Data Scientist - Global Payments Firm - Contractual

At Outsized, we match clients in financial services and management consulting to high-quality independent consultants and boutique/specialist firms for the execution of their key projects.

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.