Director, Data Scientist

Why USAA?

At USAA, we have an important mission: facilitating the financial security of millions of U.S. military members and their families. Not all of our employees served in our nation's military, but we all share in the mission to give back to those who did. We're working as one to build a great experience and make a real impact for our members.

We believe in our core values of honesty, integrity, loyalty and service. They're what guides everything we do - from how we treat our members to how we treat each other. Come be a part of what makes us so special!

The Opportunity

This is a data science director role in USAA Enterprise Data & Analytics Office. This director will be leading a team of Data Scientists responsible for identifying, scoping, and translating business problems into applied statistical, machine learning, simulation, and optimization solutions to provide actionable business insights and drive business value through automation, revenue generation, expense, and risk reduction by demonstrating rich member data. They will collaborate with leaders across USAA enterprise to conceptualize, evaluate, and scope projects to meet business needs. They will also have a chance to influence USAA AI/ML future by driving adoptions while leading risk associating with models by following USAA model risk management standards and policies.

We offer a flexible work environment that requires an individual to be in the office 4 days per week. This position can be based in one of the following locations: San Antonio, TX, Plano, TX, Phoenix, AZ, Colorado Springs, CO, Charlotte, NC, Chesapeake, VA or Tampa, FL.

Relocation assistance is available for this position.

What you'll do:

• Acts as an analytics leader and advisor to the business to craft strategies that drive competitiveness and differentiation.

• Influences business, data, and technology leaders to invest, sustain and expand analytical capabilities by actively participating in strategy, planning, and budgeting exercises.

• Leads and develops team to build and deploy various analytical solutions in an agile and collaborative environment across business, data, and technology organizations. Enables team's success by simplifying processes across the model development lifecycle and driving automation.

• Identifies, scopes, and leads complex analytical projects in collaboration with business partners, often translating results to non-technical business executives.

• Champions and leads efforts to deliver business insights via scalable, automated solutions using machine learning, simulation, and optimization.

• Responsible for ensuring all modeling and machine learning solutions adhere to industry standards, model risk policy, and regulatory expectations.

• Partners with enterprise analytical and IT teams to build USAA core capabilities and processes.

• Identifies additional resource needs ranging from IT investments, 3rd party support or additional analysts.

• Builds and leads all aspects of a team of Data Scientists through ongoing execution of recruiting, development, retention, mentor and support, performance management, and managerial activities.

• Ensures risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.

What you have:

• Bachelor's degree in mathematics, computer science, statistics, economics, finance, actuarial sciences, science and engineering, or other similar quantitative subject area; OR 4 years of experience in statistics, mathematics, quantitative analytics, or related experience (in addition to the minimum years of experience required) may be substituted in lieu of degree.

• 8 years in predictive modeling, model governance, machine learning and large data analysis., OR Advanced Degree (e.g., Master's, PhD) in Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, Computer Science, or related quantitative STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) field and 6 years in predictive modeling, model governance, machine learning and large data analysis.

• 3 years of direct management experience.

• Strong communication skills; Proven track record to interpret and translate technical information to diverse audiences.

• Experience with various languages, applications, and technologies (such as SQL, Python, R, Spark, Hadoop etc.) commonly associated with delivery of Data Science solutions.

• Experience in developing and reviewing modeling solutions based on broad range of techniques - e.g., linear and logistic regressions, time series methods, survival analysis, support vector machines, neural networks, decision trees, random forests, gradient-boosting methods, deep learning, k-means and other clustering methods, simulation methods, or other techniques.

• Demonstrated ability to apply standard methodologies in modeling and machine learning techniques to solve business problems.

• Proven track record to write and review technical documentation, communicate modeling insights and technical details to business leaders, technical and non-technical audiences.

• A strong track record of communicating results, insights, and technical solutions to Senior Executive Management (or equivalent).

• Deep technical skills, consulting experience, and business savvy to work with all levels and subject areas within the organization.

What sets you apart:

• Extensive experience of leading data science function to apply concepts and technologies associated with supervised and unsupervised modeling, NLU/NLP

• Experience with use of structured and unstructured data in modeling using methods such as k-means clustering, hierarchical/agglomerative clustering, the nearest neighbor algorithms, DBSCAN, etc. to solve complex business problems.

• Extensive experience in leading data science function to craft, develop and implement batch and real-time models with product and channel activity data.

• Experience with voice and digital channel data to summarize, extract intent, sentiment, and summarizations.

• Knowledge and experience in leading data science team to maximize LLMs and Gen AI models to analyze and model unstructured data to solve variety of business problems.

The above description reflects the details considered necessary to describe the principal functions of the job and should not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be performed in the job.

What we offer:

Compensation: USAA has an effective process for assessing market data and establishing ranges to ensure we remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range based on your experience and market data of the position. The actual salary for this role may vary by location. The salary range for this position is: $182,680 - $349,150.

Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance and at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors.

Benefits: At USAA our employees enjoy best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellness. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k), pension, life insurance, parental benefits, adoption assistance, paid time off program with paid holidays plus 16 paid volunteer hours, and various wellness programs. Additionally, our career path planning and continuing education assists employees with their professional goals.

For more details on our outstanding benefits, please visit our benefits page on USAAjobs.com.

Applications for this position are accepted on an ongoing basis, this posting will remain open until the position is filled. Thus, interested candidates are encouraged to apply the same day they view this posting.

USAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.