Chief Data Innovation Officer

About the Team:

The Data Science team plays a central role in building intelligent solutions that power our products and drive business impact. We work across key domains, applying advanced machine learning/deep learning techniques to solve high-impact challenges. Our work involves a diverse range of data types, and we closely collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.

About the Role:

As a Data Scientist, you'll be an integral part of a team that's building scalable and efficient solutions across lending, insurance, investments, and UPI. You won't just be solving predefined problems - you'll identify the problems and solve for getting high business impact. This role offers the opportunity to lead high-impact data science initiatives that directly influence strategic business decisions.

• Strategic Project Leadership: Drive end-to-end delivery of high-impact data science initiatives, from conception and prototyping to large-scale deployment, ensuring alignment with business goals and measurable outcomes.
• Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Leadership: Proactively engage and influence stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Business, and Executive teams, shaping problem definitions and championing data-driven decision making.
• Technical Depth & Thought Leadership: Demonstrate deep expertise across machine learning and deep learning concepts, setting technical direction and solving highly complex, ambiguous problems.
• Advanced Data Solutions: Architect and deliver solutions across diverse data types—tabular, text, image, and speech—leveraging cutting-edge models and best practices to drive business value at scale.
• Innovation & Research: Lead experimentation with emerging algorithms and technologies, fostering a culture of innovation and staying ahead of industry trends, especially in the fintech domain.
• Robust Model Governance: Establish and uphold best practices for model validation, monitoring, performance tracking, and risk management in production environments, ensuring reliability and compliance.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Mentor and guide junior team members, facilitate technical reviews, and actively contribute to a culture of knowledge sharing, continuous learning, and technical excellence within the team.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

To succeed in this role, you'll need:

• Bachelor's or Higher Degree: In Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a quantitative field, with a demonstrated research mindset and 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Deep Understanding: Of modern machine learning techniques, underlying mathematics, and hands-on experience with key ML frameworks.
• Strong Foundation: In statistics, machine learning (e.g., Random Forests, XGBoost, SVMs), and inference techniques, with expertise in hypothesis testing, simulations, and optimization methodologies.
• Proven Experience: Working with distributed computing platforms for large-scale data processing and model training.
• Strong Programming Skills: Preferably in Python, Scala, or similar languages.
• Demonstrated Ability: To drive large-scale machine learning projects end to end—from problem formulation and data preparation to deployment and monitoring.
• Proven Track Record: Of delivering high business impact through data science solutions in previous roles.
• Experience Leading Projects: With multiple team members and/or mentoring junior colleagues is preferred.

Benefits:

We offer a dynamic work environment, competitive compensation package, and opportunities for growth and development.

Others:

At Navi, we're committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels welcome, valued, and empowered to succeed. We strive for excellence by uplifting each other and fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation.