Data Science Manager, Payments Optimization

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 150,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more – with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 1,800 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$6.2 billion and backed by world-leading investors including Visa, Airtree, Blackbird, Sequoia, DST Global, Greenoaks, Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine, and Square Peg, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you're ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.

Attributes We Value

We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you're motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.

You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you "get stuff done" end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you'll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let's build what's next.

About the team

As a global team, we span across Australia, China, USA, and Singapore, revolutionizing applied data science, data engineering and platform solutions to support Airwallex's rapid growth. You will collaborate with a diverse range of cross-functional partners, including Product, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and more, to tackle complex data problems and shape the future of fintech.

What you'll do

We're seeking an experienced Data Science Manager to lead our Payments Optimization team. This team will optimize payment success rates through contextual bandits, anomaly detection, and intelligent experimentation. This role would be a key strategic partner to Product, Engineering, and Commercial leaders, identifying opportunities to improve payments performance and drive product adoption at scale.

This role is based in Singapore.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and grow a team of data scientists focused on payment routing, success prediction, and real-time optimization

• Lead the team in designing and implementing contextual bandits to optimize success rate at scale

• Partner with stakeholders across the organization to develop and implement data-driven strategies that drive payment optimization and product growth

• Build transaction-level predictive models that accurately estimate probability of payment success

• Clearly and persuasively communicate data insights and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring your findings influence stakeholders at all levels.

Who you are

We're looking for people who meet the minimum qualifications for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

Minimum qualifications:

• 8+ years of experience in data science or applied ML; 2+ years in a management role

• Advanced degree (PhD or MS) in a quantitative field

• Deep expertise in experimentation, reinforcement learning, or contextual bandits

• Proficient in SQL and Python; strong background in deploying ML systems to production

• Strong business acumen, ideally in fintech, payments, or real-time decisioning systems

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience in technology, financial services and/or a high growth environment is advantageous

#singapore

Equal opportunity

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don't regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters.  Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s).  Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary. If you are approached by someone claiming to represent Airwallex, please verify with our team.

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