AI Lead Data Scientist - BPL

London, United Kingdom

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Date live: 21/04/2026

Business Area: Barclays Payments Merchant Services

Area of Expertise: Data & Analytics

Reference Code: JR-0000106393

Contract: Permanent

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What you'll do as the AI Lead Data Scientist Director for BPL:

Provide strategic leadership and responsibility for AI / ML‑driven decisioning across the Payments domain.

Be responsible for supporting teams in translating complex business problems into explainable, regulated, and commercially impactful decision systems, ensuring that advanced analytics and AI are applied in a manner consistent with Model Risk Management (MRM), AI governance, and regulatory expectations.

Scope & Complexity

Operates at enterprise Payments domain level, influencing multiple product lines and decision processes
Responsible for end‑to‑end model development lifecycle, from problem framing to production monitoring
Influences senior stakeholders across Payments leadership, Risk, Compliance, Product, and Engineering

Key Accountabilities

AI / ML Development - responsibility for AI / ML‑driven decisioning and model development practice across the Payments domain, ensuring models support delivery, merchant acquisition, pricing, fraud, risk, and customer experience outcomes
Modelling Standards & Strategy -Definition and enforcement of modelling standards, experimentation frameworks, and analytical best practices across Payments use cases
Senior Stakeholder Advisory - Acting as a senior advisor to Payments leadership and control functions on AI‑driven decisioning strategy and risk trade‑offs
Capability & Culture - Building sustainable data science capability and embedding a culture of responsible, outcome‑driven AI

Key Responsibilities

Payments‑Focused Problem Framing & Strategy
Support the definition of AI / ML strategies for core Payments use cases, including delivery, merchant acquisition, pricing optimisation, fraud detection, and transactional analytics
Translate business objectives into structured modelling, experimentation, and decision frameworks
Define KPIs aligned to commercial and risk outcomes, not just predictive accuracy
Advanced AI, Modelling & Decision Intelligence
Lead development of advanced models and advanced analytical techniques (e.g. GenAI, propensity, LTV, fraud, pricing optimisation)
Ensure models are robust, explainable, and production‑ready
Establish closed‑loop learning systems where decisions are continuously monitored and improved
Generative AI & Agentic Analytics
Apply generative AI and LLMs to analytics workflows, insight generation, and feature discovery
Design and validate AI agents supporting Payments decisioning and analytics processes
Partner with AI Engineering and AI Ops to deploy governed production solutions
Model Risk, Validation & Governance
Define validation, monitoring, and drift detection standards
Ensure AI governance, fairness, and explainability requirements
Produce audit‑ready documentation and evidence
Data & Feature Strategy
Support the definition of the AI/ML the data strategy and it’s implementation working with other engineering teams.
Promote reuse of shared AI/ML assets

Essential Skills/Experience (Job Architecture)

Advanced quantitative expertise (Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics or equivalent)
Deep knowledge of machine learning, statistical modelling, experimentation, and causal inference
Strong Python and modern data science tooling capability
Proven experience delivering AI / ML models into production within regulated environments
Strong understanding of model validation, monitoring, and governance
Ability to influence senior commercial and risk decision‑makers

Desirable Knowledge & Experience

Experience in Payments, merchant acquiring, fintech, or financial crime
Experience with large‑scale transactional datasets
Familiarity with cloud‑based AI platforms and agent frameworks
Experience with generative AI and agentic analytics
PhD or equivalent advanced research experience

Risk and Control:

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

About BPL:

Barclays’ payments acceptance business provides critical infrastructure to the UK economy, processing billions of pounds of payments annually for both small businesses and domestic and international corporate clients.

In April 2025, we announced a long-term partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to grow and transform the payments acceptance business by broadening the range of services offered, enhancing the experience for both existing and prospective clients. Leveraging extensive client relationships and deep experience of UK payments, we will create an environment of continuous innovation - activated by Brookfield’s global private equity expertise in payments, technology, operational transformation and corporate carve-outs - to ensure the business is strategically positioned for long-term growth.

