- Company Name
- Payflow
- Job Title
- Forward Deployed Data Scientist
- Job Description
-
**Job Title:** Forward Deployed Data Scientist
**Role Summary:**
Partner with executive leadership, customers, and engineering to ingest and cleanse financial datasets, build robust data models, and enable AI‑driven finance workflows. Act as a technical liaison to translate business needs into data solutions, guide AI agent development, and drive adoption of automated finance processes.
**Expectations:**
- Deliver end‑to‑end data pipelines with full coverage and high data quality.
- Produce actionable financial insights and narratives using AI agents.
- Communicate findings and recommendations clearly to finance leaders.
- Influence product roadmap with customer‑driven feedback.
- Operate effectively in a fast‑moving, ambiguous startup environment with a bias toward shipping.
**Key Responsibilities:**
- Review and reconcile customer financial data; ensure 100 % model coverage.
- Develop, test, and document dbt models, seeds, and SCD/backfill processes; enforce data‑quality SLAs.
- Analyze datasets to surface anomalies, prioritize actions, and generate finance‑specific insights.
- Iterate prompts and workflows for AI agents to handle complex tasks (e.g., MD&A drafting).
- Conduct customer discovery to map processes, identify automation opportunities, and define requirements.
- Collaborate with engineering to train/evaluate AI agents; define success metrics and benchmarks.
- Monitor agent‑generated signals for anomalies and key drivers.
- Present findings, coach finance teams on best practices, and drive adoption of agent‑powered workflows.
- Provide product feedback to shape features that deliver measurable time‑savings and accuracy.
**Required Skills:**
- 3‑6 years of professional experience in data science/analytics.
- Expert‑level SQL and hands‑on experience with dbt (models, seeds, tests).
- Strong knowledge of modern cloud data warehouses (e.g., BigQuery).
- Deep understanding of accounting, corporate finance, multi‑entity consolidation, and GL/account mapping.
- Proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets for driver‑based forecasting and scenario analysis.
- Experience with related financial data sources (CRM, HRIS, commerce, payments).
- Excellent customer‑facing communication: discovery, documentation, and storytelling.
- Ability to thrive in ambiguous, early‑stage environments and deliver quickly.
**Nice‑to‑Have Skills:**
- BI tool experience (e.g., Looker, Tableau, Power BI).
- Familiarity with AI/LLM prompting, evaluation, and agent training.
- Consulting or forward‑deployed experience; willingness to travel 10‑20 % for onsite engagements.
**Required Education & Certifications:**
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related quantitative field (or equivalent practical experience).
- Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) optional but preferred.
- Professional certifications (e.g., CPA, CFA, CDMP) not required but beneficial.