Senior Data Scientist - Risk

Shakepay

22h•Remote

About The Position

We are looking for a Senior Data Scientist to join Shakepay's dedicated Risk team. This role is crucial in defining how Shakepay measures, understands, and manages risk. The position is analytics-first, with strategic use of machine learning to enhance understanding and decision quality. You will collaborate closely with Risk Engineering and business partners to uncover insights, guide prioritization, and assess the effectiveness of risk controls. Shakepay is open to hiring at either the Senior or Staff level, depending on the candidate's experience, impact scope, and leadership capabilities in ambiguous environments.

Requirements

5+ years of experience as a Data Scientist, Decision Science or in a similar analytical role
Experience with fraud, risk, trust and safety, AML, or compliance analytics.
Strong proficiency in SQL and Python.
Experience performing deep analytical work and ML techniques related to regression, classification, experiment design, causal inference, or decision analysis.
Strong product and business judgment, with the ability to connect analytical work to customer outcomes, risk outcomes, and company priorities.
Experience working with modern cloud data warehouses and tooling (i.e Snowflake, dbt, etc).
Outstanding communication skills and the ability to translate complex analysis into clear business recommendations.
Proven ability to work in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
Strong sense of ownership and ability to challenge assumptions constructively.
Experience partnering closely with cross-functional stakeholders to influence decisions.
Good judgment when tailoring the analytical toolkit to the problem at hand.
Interest in Bitcoin and familiarity with fintech, payments, crypto, or other regulated industries.
Fluency in English is required.

Responsibilities

Partner with engineering to define the architecture and technical strategy for internal risk systems and tooling.
Partner with Risk, Engineering, Security, Compliance, Product, and Operations to define risk metrics, success criteria, and decision frameworks.
Analyze fraud, scam, and abuse patterns across crypto and fiat products.
Build and maintain reporting that tracks fraud loss, false positives, customer friction, operational efficiency, and control performance.
Help design and architect the data, instrumentation, and decisioning systems that power risk operations and fraud prevention workflows.
Evaluate and iterate on risk rules and controls using rigorous analysis.
Apply statistical methods and selective ML techniques where they materially improve decision quality, operational efficiency, or signal detection.
Conduct deep-dive investigations into incidents, trends, and emerging threats.
Communicate insights clearly and persuasively to senior stakeholders.
Help establish data standards, analytical methods, and decision-making practices within the Risk team.