Senior Data Scientist

We are seeking a talented and highly experienced Senior Data Scientist to join our Data Science team within the critical Risk domain. This role uniquely combines hands-on development of vital risk prevention models, contributing to the technological strategy, and driving innovation in the field of AI Agents.

• 7+ years of experience as a Data Scientist, with a proven track record of applying advanced statistical and machine learning methods on real-world problems (or 3+ years with a PhD).
• Strong background and practical experience leading the end-to-end execution of complex Machine Learning projects.
• Comfort with the realities of risk modeling: highly imbalanced and adversarial data, delayed/noisy labels, and the precision-vs-recall tradeoffs of acting on legitimate users.
• Full ownership of projects from initial idea through production deployment, working closely with engineering to get there.
• Experience in Generative AI, defining, building and evaluating AI-agents and leveraging foundational language models for introducing advanced new capabilities within existing products and systems.
• Experience in working with large-scale data processing pipelines, Cloud Computing and Machine Learning Operations.
• Demonstrated habit of working with AI: actively use LLMs/agentic tooling in your day-to-day workflow, and you instinctively turn recurring problems into reusable automation.
• B.Sc in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Electrical, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.

• Experience developing models in the Risk domain (such as Fraud Detection, Anomaly Detection, Anti-Money Laundering) or Fintech.
• M.Sc/PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Electrical, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.

As a Senior Data Scientist for Risk, you will be responsible for:

• Hands-on Development: Actively leading the design, building, and deployment of critical Machine Learning and Gen-AI models for identifying, classifying, and preventing risks and fraud.
• Technical Leadership & Strategy: Contributing to the Data Science strategy for the Risk domain, identifying critical business and technological opportunities, and setting high technical standards.
• AI Agents Innovation: Driving the team's efforts in the field of AI Agents within Risk, build and evaluate agentic workflows that triage and explain risk decisions, with eval harnesses you can trust to gate releases and ensure reliability and accuracy in production.
• Production Ownership: Ensuring Data Science solutions transition reliably, scalably, and efficiently from concept to production, making a significant impact on the business.

This role is critical to Melio's ability to continue scaling securely. In this position, you will drive the development of the next generation of cutting-edge methods that will:

• Help small businesses manage their finances in a better, safer way using Melio.
• Help Melio grow its customer base while maintaining a low-risk profile.
• Drive impact by leveraging LLMs and Agentic Workflows to proactively identify sophisticated fraud patterns, mitigating financial risk while maintaining a seamless and secure experience for legitimate users.

Melio builds business-to-business (B2B) payment tools so small business owners can spend less time in the back office and more time on their craft. As the fastest-growing B2B payment platform in the US, Melio is working hard to find new and better ways to help small businesses succeed in the ways that work best for them. With offices in New York, Denver, and Tel Aviv, and a vibrant work culture, Melio is expanding every single day. We are a diverse group of people who love what we do and do what we love. If you are a driven and passionate team player, you will fit right in.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and are always on the lookout for top-notch talent. Please reach out if you would like to join us on this exciting journey!

The Risk, Compliance & Policy Group plays a critical role in protecting the company from regulatory, financial, and reputational risk. We are an engineering group comprising five specialized teams, one of which is the Data Science team (which you will be a part of). We enforce company policies, compliance obligations, and prevent fraudulent events by evaluating payments and customers based on internal and external data.

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