Lead Data Scientist

Mastercard is hiring a Lead Data Scientist in Toronto, Canada. Level rates it ; you can apply on Mastercard.

Level's read on this job

Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this data scientist role: the job is building AI systems.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Python, Spark and LLM.
Level classifies it as a lead role.
Level lists 931 other open roles at Mastercard.

AI in this role

Leads data science initiatives and builds advanced machine learning models and agentic AI systems to detect and prevent fraud.

PythonSparkLLM

data-sciencemachine-learningfraud-detectionagentic-ai

Our Purpose

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

Title and Summary

Lead Data Scientist

Overview:

Services within Mastercard is responsible for acquiring, engaging, and retaining customers by managing fraud and risk, enhancing cybersecurity, and improving the digital payments experience. We provide value-added services and leverage expertise, data-driven insights, and execution.

The Cyber and Intelligence Solutions team is responsible for innovation, development and management of our products and services to address evolving risk and security needs for all of Mastercard’s customers across the world including Banks, Merchants, Fintechs and of course consumers.
The Lead Data Scientist will be a key contributor in helping Mastercard develop and deliver actionable insights and products to help issuers, acquirers and merchants reduce fraud.

What will you do?

-You will be a key player in helping Mastercard extract value from existing data sources in order to better understand, detect and prevent fraud.
-Use your data science expertise and skills to analyze worldwide fraud data to gain insights regarding fraud.
-Apply modeling techniques to identify and understand fraud to protect the MasterCard payment network.
-Build and manage new fraud related products and services that will provide value to our customers and increase revenue.

All about you:

-Proven experience working with stakeholders to deliver state-of-the-art solutions that adhere to their requirements.
-Record of accomplishment in learning and applying new techniques and data analysis languages.
-Experience writing complex queries to efficiently extract and manipulate large amounts of data.
-Experience with Python and Spark for data manipulation is required.
-Hands-on experience designing, building, or deploying agentic AI systems, such as LLM-based agents that plan, use tools, and execute multi-step tasks autonomously, is strongly preferred.
-Experience preparing presentations for management/clients that present insights clearly and efficiently.
-Familiarity and experience with UNIX highly desired.
-Subject matter expertise in payments, cards, and /or fraud or proven ability to learn and master new subject matter areas.
-Ability to combine knowledge across multiple disciplines to solve problems.
-Excellent inter-personal skills, able to work with colleagues remotely as well as in –person.
-Degree in quantitative discipline preferred (e.g., Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, Decision Science or Engineering).

Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role. In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact reasonable_accommodation@mastercard.com and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;
Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.

In line with Mastercard’s total compensation philosophy and assuming that the job will be performed in Canada, the successful candidate will be offered a competitive pay based on location, experience and other qualifications for the role and may be eligible to participate in a discretionary annual incentive program. This posting reflects one or more current openings on our team.

Pay Ranges

Toronto, Canada: $127,000 - $203,000 CAD

How we rate this

Lead Data Scientist at Mastercard rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Lead Data Scientist is an open job at Mastercard.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The role is based in Toronto, Canada.
The job was posted on September 25, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Mastercard. Apply on Mastercard

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Data ScienceMachine learningFraud DetectionAgentic AIPythonSparkLLM

Also common in data scientist jobs at this level

Machine learning SQL Generative AI AWS PyTorch Deep learning

Pay

Typical data scientist job: $168k

This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical data scientist figure when pay comes up. See data scientist jobs

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where data science was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where fraud detection was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where agentic ai was part of your work. What did you do?
Walk me through how you've used Python in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Data Science, Machine learning, Fraud Detection, Agentic AI, and Python. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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