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Machine Learning DirectorPayJoy · San Francisco, CA
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PayJoy

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Machine Learning Director

🗓️ Posted 2026-08-21 San Francisco, CA Full-Time Hybrid ICT
💰 Salary Not shared 📊 Market 18,333 CAD–27,500 CAD/mo

About the Company

About PayJoy PayJoy, a Public Benefit Corporation, is a mission-first credit provider dedicated to helping under-served customers in emerging markets to achieve financial stability and success. Our patented technology for secured credit provides an on-ramp for new customers to enter the credit system. Through PayJoy's point-of-sale financing and card offerings, customers gain access to a modern quality of life. PayJoy's credit also allows our customers to seize opportunities as micro-entrepreneurs, and acts as insurance for tough times. Through our cutting-edge machine learning, data science, and anti-fraud AI, we have served over 18 million customers as of 2025 while achieving solid profitability for sustainable growth. This role As PayJoy's ML Platform Director, you will lead a team of very talented Machine Learning Engineers and Software Engineers that are responsible for the end-to-end ML ecosystem at PayJoy. This includes ML infrastructure: feature stores (online and offline), model serving, ETL/feature architecture and the infrastructure that helps us serve our customers like our internal offers API.

Responsibilities

  • ● hnical execution, ensuring that our ML infrastructure is scalable, secure and world-class. You are a leader who enables senior-level engineers to solve the company's most complex problems, fostering an environment where innovation meets production-grade reliability.
  • ● You will be part of a data science team on a mission to improve access to credit and technology in emerging markets with the opportunity of creating a big and real positive impact to our millions of users across the countries we operate in.
  • ● Define the technical roadmap for our ML platform, modeling and internal APIs infrastructure, moving beyond individual projects to oversee the long-term sustainability of our "assembly line" approach to data products and ML model + offers serving.
  • ● Mentor and manage a team of Staff and Senior-level ML Engineers. Foster a culture of technical excellence, focusing on system design, scalability and code quality.
  • ● Act as the primary liaison between Data Science/ML Engineering and business stakeholders like Risk, Fraud, Engineering and Product. Translate complex business goals into actionable technical requirements that the team can execute at scale.
  • ● Own the long-term vision for our ML infrastructure, including deployment, monitoring and MLOps practices. Ensure that all data products are not only performant but also maintainable and compliant with global safety standards.
  • ● Guide the professional growth of your direct reports, ensuring they are challenged by the right problems and supported by clear career trajectories.
  • ● Champion the adoption of new technologies (e.g., LLMs, graph databases) and best practices that keep PayJoy at the forefront of financial ML without sacrificing stability.

Requirements

  • ● PhD or master's in Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering or a related field
  • ● + years of hands-on experience in Data Science or ML Engineering, with at least 4+ years in a leadership role managing senior-level or staff-level engineers.
  • ● A proven track record of designing and delivering large-scale ML systems. You must have a deep understanding of the full ML lifecycle (from feature extraction to production monitoring) and the ability to review system designs and architecture at a high level.
  • ● Ability to identify bottlenecks in global ML operations and design systematic solutions. You think in terms of platforms, not just individual models.
  • ● Exceptional ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. You can defend technical decisions to executive leadership and advocate for the "engineering mindset."