Data Science Manager, Payment 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 1,700 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across more than 37 locations around the globe. Valued at US$5.6 billion and backed by world-leading investors including Sequoia, Lone Pine, Greenoaks, DST Global, Salesforce Ventures and Mastercard, 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.

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.

What You’ll Do

• 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.

What We’re Looking For

• 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

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.