Senior Consultant Data Scientist - Cybersecurity AI Research & Products

Company Description

Visa is a global leader in digital payments, facilitating over 215 billion payment transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories annually. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payment network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to flourish.

When you join Visa, you become part of a culture of purpose and belonging – where your growth is a priority, your identity is valued, and the work you do is significant. We believe that economies that include everyone, uplift everyone. Your work will directly influence billions of people around the world – helping to facilitate financial access and enable the future of money movement.

Join Visa: A Network Working for Everyone.

Job Description

We are seeking to hire a senior Data Scientist to lead the AI/ML initiatives within the Cybersecurity Products team. This position will be based in Ashburn, VA. In this role, you will:

• Be responsible for directing, designing, and developing cutting-edge innovations in the field of cybersecurity using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning — current challenges include behaviour biometrics, risk-based authentication, Account Takeover protection, advanced threat detection, smart incident response, AI model threat analysis, and much more.

• Drive the continuous innovation and engineering of our existing behavior-based adaptive authentication product and bot/fraud protection product with a high-performing team of data scientists and engineers.

• Build innovative solutions and collaborate with engineering and product partners across the global Visa organization to help secure Visa against a range of threats and attacks.

• Provide consultation to more experienced leaders to recommend solutions that address security and other business challenges.

You must possess strong technical depth and experience in the application of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Science techniques. Moreover, you should have a genuine interest in cybersecurity and a desire to create solutions that deliver real-world impact. We will rely on your leadership to establish a roadmap and vision as this team engages in existing and new emerging areas.

Essential Functions

• Cyber Analytics Product: Research innovation in digital authentication using behavior biometrics capabilities, build applied AI-based models, and engineer them into the product called Visa Behavior Analytics. You will engage in data science and applied AI-related activities for a Visa engineered product to protect against account takeover related threats, continuously enhancing it to combat threats in the secure authentication and perimeter defense space.

• Cyber/AI R&D: Research innovation in applying AI to the more general field of cybersecurity, including the protection with and against AI-driven technologies, as well as the AI models themselves. You will use your core skills around AI and data science and help drive the teams to build models and solutions that work at scale, using Petabytes of data while applying it to products that need to respond with cyber analytics in milliseconds.

• Influence & Collaborate: Be able to present results to a cross section of employees, including C-Level and other senior leadership at Visa. You will engage with internal technology, and cyber teams along with global product orgs. Moreover, you will collaborate with colleagues in technology and product offices to establish effective, productive business relationships.

This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between remote and office work. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guide of being in the office 50% or more based on business needs. 

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:
• 8+ years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or at least 5 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g., Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 2 years of work experience with a PhD, OR 11+ years of relevant work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:
• 9 or more years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor Degree or 7 or more relevant years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g., Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 3 or more years of experience with a PhD
• 2+ years of experience in developing and deploying products using Docker, Kubernetes, and the containerization technology stack
• 3+ years of experience in development of advanced machine learning and deep learning models such as RNN, LSTM, Graph Neural Networks
• 3+ years of experience in modern data mining and data science techniques (e.g., regressions, decision trees, ensemble algorithms, neural networks, time series analytics, clustering, anomaly detection, text analytics, etc.)
• Data Wrangling: The candidate must have proficient data wrangling skills with Python, SQL, and other data processing tools/scripts.
• Software Engineering background: The candidate must be proficient in Python and at least one object-oriented programming language (Java, Golang, C++, etc.). He/She must possess software engineering skills and be able to take end-to-end ownership of analytical models.
• Domain Knowledge: Candidates with a background in one or multiple of the following domains is a plus:
o Cybersecurity
o AI security/privacy research
o Biometrics
• Distributed Systems: Practical experience with NoSQL data platforms (e.g., Cassandra, Lakehouse, DynamoDB) and caching technologies like Redis is a plus.
• Software Engineering: Project experience (academic or professional) with Go lang is a plus
• Cloud domain: Experience working with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform) is a plus

Additional Information

Work Hours: Varies according to the needs of the department.

Travel Requirements: This position requires 5-10% travel.

Mental/Physical Requirements: This position will be performed in an office setting.  The position will require the incumbent to sit and stand at a desk, communicate in person and by telephone, frequently operate standard office equipment, such as telephones and computers.

Visa is an equal opportunity employer.  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.

Visa will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable local law, including the requirements of Article 49 of the San Francisco Police Code.

FOR U.S. APPLICANTS ONLY: The estimated range for a new hire into this position is 145,400.00 to 189,000.00 USD, which may include potential sales incentive payments (if applicable). Salary may vary depending on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. Additionally, this position may be eligible for a bonus and equity. Visa offers a comprehensive benefits package, this position may be eligible for benefits including Medical, Dental, Vision, 401 (k), FSA/HSA, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, and Wellness Program.