Our client, a leading global payments technology company, is seeking a senior Data Science professional to join their Consulting & Analytics practice on a contractual basis. This role is embedded within the client’s analytics team in Mumbai and focuses on driving portfolio growth through advanced predictive modeling and data-driven strategy. The engagement is part of a broader initiative to enhance customer targeting, spend activation, and overall portfolio performance for a major banking partner.

As the Data Science lead on this engagement, you will own the end-to-end development of analytical frameworks that directly influence customer acquisition, engagement, and spend behavior. You will partner with cross-functional teams, including Product and Operations, to translate complex business problems into scalable, insight-led solutions. Your work will shape how the client segments, targets, and activates their cardholder base, delivering measurable impact on portfolio economics and growth trajectories.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop predictive solutions including segmentation and lookalike models to enable precise customer and merchant targeting based on personas and behavioral segments.
• Design and implement analytical frameworks that address key business challenges, such as driving card activation, increasing spend engagement, and optimizing channel/corridor performance.
• Lead data science projects from conception through deployment, managing planning, execution, and monitoring to ensure timely and high-quality delivery.
• Collaborate with Product, Operations, and other stakeholder teams to understand business needs and translate them into data-driven insights and actionable recommendations.
• Synthesize and communicate complex analytical findings to both technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring clear alignment on strategy and outcomes.
• Provide regular project updates and maintain consistent stakeholder communication throughout the engagement lifecycle.

Your Background

• 10 years of overall experience in data science roles, with a minimum of 6-8 years specifically within the BFSI sector (cards/payments experience highly preferred).
• Advanced proficiency in Python (pandas, scikit-learn, NumPy) and SQL; hands-on experience building predictive models on large datasets with significant feature engineering.
• Demonstrated expertise in developing models using the XGBoost ML algorithm.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset, with a proven ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable business strategies.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills, with experience managing cross-functional stakeholder relationships.

Other Info

The role is based in Colombo, Sri Lanka and requires onsite presence at the client location as part of the analytics team. This is an 18-month contractual engagement, with a start date to be confirmed upon selection. The position offers high visibility and strategic influence, with the potential for extension based on performance and program evolution.