Senior Decision Scientist, Risk (San Francisco)

Overview

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

The Role

We're looking for a Decision Scientist to develop, implement, and own automatic risk decisions designed to mitigate Block's regulatory risk within the Transaction Monitoring and Disputes organization. In this role, you'll apply data-driven techniques to identify opportunities, design risk policies, and directly impact how Block manages risk across our major brands.

You will be responsible for building analytical frameworks, evaluating heuristic and ML-driven decisions, and defining scalable, defensible risk policies. Your work will directly impact Block customers and escalate to our Risk operations teams for further review. You'll partner closely with Compliance, Risk, Machine Learning, Operations, Engineering, Legal, and Product stakeholders to balance regulatory requirements, loss mitigation, and customer experience.

Work from anywhere: This role can be performed from any location in the US with the flexibility to work from home

You Will

• Design and implement automation strategies in our in-house rule engines that support regulatory compliance objectives, particularly within transaction monitoring and sanctions domains
• Translate complex regulatory requirements and analytical insights into clear, actionable recommendations for cross-functional stakeholders
• Develop detection policies and decisioning frameworks that are legally defensible and operationally sound
• Proactively identify new opportunities to improve risk automation and compliance outcomes through statistical modeling, experimentation, and data analysis
• Collaborate with Machine Learning teams on model evaluation, governance, and operationalization of model outputs for decision-making
• Ensure high-quality documentation, monitoring, and validation of risk actions that impact customers and operational teams

You Have

• Advanced degree in a quantitative field (Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, CS, etc.)
• 5+ years experience in applied analytics within risk, compliance, fraud, lending, or similar decisioning domains
• Experience designing, implementing, and monitoring high-impact decisioning or policy frameworks
• Strong SQL skills and experience navigating complex data environments, combined with proficiency in Python for data analysis (NumPy, Pandas, Sklearn) and familiarity with statistical modeling, A/B experimentation, and other analytical techniques for driving data-informed decisions.
• Proficiency in defining, implementing, communicating, and monitoring performance metrics with diverse stakeholders including Product, Machine Learning, Operations, Legal, and external partners
• Understanding of regulatory compliance concerns and the ability to design solutions that balance business needs with legal requirements
• Proven track record of tackling ambiguous business challenges with minimal guidance and applying analytical/statistical methods to tackle real-world problems using big data
• Comfort writing and documenting clean, organized, and testable code and contributing to software applications that implement data science and analytical artifacts in pipelines or front-ends.
• Nice to have: Experience with financial crimes compliance systems, technologies, and processes. CAMS or CFCS certifications

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we're doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.

While there is no specific deadline to apply for this role, U.S. roles are typically open for an average of 55 days before being filled by a successful candidate. Please refer to the date listed at the top of this job page for when this role was first posted.

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

To find a location’s zone designation, please refer to this resource. If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information.

Zone Pricing

• Zone A: $163,600—$245,400 USD
• Zone B: $155,400—$233,200 USD
• Zone C: $147,300—$220,900 USD
• Zone D: $139,000—$208,600 USD

Use of AI in Our Hiring Process

We may use automated AI tools to evaluate job applications for efficiency and consistency. These tools comply with local regulations, including bias audits, and we handle all personal data in accordance with state and local privacy laws.

Contact us here with hiring practice or data usage questions.

Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Remote work, medical insurance, flexible time off, retirement savings plans, and modern family planning are just some of our offering. Check out our other benefits at Block.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) builds technology to increase access to the global economy. Each of our brands unlocks different aspects of the economy for more people. Square makes commerce and financial services accessible to sellers. Cash App is the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Afterpay is transforming the way customers manage their spending over time. TIDAL is a music platform that empowers artists to thrive as entrepreneurs. Bitkey is a simple self-custody wallet built for bitcoin. Proto is a suite of bitcoin mining products and services. Together, we’re helping build a financial system that is open to everyone.

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