Senior Data Scientist - Network Value (Guard)

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam. SENIOR DATA SCIENTIST - NETWORK VALUE (GUARD) The Network Value Data Science team is helping Plaid build an industry-leading fintech consumer network with best-in-class products and user experiences. We are a product analytics team embedded in key product areas across Plaid. We support some of Plaid’s most important OKRs and help execute on product roadmaps. We translate ambiguous product questions into tractable analysis, serve as analytical thought partners throughout the org, identify opportunities to build better products, and champion a data-first decision-making approach everywhere we go. You’ll be a Senior Data Scientist supporting Guard, a critical user-facing product within Plaid’s Network Value portfolio. In this role, you’ll become a data and analytical thought partner to product managers and engineers, helping drive data-informed product development as the team launches and scales the product from 0 to 1. You’ll translate business questions into analytics projects, perform ad-hoc and strategic analysis, improve visibility into core systems through data modeling and dashboarding, create OKRs and metrics tied to business goals, and support feature ship decisions through experimentation. You’ll also help identify new ways Guard can move top-line outcomes and influence prioritization, roadmapping, and execution across cross-functional partners. This draft follows the structure and emphasis of Plaid’s current Senior Data Scientist, Network Value posting while adapting the product context from Remember Me to Guard. RESPONSIBILITIES - Champion a data-first approach to decision-making across the organization as Guard is built and scaled, serving as the data and analytical thought partner to product managers, engineers, and cross-functional stakeholders. - Translate ambiguous business and product questions into clear analytics projects and decision frameworks, and perform ad-hoc and strategic analyses to identify opportunities to improve user outcomes and business performance. - Build and maintain data models, dashboards, core metrics, OKRs, and success metrics that improve visibility into Guard performance and quantify progress against business goals. - Design and analyze experiments to support feature launch and iteration decisions, and partner on Airflow- and dbt-powered data pipelines that enable trustworthy analytics and scalable reporting. - Identify novel ways to impact top-line OKRs and influence stakeholders on prioritization, roadmapping, and execution, while exploring ML prototypes and causal inference approaches where they can improve product or decision quality. QUALIFICATIONS - 5-8+ years of experience as a Data Scientist or in a related analytics or data-focused role - Fintech experience, including experience working with raw fintech data - Experience launching direct-to-consumer products from 0 to 1 - Experience with experimentation, ad-hoc analysis, and developing strategic insights - Strong SQL skills and experience creating metrics that drive alignment with stakeholders - Experience building or partnering closely on data pipelines using Airflow and dbt - Strong communication skills and experience partnering cross-functionally with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders - Experience driving data-driven performance for user-facing products - Track record of identifying novel ways to impact a top-line OKR and influencing stakeholders on prioritization, roadmapping, and/or execution NICE TO HAVE - Experience with causal inference - Experience with machine learning - Python proficiency Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid! Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values dive