Team Leader: Data and Analytics

Capitec Bank Ltd.; Stellenbosch; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading South African bank is seeking a Lead Data Scientist to oversee the advancement of client exposure models and lead a team of data scientists. The ideal candidate has over 7 years of experience building financial ML models, strong expertise in deep learning networks, and proven leadership skills. This role requires a master's degree and offers an opportunity to shape advanced analytics solutions in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in financial ML models with clear impact on credit exposure.
• Experience in batch and real-time scoring.
• Hands-on leadership of Data Scientists.

Responsibilities

• Own and advance client exposure models.
• Lead a squad of Data Scientists on model design and monitoring.
• Partner with delivery teams to maintain model performance.

Skills

Building and running high stakes ML models

Mastery of sequence-type deep learning neural networks

Fluency in Python/SQL

Stakeholder management

Model Risk Management mindset

Education

Master's degree or higher

Tools

AWS (SageMaker, Kubernetes)

Git/GitHub

Confluence

Job description

Who we are:

We are a bank, but we’re much more than that. We believe that banking is about enabling people to control their financial lives through banking that is simplified, accessible, affordable and delivered through personal experience. By helping our clients manage their financial lives better, we enable them to live better.

Why choose us:

At Capitec, we offer our best by living up to our CEO values in every situation – we always put the Client first, act with Energy and take Ownership. And to support people in being their best, our Employee Value Proposition offers every value to all team members through cohesive teams, growth opportunities as well as employee benefits and savings. We make it a priority to ensure that each member of the Capitec team feels welcome, valued, focused, and has the opportunity to grow.

About the role:

As a Lead Data Scientist (Retail Credit), your purpose is to own and advance Capitec’s highest materiality client exposure models, the intelligence that identifies salary deposits with near perfect precision and drives credit eligibility and downstream treatments in both batch and real time (branch side) pathways. You’ll combine deep research with production pragmatism to evolve our sequence-type deep learning neural network models, ensuring they remain accurate, explainable, and robust under heavy load and tight SLAs. You’ll shape the analytics behind our enterprise “10 minute flow” (3 screen journey), turning complex data into simple, trusted decisions for clients and bankers alike.

The role spans the full ML and Data Science lifecycles and the people leadership required to execute it well. You will lead a squad of Data Scientists, stewarding model design, feature governance, Model Risk Management grade documentation, approvals, deployment, and continuous monitoring. You’ll partner daily with RCED, delivery teams, and Branch Ops, to keep batch runs and real time scoring healthy, documented, and continually improved. With recent platform migrations, you’ll guide the team as deployments are detangled from platform engineering and stabilised as services the squad fully owns, freeing focus for pay date intelligence, collections strategies, and a client level view that compounds value over time.

Our ideal candidate has:

• 7+ years building and running high stakes ML models in production (financial services or adjacent), with clear impact on credit exposure or client treatment.
• Demonstrable mastery of sequence-type deep learning neural networks; comfortable balancing accuracy, explainability, and control.
• Hands on ownership of batch and real time scoring.
• Fluency in Python/SQL, model packaging and service exposure; experience with AWS (SageMaker, Kubernetes, or equivalent cloud), Git/GitHub, and collaborative documentation (Confluence).
• Proven leadership of 4–5 DS/MLEs, establishing code/review standards, mentoring, and elevating research & engineering practice.
• Stakeholder management across RCED, Delivery, Branch Ops, and governance forums.
• Model Risk Management mindset: rigorous documentation, approval pathways, monitoring and retraining.
• Have the ability to articulate where and why a model is used, what happens if it drifts and what the risk to clients and the Bank are

Ideal:

• Experience with pay date models, Next Best Action, or collections; prior exposure to Documents Exchange (multi bank statements) and strategies for timely retraining when external data shifts.
• Strategic thinking
• Leadership ability
• Researching skills
• Planning, organising and coordination skills

Education:

• Completed a master’s degree or higher

If you are interested in being part of this dynamic team, on a mission to build the best bank in the world through unlocking the potential of its people, please apply. We would love to hear from you!

Capitec is committed to diversity and, where feasible, all appointments will support the achievement of our employment equity goals.

Capitec is committed to diversity, applications to this position will strictly be considered in support of our employment equity goals.

Capitec Bank is an authorised financial services provider (FSP 46669) and registered credit provider (NCRCP13). Capitec Bank Limited Reg. No: 1980/003695/06