership or team lead roles.
• Proven track record deploying ML models in production.
• Proficiency in Python or R with relevant libraries.
• Strong SQL skills and experience with big data (e.g., Spark).
• Experience communicating findings to diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of data scientists, providing guidance and project oversight.
• Develop and implement advanced ML models for fraud detection, risk, and customer analytics.
• Design and run A/B tests and experiments to evaluate models and features.
• Collaborate with engineering/product teams to deploy models to production.
• Define KPIs for data science projects and team performance.
• Stay updated on data science advances and identify opportunities.
• Communicate complex findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ensure data integrity, accuracy, and security for analyses.
• Drive data-driven strategies aligned with business objectives.

Skills

Leadership

Machine learning

Python

R

SQL

Spark

Pandas

Cloud platforms

Education

Master's or PhD in CS/STAT/MATH

Tools

scikit-learn

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Pandas

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to guide data analytics initiatives in a remote-first fintech environment. You will lead a team, architect advanced ML models, and shape data-driven products for Banking & Finance.

The role emphasizes production deployments, experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration with engineering and product teams. Remote work across South Africa is supported.