Data Science Director, Growth

Airwallex • San Francisco, CA

7d • Onsite

About The Position

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 200,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more – with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale. Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you’re ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us. We’re looking for a Data Science Director for Growth to lead the data science engine behind Airwallex’s next phase of hyper-growth. This is a senior leadership role at the intersection of data, product, and growth strategy — responsible for driving measurable impact across acquisition, activation, conversion, retention, and monetization. You will shape how we use experimentation, advanced analytics, and machine learning to unlock step-function growth, partnering closely with leaders in Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Design. This role is ideal for a growth-minded data science executive who thrives in a fast-scaling, high-impact environment. This is a full-time role based in San Francisco.

Requirements

• Experienced Growth Leader: 10+ years in data science, analytics, or applied ML, including 5+ years leading teams at scale in top-tier tech, fintech, or growth-driven businesses.
• Deep Growth Expertise: Proven track record of using data science to drive customer acquisition, funnel optimization, personalization, and retention in high-growth B2B products.
• Technical Depth: Strong background in analytics, statistical modeling, causal inference, experimentation design, and proficiency with Python/R, SQL, and cloud-based data platforms.
• Strategic Operator: Comfortable navigating business trade-offs, prioritizing initiatives for outsized growth impact.
• Cross-Functional Influencer: Skilled at partnering with Product, Engineering, and Marketing leaders to align on shared goals.
• Builder Mindset: Thrives in fast-scaling environments with high ambiguity and is excited to build teams, systems, and best practices from the ground up.
• Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence executive-level stakeholders and translate complex model results into actionable business insights.

Responsibilities

• Lead & Scale a High-Impact Team: Build, mentor, and inspire a world-class data science & AI team focused on driving user and revenue growth. Foster expertise in applied ML and GenAI, ensuring the team balances experimentation, traditional DS rigor, and cutting-edge AI capabilities.
• Own Experimentation at Scale: Architect and oversee our experimentation framework — A/B testing, multi-arm bandits, and causal inference — to accelerate innovation. Extend this framework into AI-driven adaptive experimentation , leveraging bandits and reinforcement learning to allocate growth investments dynamically.
• Develop Growth-Focused AI Solutions: Agentic workflow for Growth: build copilots and agent workflows (e.g., automated campaign generation, sales assistant bots, lead research copilots) Personalization engines: Use embeddings and recommendation models to deliver contextualized product experiences and lifecycle messaging. Advanced segmentation & profiling: Learn patterns & turn data into numbers: Leverage ML + embeddings to identify high-value prospects and clusters. Churn & retention modeling: Predict customer behavior and trigger AI-driven lifecycle interventions. Propensity scoring & lead prioritization: Blend predictive ML with LLM-powered enrichment of firmographics/intent data. Pricing & incentive optimization: Apply reinforcement learning and causal ML to optimize offers in real time.
• Deliver Strategic Insights & AI-Enhanced Playbooks: Translate complex DS/AI outputs into growth playbooks, roadmaps, and investment strategies. Build self-serve AI-driven insights tools (e.g., natural language query over growth data via LLMs) for cross-functional partners.
• Partner Across Functions: Work hand-in-hand with CRO, Head of Growth, Growth PMs, Growth Engineers, Marketing, and Sales to embed data-driven thinking into every growth initiative.
• Define Metrics & Drive Measurement: Establish clear KPIs for acquisition, activation, retention, and LTV; ensure rigorous and consistent measurement across markets and teams.
• Champion Data-Driven Culture: Elevate the role of data science in shaping business strategy and mentor the next generation of data science leaders at Airwallex.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees