Manager, Data Science, Fraud Incidents

PayPal•Austin, TX

fulltime

Engineering and Information Technology

5+ years

About the role

The Company PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling, and shopping simple, personalized, and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy.

We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects hundreds of millions of merchants and consumers. We help merchants and consumers connect, transact, and complete payments, whether they are online or in person. PayPal is more than a connection to third-party payment networks. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers.

We offer our customers the flexibility to use their accounts to purchase and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible credit card rewards. Our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We also help merchants connect with their customers, process exchanges and returns, and manage risk. We enable consumers to engage in cross-border shopping and merchants to extend their global reach while reducing the complexity and friction involved in enabling cross-border trade.

Our beliefs are the foundation for how we conduct business every day. We live each day guided by our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness. Together, our values ensure that we work together as one global team with our customers at the center of everything we do – and they push us to ensure we take care of ourselves, each other, and our communities.

Job Description Summary: This job will support responses to fraud attacks, conducting the complex data analysis to determine the depth and breadth of fraud events, support potential disclosure requirements, and drive effective mitigation in collaboration with teams across the enterprise. The role is for a player-manager, who will handle the most complex investigations, while driving technical innovation and program development initiatives and enhancing the team’s fraud analytics and regulatory reporting capabilities.

Job Description: Essential Responsibilities:

Lead and manage data science projects, ensuring timely delivery and alignment with business goals.
Develop and maintain data models, algorithms, and reporting systems to support data analysis and decision-making.
Analyze complex datasets to identify trends, patterns, and insights that drive strategic initiatives.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand data needs and provide actionable insights.
Ensure data quality and integrity through regular audits and validation processes.
Mentor and guide junior data scientists, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Minimum Qualifications:

5+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.

Additional Responsibilities And Preferred Qualifications Fraud Incident Response & Management (FIRM) is a function in Global Investigations’s Fraud & Insider Defense (FIND) organization. FIRM is responsible for coordinating the company’s response to fraud attacks and events, driving mitigation, and conducting the requisite data analysis to determine the depth and breadth of fraud events and support potential disclosure requirements. This role is for a Fraud Incident Responder manager, who will be responsible for complex data analysis in support of fraud incident management and FIRM’s broader program, while leading and developing a team of incident responders.

The role requires familiarity with data-driven investigations and cyber-enabled financial crime, as well as proficiency in BigQuery/SQL and practical expertise in data mining and database technologies. The manager will juggle numerous priorities under pressure and work closely with FIRM’s Incident Managers, Legal, Regulatory Relations, and leaders across the organization to support incident handling and regulatory obligations through high‑quality analytics and reporting.

You and your team will leverage data science and analytics in support of complex fraud incidents to ensure the financial and reputational resiliency of PayPal and its subsidiaries. As a player‑manager, you will personally handle the most complex and sensitive fraud investigations and regulatory data needs while setting the technical bar for the team, providing quality assurance on code and queries, coaching analysts on investigative approaches, and using innovation and data exploration to uplift quality, reduce manual effort, and maximize efficiency.

Essential Responsibilities

Lead a team of Fraud Incident Responders responsible for complex data analysis in support of fraud incident management and FIRM’s broader program, providing clear direction on priorities, methods, and quality standards.
Act as a player-manager by personally owning the most complex or high-impact fraud incidents and regulatory reports, from scoping and data acquisition through analysis, insights, and communication of findings.
Leverage data science and analytics to identify complex fraud patterns and their technical root causes through detailed data mining, enrichment, and correlation across large, multi‑source datasets.
Connect data between platforms to track disparate fraud signals and develop a holistic view of fraud trends across PayPal’s products and adjacencies, translating technical findings into clear narratives and metrics for stakeholders.
Provide rigorous quality assurance and technical leadership on BigQuery/SQL, Python, and other analytical tools and queries, uplifting code quality, performance, documentation, testing, and reproducibility across the team.
Design and maintain reusable analytical assets (standard queries, parameterized notebooks, curated datasets, dashboards) and investigation templates that enable faster, more consistent, and higher‑quality fraud investigations.
Drive programmatic initiatives that enhance FIRM’s fraud analytics capabilities, including improving data models and taxonomies, creating and refining KPIs/KRIs, and automating manual, error‑prone workflows.
Partner closely with Incident Managers to align analytical outputs with incident narratives, root-cause analysis, and remediation plans, ensuring a consistent and data-driven view of incidents across the program.
Collaborate with Legal, Regulatory Relations, Compliance, Audit, and other stakeholders to translate regulatory obligations into clear data and reporting requirements, ensuring that datasets and reports are accurate, complete, and auditable.
Use innovation and outside-the-box thinking to create new analytical capabilities, methods, and processes—particularly for unstructured or exploratory problem spaces and emerging fraud trends and typologies.
Develop and maintain strong cross-organization relationships, collaborating and communicating effectively with business, risk, engineering, and technology stakeholders across multiple geographies.
Coach, mentor, and develop analysts through structured feedback, code reviews, technical training, and career development planning, building deep expertise in financially motivated cybercrime, incident analytics, and regulatory reporting.
Prioritize and balance team capacity between urgent incident investigations and longer‑term program development initiatives, ensuring sustainable workload management and consistent delivery of high‑quality analytical outputs.
Champion a culture of curiosity, continuous improvement, and operational excellence, incorporating lessons learned from incidents into playbooks, tooling, documentation, and training for the broader FIRM organization.

The base pay for this role will depend on where you work and the relevant experience and expertise you bring. The expected range of pay for this role by location is:

Primary Location : Pay Range: Austin, Texas : ($160,500.00 - $238,700.00 Annually)

Additional Location(s) : Pay Range: Scottsdale, Arizona : ($152,500.00 - $226,600.00 Annually)

Additional compensation for this role may include an annual performance bonus, equity, or other incentive compensation, as applicable.

PayPal does not charge candidates any fees for courses, applications, resume reviews, interviews, background checks, or onboarding. Any such request is a red flag and likely part of a scam. To learn more about how to identify and avoid recruitment fraud please visit https://careers.pypl.com/contact\-us.

For the majority of employees, PayPal's balanced hybrid work model offers 3 days in the office for effective in-person collaboration and 2 days at your choice of either the PayPal office or your home workspace, ensuring that you equally have the benefits and conveniences of both locations.

Our Benefits: At PayPal, we’re committed to building an equitable and inclusive global economy. And we can’t do this without our most important asset-you. That’s why we offer benefits to help you thrive in every stage of life. We champion your financial, physical, and mental health by offering valuable benefits and resources to help you care for the whole you.

We have great benefits including a flexible work environment, employee shares options, health and life insurance and more. To learn more about our benefits please visit https://www.paypalbenefits.com

Who We Are: To learn more about our culture and community visit https://about.pypl.com/who\-we\-are/default.aspx

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion PayPal provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. In addition, PayPal will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you are unable to submit an application because of incompatible assistive technology or a disability, please contact us at paypalglobaltalentacquisition@paypal.com.

Belonging at PayPal: Our employees are central to advancing our mission, and we strive to create an environment where everyone can do their best work with a sense of purpose and belonging. Belonging at PayPal means creating a workplace with a sense of acceptance and security where all employees feel included and valued. We are proud to have a diverse workforce reflective of the merchants, consumers, and communities that we serve, and we continue to take tangible actions to cultivate inclusivity and belonging at PayPal.

Any general requests for consideration of your skills, please Join our Talent Community.

We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates. Please don’t hesitate to apply.

REQ ID R0134796

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