Manager of Data Science

Company Description

Visa is a global pioneer in digital payments, enabling over 215 billion payment transactions among consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and government entities across over 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to create a worldwide connection through the most innovative, user-friendly, trustworthy, and secure payment network, fostering growth for individuals, companies, and economies alike.

By joining Visa, you become part of a culture of purpose and inclusion, where your development is prioritized, your identity is respected, and the work you do makes a difference. We believe that economies that are inclusive and accessible to everyone, uplifts everyone everywhere. Thus, your work will directly affect billions of people worldwide, facilitating financial access and shaping the future of monetary transactions.

Join Visa: A Network Working for Everyone.

Job Description

The Manager of Data Science is a crucial risk role in the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) Data Science risk team. We seek an imaginative and analytical individual to steer our data-driven strategies within the region. As a Data Science Risk Manager, you will help construct predictive and prescriptive models, develop context-aware prototypes and high-impact storyboards that advocate for data-driven strategies and solutions for Visa clients. This role largely involves engagements in credit, fraud and operational risks, deep risk analytics, risk scoring, and forecasting solutions.

Principal Responsibilities

• A large part of the job involves devising and implementing top-tier risk analytic solutions, including scoring and non-scoring models. Generate and deliver meaningful insights from data through enhanced visualization and storyboarding.

• Collaborate with a wider team comprising of Business Managers, Consultants, and Data Scientists from Visa and client organizations to strategize, co-create, implement, and reap the benefits of data-driven solutions.

• Work with regional and global Data Science teams to create high-quality analytic products and solutions that promote Visa’s growth in the region.

• Maintain Visa's leading edge in Data Science technology by introducing state-of-the-art tools and methods for generating business insights.

• Attain a swift understanding and processing of alternate/non-traditional data sources/platforms and develop AI-based advanced prediction algorithms.

• Develop cutting-edge analytic methods when existing tools and techniques are insufficient to address business challenges.

• Cooperate with internal Technology partners and Data Engineering teams to leverage Visa's internal technology platforms, data resources, and the wider Visa ecosystem to support our clients' technical data needs.

• Schedule workload for self and any direct reports, provides prioritization advice for project progress to increase process efficiency.

• Create, share, and build globally recognized best practices and knowledge management within the team.

• Spread innovative ideas and solutions that are scalable and marketable.

• Support internal requirements surrounding Model Risk Management, Visa Analytics Rules, and Global Privacy standards on client delivery to ensure Visa's highly esteemed market standing is preserved.

This is a hybrid position. Hybrid staff members can switch between working remotely and from the office. Employees in hybrid positions are expected to work at the office for 2-3 set days per week (as determined by the leadership/site), with a rough guidepost of being at the office at least 50% or more of the time based on business needs.

Qualifications

Professional Experience
• Minimum of 6 years of experience in implementing Machine Learning solutions to business problems, with model development and production experience required
• Postgraduate degree (Masters or PhD) in a quantitative field such as Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, Operational Research, Computer Science, Informatics, Economics, or Engineering
• Excellent knowledge, experience, and understanding of quantitative techniques (modeling, statistics, root cause analysis, etc.) applied to Risk Management with a focus on Cards and Payments. Familiarity with key Risk and Performance Indicators. Experience working in one or more Card & Payment markets across the globe, with specific tasks in payments, retail banking, or retail merchant industries
• Good understanding of the Payments and Banking industry, including card categories like consumer credit, consumer debit, prepaid, small business, commercial, and co-branded products
• Extensive knowledge of data, market intelligence, business intelligence, and AI-powered tools and technologies, with demonstrated ability to incorporate new techniques to solve business problems
• Experience in planning, organizing, and managing multiple large projects with diverse cross-functional teams, including resource planning and implementation of delivery
• Experience in presenting ideas and analysis to stakeholders while tailoring data-driven results to various audience levels
• Develop Risk advisory related knowledge and capabilities to create next-generation risk engagement with Visa clients
• Collaborate with in-market VCA consultants and data scientists to deliver risk-related advisory engagements
• Establish Intellectual Property (IP) risk repository for VCA by tapping into knowledge from consulting engagements (e.g., creating standard methods, assembling a library of case studies, templatizing modeling codes)
• Reengineer and/or repackage risk consulting methods and data-driven solutions as required, ensuring world-class best practices and efficiency through economies of scale
• Collaborate with other Visa functions (Risk, Products) to maximize existing risk products/solutions and co-design new ones using Visa’s assets (expertise, data, capabilities)
• Proven ability to deliver results within set scope, timeline, and budget
• Exceptionally strong project management skills and experience
• Ability to travel within CEMEA at short notice
Technical Expertise
• Expertise in distributed computing environments/big data platforms (Hadoop, Elasticsearch, etc.) as well as common database systems and value stores (SQL, Hive, HBase, etc.)
• Strong understanding and experience of modern technology stack and microservice architecture including Kotlin, Spring boot, PostgreSQL, Kafka, AWS
• Relevant experience in handling unstructured/structured data from Telco, Supermarket, Social Media, Online logs, E-commerce, etc is preferable
• Ability to write scratch MapReduce jobs and fluency with Spark frameworks
• Familiarity with various computing environments (e.g., Linux, Shell Scripting) and commonly-used IDE's (Jupyter Notebooks), proficiency in SAS technologies and techniques is preferred
• Strong programming skills in various languages such as Python, R, Scala, Java, Matlab, C++, and SQL
• Experience in creating solution architecture frameworks that rely on APIs and micro-services
• Familiarity with different data modeling approaches and ability to work with a variety of datatypes, including JSON, XML, etc.
• Ability to construct data pipelines (e.g., , data preparation, data aggregation, and analysis) using tools like NiFi, Sqoop, Ab Initio, familiar with data lineage processes and schema management tools like Avro
• Proficient in some or all the following techniques: Linear & Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Random Forests, K-Nearest Neighbors, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Gibbs Sampling, Evolutionary Algorithms (e.g., Genetic Algorithms, Genetic Programming), Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks, Bagging and Boosting algorithms, etc.
• Expert knowledge of advanced data mining and statistical modeling techniques, including Predictive modeling (e.g., binomial and multinomial regression, ANOVA), Classification techniques (e.g., Clustering, Principal Component Analysis, factor analysis), Decision Tree techniques (e.g., CART, CHAID)

Additional Information

Visa is an EEO Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.