Principal, Data Scientist

WEX•Chicago, IL

About The Position

WEX is transforming how we serve customers and empower our teams through data, AI, and automation. We’re looking for a Principal Data Scientist - a senior, hands-on technical leader who acts as a strategic problem-solver of last resort, deployed into the most complex, high-impact areas across our Data & AI ecosystem. This is not a role focused on a single model or domain. Instead, you’ll operate as a flexible, high-leverage expert, embedding into ambiguous problem spaces where strong data science leadership is essential to unlock progress. You’ll bring rigor to messy data, signal to noise, and structure to unclear problem definitions. You will shape technical direction, influence platform design, and elevate the quality of data science across teams. Your work will help shape internal platforms laying the groundwork for scalable, AI-powered, low-touch operations. This role is deeply technical and foundational to how WEX applies Ai and Agentic solutions at scale.

Requirements

12+ years of relevant experience, or 8+ years with a Master’s degree, in Data Science, Machine Learning, Analytics, or a related field.
Deep, hands-on experience building AI-Native products from ground up in production environments.
Proven success operating in ambiguous, high-stakes environments, bringing clarity, structure, and results.
Advanced expertise in statistical modeling, machine learning, and signal detection techniques.
Experience implementing and bringing Agentic solutions to market.
Ability to influence without authority - trusted by senior leaders and respected by technical peers.
Strong product intuition - understands how models/agents translate into decisions, workflows, and real-world outcomes.
Bias for action paired with sound scientific judgment.
Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or related field.
Master’s degree preferred in Data Science, AI, Machine Learning, or a closely related discipline.

Nice To Haves

Experience with internal platforms, self-service analytics, or employee productivity tools.
Strong engineering collaboration skills and comfort working with large-scale data systems.
Experience shaping data science standards, tooling, or governance at an enterprise level.

Responsibilities

Serve as a principal-level data science leader, embedded into high-impact, high-ambiguity initiatives across our lines of business.
Diagnose poorly defined problems, frame them into clear analytical, modeling and agentic approaches, and drive measurable outcomes.
Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, and Operations leaders (Director–SVP level) to translate business problems into scalable Ai and Agentic solutions.
Influence platform and architecture decisions to ensure models and platforms are production-ready, reusable, observable, compliant and can be democratized over time.
Act as a technical mentor and thought partner to senior and mid-level data scientists — raising the bar for rigor, experimentation, and impact.
Balance near-term delivery with long-term platform thinking - ensuring solutions scale across products, regions, and use cases.