Barclays will invest approximately £400m in the new business, the majority of which will be incurred during the first three years. Performance-linked incentives will drive greater alignment between the partners, underpinning the long-term commitment to the transformation. Barclays and Brookfield will work to create a standalone entity over time, continuing to use the Barclaycard Payments (BPL) brand and acting as the sole payments acceptance services provider to Barclays’ clients for a minimum of ten years.

For more information on our partnership with Brookfield, please visit Barclays.com.

To use innovative data analytics and machine learning techniques to extract valuable insights from the bank's data reserves, leveraging these insights to inform strategic decision-making, improve operational efficiency, and drive innovation across the organisation.

Accountabilities

Identification, collection, extraction of data from various sources, including internal and external sources.
Performing data cleaning, wrangling, and transformation to ensure its quality and suitability for analysis.
Development and maintenance of efficient data pipelines for automated data acquisition and processing.
Design and conduct of statistical and machine learning models to analyse patterns, trends, and relationships in the data.
Development and implementation of predictive models to forecast future outcomes and identify potential risks and opportunities.
Collaborate with business stakeholders to seek out opportunities to add value from data through Data Science.

Director Expectations

To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

More about working at Barclays

Barclays offices across the UK are designed to be places where our people can come together to do their best work, surrounded by excellent facilities for both work and leisure. These are warm, diverse, supportive communities in some of the UK’s best locations, where everyone can thrive.

Our approach to hybrid working ensures there’s the right balance of working alongside colleagues at our onsite locations, as required for each role. For business areas that offer a hybrid working experience, this will be in a structured way, where colleagues work at an onsite location on fixed, ‘anchor’, days of the week. Some roles may require full onsite working. Please discuss the working pattern requirements for the role you are applying for with the hiring manager.

We continue to embed and review our hybrid working environment and remain in a phase of testing and learning. This means that working arrangements could change, with reasonable notice, to align with the needs of our business.

Barclays welcomes applications from all candidates and is committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments (accommodations) are put in place to allow for a fair and inclusive recruitment process. For more information and how to request one, please review Adjustments to the recruitment process.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive culture and environment, that recognises and supports ways to balance your personal needs, alongside the professional needs of our business. Providing the opportunity for all our employees globally to work flexibly empowers each of us to work in a way that suits our lives, as well as enabling us to better service our customers’ and clients’ needs.

Our approach to working flexibly is designed to support you to balance your life and to accommodate diverse needs, whilst still allowing us to meet our business needs. If you’d like to request a flexible working arrangement, please discuss this with your hiring manager.

We're committed to providing a supportive and simplified experience for our candidates throughout the application and assessment process. Here, you will find information about what to expect and some guidance around your assessment and interview.

While the application process depends on the role, there are some constant steps, which are;

Step 1 - Your application
Step 2 - Your assessment
Step 3 - Your interview
Step 4 - Next steps

We aim to create an inclusive work environment where everyone can reach their full potential. If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please click here to learn more.

Find out more information here.

Barclays offers a diverse, inclusive and engaged culture. A place where people can bring their whole selves to work and be respected for who they are, valued for what they do and celebrated for their contribution to our business and our community.
We are an equal opportunity employer and opposed to discrimination on any grounds. It is the policy of Barclays to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, colour, creed, religion, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by law.

Barclays is required by law to confirm that you have the Legal Right to Work in any role that you apply for. If you currently hold a work visa sponsored by Barclays, or you would require sponsorship from Barclays, you must declare this as part of your application. Sponsored visas are role and entity specific and any changes must be reviewed. It is important that you ensure you are working on the correct visa at all times. Failure to accurately disclose your visa status or Legal Right to Work may result in your application or any employment offer being withdrawn at any time.

The Barclays Way

This is the spirit of Barclays. It’s why we exist, what we believe and how we behave. But most importantly, it’s how we make decisions, take action and get things done.

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