Lead Data Scientist – Financial Crime

About the role

As a Lead Data Scientist in the Financial Crime Solutions team, you will join Mastercard’s new Asia‑Pacific Centre of Excellence. You will design, build, and maintain advanced data‑science models that detect fraud, scams, and money‑laundering activities using payment transaction data.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and operationalise predictive models to identify financial crime patterns.
• Collaborate with regional product teams and external clients to translate criminal‑behaviour insights into actionable solutions.
• Lead the establishment of local data‑science capabilities, ensuring alignment with global strategy.
• Act as the regional expert for model development, maintenance, and deployment across APAC markets.
• Provide timely, context‑aware support to financial institutions combating fraud and money laundering.

Required profile

• Proven experience leading data‑science projects in financial crime, fraud detection, or related domains.
• Strong understanding of payment ecosystems and regulatory requirements.
• Ability to work cross‑functionally with product, engineering, and client teams.
• Demonstrated leadership in building and scaling data‑science teams.

Required skills

What we offer

• Opportunity to shape a regional centre of excellence for anti‑fraud innovation.
• Collaboration with a global leader in payments technology.
• Access to extensive payment data and cutting‑edge analytics tools.