Data Scientist Senior Lead

Job Description Innovation isn’t just what we do; it’s how we work. At FIS, you’ll collaborate with talented people across the globe to create solutions that shape the way the world pays, banks and invests. If you’re ready to grow your career while making a meaningful impact, we’d love to meet you. Current and future sponsorship are not available for this position. Location: Atlanta, GA About the role: As a key member of the Data Science team, the data scientist will deploy data-driven exploratory analysis as well as predictive models and AI solutions to solve business problems across the financial services industry, particularly in Risk, Fraud, Marketing, and Portfolio Management. Following the machine learning lifecycle, the data scientist should be able to convert the results into actionable product recommendations to present internally and externally. Your key responsibilities: Lead the design, development, validation, deployment, and monitoring of advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. Leverage expertise in data structures and algorithms to analyze and prepare data for modeling, assembling datasets from both standard and novel data sources and incorporate them into end-to-end analytical solutions. Apply advanced machine learning, predictive analytics, natural language processing (NLP), and emerging AI techniques (GenAI, Agentic etc.) to solve complex business problems across the payments and financial services ecosystem. Design and execute experiments, hypothesis testing frameworks, and statistical analyses to evaluate business strategies, product enhancements, and operational improvements. Establish and promote best practices in data science, machine learning, feature engineering, experimentation, model governance, and MLOps throughout the organization. Communicate complex analytical findings through compelling storytelling, executive-ready presentations, dashboards, visualizations and self-service analytics tools. that drive informed decision-making. Stay current on industry trends in machine learning, AI, Generative AI, and financial services analytics; bring relevant innovations to the team. What you bring: Required qualifications: Master's degree or higher in Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research, Statistics, or a related quantitative discipline. At least 7+ years of professional experience developing and deploying end-to-end machine learning, predictive analytics, and data science solutions within the Payments, Banking, or Financial Services industry. Demonstrated deep technical leadership in solution design, data and model architecture, actively leading cross-functional teams to execute on key deliverables. Strong proficiency in Python and SQL; experience with big data technologies such as Spark, PySpark, a plus. Hands-on experience with data wrangling, feature engineering, and model development using libraries such as Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Seaborn, or Plotly. Demonstrated experience building and deploying machine learning pipelines in a production or near-production environment. Proficiency with data visualization and business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau or equivalent). Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills; ability to translate ambiguous business problems into rigorous analytical frameworks. Ability to work collaboratively across product, engineering, and business teams. Preferred qualifications: Ability to convert ambiguous, open ended questions into structured problem-solving approaches leveraging data science and AI. High competence in leading teams through complex model design and development of solutions from concept and ideation to market-ready products. Experience within the Payments, Banking, or Financial Services industry. Hands-on experience with the Databricks platform, including MLflow, Model Registry, collaborative notebooks, and MLOps workflows. Experience deploying cloud-native machine learning solutions, particularly within AWS environments. Working familiarity with emerging advancements in building real-world solutions leveraging Transformer Models and Agentic AI technologies. Knowledge of model governance, regulatory compliance, and MLOps best practices within regulated financial services environments. What we offer you: At FIS, your career journey is yours to shape. We provide the tools, experiences and support to help you reach what's next. Here’s what else we offer: Opportunities to make an impact in fintech Internal career growth opportunities Personal and professional learning Inclusive, diverse work environment Resources to give back to your community Privacy Statement FIS is committed to protecting the privacy and security of all personal information that we process in order to provide services to our clients. For specific information on how FIS protects personal information online, please see the Online Privacy Notice . EEOC Statement FIS is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, genetic information, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other protected characteristics. The EEO is the Law poster is available here supplement document available here For positions located in the US, the following conditions apply. If you are made a conditional offer of employment, you will be required to undergo a drug test. ADA Disclaimer: In developing this job description care was taken to include all competencies needed to successfully perform in this position. However, for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) purposes, the essential functions of the job may or may not have been described for purposes of ADA reasonable accommodation. All reasonable accommodation requests will be reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Sourcing Model Recruitment at FIS works primarily on a direct sourcing model; a relatively small portion of our hiring is through recruitment agencies. FIS does not accept resumes from recruitment agencies which are not on the preferred supplier list and is not responsible for any related fees for resumes submitted to job postings, our employees, or any other part of our company. #pridepass