Staff Data Scientist

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.

At Plaid, our Data team builds the intelligent systems that help millions of people better understand and improve their financial lives. We're looking for Machine Learning Engineers who are passionate about applying advanced modeling and machine learning techniques—such as natural language processing, anomaly detection, optimization, and time series forecasting—to create meaningful product impact.

As a Machine Learning Engineer within Plaid's Data organization, you will be responsible for designing, building, and scaling machine learning solutions that drive core product experiences. You will take the lead on initiatives to experiment with innovative modeling approaches, deploy production-ready systems, and work closely with engineers and data scientists to translate raw data into valuable insights. If you are passionate about advancing state-of-the-art ML to empower financial freedom for all, we encourage you to apply.

Responsibilities

• Hands-on develop, productionize, and operate Machine Learning models and pipelines to improve a diverse range of Plaid products.
• Continuously proposing and developing new features to improve the AI/ML model performance.
• Working with the ML infrastructure team to improve ML infrastructure that powers the end-to-end ML development lifecycle.
• Debugging ML production issues and ensuring stable model serving.
• Work collaboratively with cross-functional partners to identify opportunities for business impact, understand, refine, and prioritize requirements for AI/ML models, drive engineering decisions, and quantify impact.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience developing, training, and deploying ML models in production environments
• Proven experience building and maintaining data-intensive backend applications within large, distributed systems
• Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with tools such as Spark, Jupyter, and standard ML libraries
• Background in fintech or other data-rich, regulated domains
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership and drive projects from concept to measurable business impact
• Solid understanding of data engineering and analytics concepts
• Skilled at collaborating across technical and non-technical teams
• Master's degree (or equivalent experience) in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field
• Nice to Have: Hands-on experience with data engineering or analytics tooling
• Nice to Have: Experience applying NLP techniques in production systems

$252,000 - $400,000 a year

The target base salary for this position ranges from $252,000/year to $400,000/year in Zone 1. The target base salary will vary based on the job's location.

Our Geographic Zones Are As Follows
Zone 1 - New York City and San Francisco Bay Area

Zone 2 - Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington D.C.

Zone 3 - Austin, Boston, Denver, Houston, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego

Zone 4 - Raleigh-Durham and all other US cities

Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.

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 diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at [email protected] .

Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here .