Senior Data Scientist, Risk - Compliance

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

The Role

Since Block's inception, our innovative and technology-forward approach to risk management and customer protection has been fundamental to how we invent and build financial products. The Risk team at Block continues this legacy through a sophisticated, technology and science-led approach to protecting our customers and their funds. Our interdisciplinary structure combines Product Development, Science teams (specializing in modeling, analytics, and data science), Operations and key partners including Legal Counsel and Policy, all working in concert to identify, assess, and solve complex risk challenges across access, fraud prevention and compliance.

This role is part of our Risk organization and will operate within the Compliance Data Science & Analytics team - chartered to put data at the center of the organization’s decisions. We need a data scientist with the ability to enact organizational change through their analysis of emerging risks on the platform. You will utilize a variety of methods from bad activity prevalence sampling, to customer segmentation and analysis. You’ll work with teams across compliance, risk, and product teams to identify and measure new and existing areas of unwanted behavior in order to inform controls and compliance monitoring.

You Will

• Perform deep dive analyses into different customer segments and/or products to identify pockets of compliance risk and measure the effectiveness & impact of product controls
• Spearhead the implementation and analysis of bad activity prevalence sampling studies. Identify and mitigate potential biases and sampling errors to enhance the accuracy and reliability of findings
• Design and analyze experiments to assess the impact of compliance programs, leveraging A/B testing and causal inference methods to drive actionable insights 
• Own executive-level reporting and metrics to measure risk and bad activity on the platform over time
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate insights into strategic actions and program recommendations 
• Communicate complex data science concepts and results to both technical and non-technical audiences and influence teams to take action based on your recommendations

We’re Targeting 

• A Level 6 hire - typical experience for L6 would be something like BSc with 7-10 years; MSc with 5-8 years; or a PhD with 3-5 years
• A background in Statistics, Mathematics, Biostatistics, Economics or related quantitative field
• Extensive knowledge of sampling methodologies, with a proven ability to apply them in real-world scenarios and to identify and quantify sources of bias
• Expert-level abilities in SQL and data analysis/visualization tools (i.e. Tableau, Looker, Mode, Python libraries)
• Proficiency in scripting and data analysis programming languages, such as Python or R
• Deep experience using data to solve complex, ambiguous problems
• Vision to define problems and manage projects in a fast-­paced, evolving organization
• Track record of bringing data to life for any audience through written and verbal communication and data visualization
• Excellent communication and leadership abilities

Technologies We Use and Teach

• SQL, Snowflake, etc.
• Python (Pandas, Numpy)
• Tableau, Airflow, Looker, Mode, Prefect

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we're doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page. 

While there is no specific deadline to apply for this role, U.S. roles are typically open for an average of 55 days before being filled by a successful candidate. Please refer to the date listed at the top of this job page for when this role was first posted.