Senior Director, Risk Data Science

The Company

PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy. 

We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers.

We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards.  Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade. 

Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day.  We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities.

Job Summary:

The Opportunity: Shaping the Future of Trust

We are seeking a visionary Senior Director of Risk Data Science to architect and lead the next generation of our fraud prevention capabilities. This is not a standard data science role; it is a high-visibility leadership position that will build and lead a team of ~75 data scientists. This Senior Director will report directly to our VP of Risk Data Science and AI, who in turn reports to our SVP of Global Fraud Prevention.

In this role, you will be the technical conscience and strategic driver for a team that processes billions of transactions. You will lead the charge in embedding deep learning, graph neural networks (GNNs), and large, complex language models into the very fabric of our real-time decisioning engines. You will own the "brain" that protects our customers from increasingly sophisticated threats—spanning identity theft, synthetic fraud, account takeovers, and scams—before they happen.

Job Description:

Essential Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the strategic vision for machine learning initiatives at the organizational level.

• Lead the development and optimization of state-of-the-art machine learning models.

• Oversee the preprocessing and analysis of large datasets.

• Deploy and maintain ML solutions in production environments.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate ML models into products and services.

• Monitor and evaluate the performance of deployed models, making necessary adjustments.

• Mentor and guide junior engineers and data scientists.

• Publish research findings and contribute to industry discussions.

• Represent the company at conferences and external engagements.

• Influence the direction of the company's AI/ML strategy and contribute to long-term planning.

Expected Qualifications:

• 12+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.

• 5 years of experience leading others

Additional Responsibilities & Preferred Qualifications:

At PayPal, we are not just moving money; we are securing the global economy. As we accelerate our journey to become an AI-first fintech leader, the Global Risk Management organization has moved to the absolute front and center of our strategy. We are undergoing a massive transformation—moving from reactive fraud detection to proactive, autonomous fraud prevention powered by cutting-edge Applied AI and Machine Learning.

Your Mission

• Elevate Fraud Prevention to an Art Form: Drive the shift from traditional predictive modeling to adaptive, self-learning AI systems that anticipate fraud vectors before they scale.

• Lead with Technical Authority: Serve as a primary decision-maker for the modeling architectures that underpin PayPal’s global security, balancing sub-millisecond latency requirements with state-of the-art precision.
• Influence at the Highest Levels: Act as a key partner to product and engineering executive leadership, ensuring that "Safety and Security" is a core feature of every product launch, from Venmo to Braintree and beyond.

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• Partner with the VP of Risk Data Science & AI to define and execute the long-term AI/ML roadmap for Global Fraud Prevention, moving beyond iterative improvements to transformative leaps in detection capability.
• Champion the adoption of advanced methodologies—specifically Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and GenAI-driven anomaly detection—to identify bad actors within our complex ecosystem of two-sided networks.
• Spearhead innovations and transformations for modeling algorithms, technical infrastructure, and modeling platforms to help propel business forward with the power of ML/AI
• Partner closely with Global Fraud Prevention leadership to align data science initiatives with PayPal’s broader "AI-First" corporate strategy.

World-Class Modeling & Execution
• End-to-End Ownership: Oversee the full lifecycle of mission-critical fraud models: from ideation and feature engineering (leveraging thousands of signals) to real-time production deployment and automated
retraining loops.

• Vector-Specific Mastery: Own the decisioning engines for diverse fraud vectors including Identity & Onboarding, Authentication & Login, Payment Abuse, Social Engineering Scams, and regulatory compliance.
• Scale & Speed: Ensure all ML solutions are robust enough to handle PayPal’s massive scale (billions of daily events) and fast enough to deliver friction-free experiences for legitimate users.

Organizational Transformation & Mentorship

• Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing global team of Principal Data Scientists and Managers. Foster a culture of rigorous scientific inquiry, rapid experimentation, and intellectual honesty.
• Break down silos between Data Science, Engineering, and Product. Drive the "Model-as-Product" mindset where risk engines are treated as core assets.
• Represent PayPal’s technical prowess at top-tier industry conferences (e.g., Money20/20) and contribute to the broader scientific community through research publications.

Required Qualifications

• Fraud Domain Expertise: Extensive, hands-on experience building and managing fraud prevention and / or fraud detection models using large-scale data and advanced ML and AI techniques
• 18+ Years of Technical Experience: Proven track record of building and mentoring expert AI/ML teams that consistently deliver innovative solutions, resulting in measurable business impact and sustained competitive advantage
• 5+ Years of Executive Leadership: Experience managing large, multi-layered data science teams (managing managers) and influencing VP/C-level stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Fintech & Payments DNA: Deep familiarity with the payments ecosystem (issuing, acquiring, gateways, ACH/Rails) and the unique adversarial nature of financial fraud.
• Advanced Degree: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, Operations Research, or a related quantitative field is highly preferred.
• Applied AI Scale: Experience deploying GNNs or Transformer-based models in a high-throughput, low latency production environment (not just offline research).
• Transformation Experience: A track record of modernizing legacy model stacks (e.g., moving from logistic regression/forests to Deep Learning/AI) in a large enterprise.

Why This Role?

• Impact: Your work directly stops bad actors and protects the financial livelihoods of millions of people and businesses worldwide.
• Visibility: You will report into a leadership chain that views Data Science as the primary driver of business value, not a support function.
• Innovation: You will have access to one of the richest datasets in the world and the compute resources to solve problems that others can only theorize about.

  Subsidiary:

  PayPal

  Travel Percent:

  0

  -

  The base pay for this role will depend on where you work and the relevant experience and expertise you bring. The expected range of pay for this role by location is:

  Primary Location | Pay Range:

  San Jose, California | ($268,500.00 - $398,750.00 Annually)

  Additional Location(s) | Pay Range:

  Chicago, Illinois | ($244,000.00 - $362,450.00 Annually)
Austin, Texas | ($244,000.00 - $362,450.00 Annually)
Scottsdale, Arizona | ($232,000.00 - $344,300.00 Annually)
Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation, as applicable. This role is also eligible for a range of benefits which may include, medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, parental and family leave, 401(k) savings plan, paid time off, and other benefits. For more information visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com.

  PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact-us.

  For the majority of employees, PayPal's balanced hybrid work model offers 3 days in the office for effective in-person collaboration and 2 days at your choice of either the PayPal office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.

  Our Benefits:

  At PayPal, we’re committed to building an equitable and inclusive global economy. And we can’t do this without our most important asset—you. That’s why we offer benefits to help you thrive in every stage of life. We champion your financial, physical, and mental health by offering valuable benefits and resources to help you care for the whole you.

  We have great benefits including a flexible work environment, employee shares options, health and life insurance and more. To learn more about our benefits please visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com.

  Who We Are:

  Click Here to learn more about our culture and community.

  Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion 

  PayPal provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.  In addition, PayPal will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.  If you are unable to submit an application because of incompatible assistive technology or a disability, please contact us at paypalglobaltalentacquisition@paypal.com.

  Belonging at PayPal: 

  Our employees are central to advancing our mission, and we strive to create an environment where everyone can do their best work with a sense of purpose and belonging. Belonging at PayPal means creating a workplace with a sense of acceptance and security where all employees feel included and valued. We are proud to have a diverse workforce reflective of the merchants, consumers, and communities that we serve, and we continue to take tangible actions to cultivate inclusivity and belonging at PayPal.

  Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please Join our Talent Community.

  We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don’t hesitate to apply.