Director of Data Science - Servicing

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.

More about our mission and what we offer.

We’re looking for a Director of Data Science to join our growing Data Science Team presence across London, Tallinn and Budapest offices.

This role is a unique opportunity to provide technical leadership and mentoring to a group of talented and collaborative data scientists working on complex challenges at global scale. You will shape the direction and enable adoption of the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to provide the seamless, secure financial services that our customers expect. A key focus will be accelerating our data science iteration speed and delivery - we're looking for someone with proven experience in what works (and what doesn't) when scaling DS teams and processes. What you and your team build will have a direct impact on Wise’s mission and millions of our customers worldwide.

About the Role: 

The Servicing Tribe plays a key role in Wise's mission, developing solutions that provide seamless customer journeys while keeping their money safe and Wise compliant. It's a challenging balance between customer convenience and risk mitigation.

Today at Wise, many of these customer journeys are ML and AI-driven, with the Data Science team playing a crucial role in the development and maintenance process. Our current expertise spans fraud and money laundering detection models, computer vision models for identity verification, and LLM/AI-based workflows for operational automation.

We're looking for a visionary director who will lead our team to build the next generation of intelligent systems across the Servicing Tribe. You'll guide the strategic direction of advanced AI/ML initiatives such as transformers, GenAI, agentic AI automation, and leading computer vision architectures, while simultaneously developing our talented team of data scientists. This is a leadership role where you will drive technical innovation, accelerate delivery speed, and scale our capabilities.

Here’s how you’ll be contributing:

• Strategic Technical Leadership: Drive the technical vision for next-generation model architectures including transformers, agentic AI, and computer vision applications. Make key decisions on technology adoption and guide your team through complex technical challenges
• Team Development & Mentorship: Lead and grow our technical team, mentoring data scientists on cutting-edge technologies and methodologies. Build technical capabilities across the team while fostering career development and knowledge sharing
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner strategically with Product, Engineering, and Operations leaders to ensure that data science is effectively used to enhance product roadmaps. Influence stakeholders to ensure technical solutions deliver maximum customer and business value
• Delivery Excellence: Establish and oversee scalable deployment strategies and MLOps practices. Lead your team in implementing robust model monitoring, A/B testing frameworks, and performance tracking to ensure production success
• Technical Strategy: Design comprehensive data strategies and oversee large-scale model optimization efforts. Ensure your team delivers high-quality model outputs that meet business requirements
• Organizational Impact: Define and enforce technical standards, model governance frameworks, and best practices across all data science projects. Drive process improvements that accelerate iteration speed and delivery quality
• Innovation Culture: Shape the research agenda and evaluate emerging AI/ML technologies for strategic adoption. Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous learning while making informed decisions about resource allocation
• Responsible AI Leadership: Champion ethical AI practices across the organization, establishing frameworks for bias mitigation and transparency while guiding the team in responsible AI development
• Customer impact: Strengthen a culture that prioritizes tangible customer solutions and measurable impact over isolated experiments.

A bit about you:

• Leadership Experience: 8+ years of leading data science teams and driving the development of production-grade ML and AI systems that operate at scale and directly impact user experience. Proven track record of building and scaling technical teams while delivering measurable business outcomes
• Industry Expertise: Experience in financial services, fintech, or other regulated industries is highly valued, with leadership experience navigating compliance requirements, risk management, and regulatory frameworks
• Technical Leadership Depth: Strong technical foundation with expertise in Python, neural networks, and ML and GenAI frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, LlamaIndex, LangGraph) that enables credible technical decision-making and effective team guidance on complex AI/ML challenges
• Strategic Technology Vision: Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and modern MLOps practices, with ability to architect scalable solutions and guide technical strategy for model deployment and infrastructure decisions
• Data Strategy Leadership: Proven ability to design and implement comprehensive data strategies at organizational level, including leading initiatives for data collection, curation, and augmentation across large-scale systems
• Team Development: Exceptional ability to mentor, develop, and retain top technical talent while fostering collaborative and innovative team cultures. Track record of growing team capabilities and establishing technical excellence standards
• Executive Communication: Outstanding ability to influence and communicate with senior leadership, translating complex technical concepts into strategic business language and building consensus across diverse stakeholder groups
• Organizational Impact: Champion of responsible AI practices with experience establishing ethical frameworks and driving cultural change around fairness, transparency, and societal impact across technical organizations
• Education: Advanced degree (Masters/PhD) in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or related quantitative field preferred.

We’re people without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We want to work with the best people, no matter their background. So if you’re passionate about learning new things and keen to join our mission, you’ll fit right in.

Also, qualifications aren’t that important to us. If you’ve got great experience, and you’re great at articulating your thinking, we’d like to hear from you.

And because we believe that diverse teams build better products, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders  — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

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