About Varo

Varo is the first consumer fintech with a national bank charter. We combine startup innovation with banking power to build financial inclusion for all.

About the job

Varo is looking for a Staff Data Scientist, Fraud to serve as the technical cornerstone for fraud prevention on our Data Science team. In this high-impact, individual contributor role, you will transition our fraud operations from reactive "fire drills" to a state of engineering excellence. You will fully own the fraud domain, acting as the primary technical liaison for cross-functional partners while instilling the rigorous testing and data science standards necessary for a world-class banking platform.

You aren’t just building models; you are architecting the future of trust at Varo. By providing senior technical leadership, you’ll help streamline our modeling pipelines, mentor high-potential junior talent, and bridge the gap between complex data architecture and non-technical fraud experts. Your expertise will allow our leadership to focus on strategy while you drive the execution and governance of our subprime lending and payment risk products.

How you'll make an impact

• Own the Fraud Domain: Act as the primary technical lead for all fraud modeling and operations, operating with full independence to resolve complex issues and lead technical communications.

• Drive Technical Rigor: Establish and implement robust testing protocols, model governance, and standard data science practices to ensure high-quality, compliant outputs.

• Execute Complex Modeling: Design, develop, and maintain advanced fraud models specifically tailored for banking and subprime lending environments.

• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Be the technical voice for the Fraud team, translating complex data concepts for non-technical partners and collaborating with Data Engineering on feature pipelines.

• Mentor & Level Up: Provide technical guidance and debugging support to junior team members, fostering a culture of excellence and reducing operational bottlenecks.

The skills and experiences you'll bring

• Deep Fraud Expertise: Proven track record in financial industry fraud modeling, ideally within subprime lending or high-volume payment environments.

• Technical Mastery: Advanced proficiency in Python, SQL, and the AWS Stack, with a strong understanding of data architecture and ML Ops.

• Strategic Communication: Exceptional ability to interface with non-technical stakeholders and regulatory bodies regarding model governance and compliance.

• High-Level Experience: Prior fintech experience preferred.

• Autonomous Builder: Experience implementing rigor from the ground up, including automated testing, documentation, and model lifecycle management.

• Modern Workflow: Proficiency with AI-assisted coding tools to accelerate development and manage a broad scope of technical responsibilities.

Varo is an equal opportunity employer. Varo embraces diversity and we are committed to building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

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