Lead Data Scientist - Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning

Job Description - Lead Data Scientist / AI/ML Engineer

Company : Bajaj Finserv

Role : Lead Data Scientist / AI/ML Engineer

Experience : 10-12 Years

Location : Pune (Work from Office - 5 Days)

Notice Period : Maximum 30 Days

CTC : - 42-70 LPA (75% Fixed + 25% Variable)

About the Role

Bajaj Finserv is looking for an experienced Lead Data Scientist / AI/ML Engineer to lead AI Product Pods focused on Credit Risk, Fraud Risk Management, and Collections Analytics. The ideal candidate will design, build, deploy, and scale enterprise-grade AI/ML solutions that drive critical business decisions across the lending lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

- Lead AI/ML initiatives across Credit Risk, Fraud Detection, and Collections.

- Build and deploy production-grade Machine Learning models for lending decision systems.

- Own the complete ML lifecycle including feature engineering, model development, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.

- Design scalable ML infrastructure including Feature Stores, Model Registries, and MLOps pipelines.

- Develop AI solutions for underwriting, fraud detection, portfolio monitoring, early warning systems, collections optimization, and recovery forecasting.

- Ensure model governance, explainability, compliance, and audit readiness within BFSI standards.

- Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Risk, Business, and Data teams.

- Define AI platform architecture, operational excellence, SLAs, and incident management.

- Mentor and lead high-performing AI Engineering and Data Science teams.

Required Skills

- Python

- Machine Learning

- Spark / PySpark

- Kafka

- Kubernetes

- CI/CD

- MLOps

- Feature Store

- Model Registry

- Distributed Machine Learning

- APIs & Microservices

- Credit Risk Analytics

- Fraud Analytics

- Collections Analytics

Mandatory Requirements

- 10+ years of experience in Data Science, AI/ML, or AI Engineering.

- Current designation must be Lead, Principal, Engineering Manager, Associate Director, or Director.

- Strong experience building production-scale ML systems.

- Experience in Credit Risk, Fraud Risk Management, Collections, and Recovery.

- Expertise with Python, Spark, Kafka, Kubernetes, and MLOps.

- Experience with model governance, compliance, PII handling, and secure AI platforms in BFSI.

- Proven AI/ML team leadership.

- B.Tech/M.Tech from Tier-1 institutes (IITs, NITs, BITS preferred).

- Age below 37 years.

- Notice Period : Maximum 30 days.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience in Product Companies, FinTech, Banking, NBFC, or GCCs.

- Experience with Graph ML, Vector Databases, LLM-enabled decisioning, and distributed AI infrastructure.

- Indian professionals working overseas and planning to relocate are encouraged to apply.

Interview Process

- 3 Technical Interview Rounds

- Underwriting Discussion

- Criminal Background Verification

- HR Discussion

(ref:hirist.tech)