Staff AI Data Scientist

Build the future of payments with AI, Pix & Open Finance

Type: Full-Time

Language: English

Location: São Paulo, Brazil (Hybrid)

Reports to: CPO

The Company

Nova is building a new generation payment network (i.e. reinventing Visa/Mastercard) using AI on top of Pix and Open Finance.

Its first product is a B2C digital wallet that functions as an infrastructure bridge between traditional credit cards and Pix, allowing consumers to use their existing credit card limits anywhere, even to pay Pix and Boletos in installments.

The company was founded by an elite team of fintech veterans and has had top-tier venture capital investors (Monashees, Canary, Canaan and Propel) since its inception

They recently raised a large Series A and are now assembling a small team of exceptional experienced professionals to build, launch and grow its next generation of products

The Role

We are looking for an exceptional individual to help define, build and scale Nova's next generation of products. You will work closely with the founders and the engineering team and you'll be responsible for identifying opportunities, defining strategy, prioritizing initiatives, driving execution and delivering measurable business outcomes. Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and evolving our data platform and AI infrastructure to support scalable, reliable, and high-performance machine learning applications;
• Building and maintaining modern data pipelines, real-time processing systems, and data models that power analytics and AI products;
• Driving the adoption of best practices in data engineering, MLOps, data quality, observability, and platform reliability across the organization;
• Partnering with product, engineering, and data science teams to transform complex business problems into scalable data and AI solutions;
• Leading technical decisions around cloud architecture, distributed systems, data governance, and AI infrastructure while mentoring engineers and fostering a culture of technical excellence and innovation.

This is your chance to be a protagonist at work, working on challenging projects with a meaningful impact, as part of a select team in a uniquely ambitious new payment network company.

The Qualifications

• Required
• +7 years of full-time work experience at equivalent or similar role 
• Experience at high-performing fintechs, financial services companies and/or startups
• Bachelor's (or equivalent) degree in Engineering, Business and Economics or related fields 
• Daily usage of AI for product work (research, data analysis, spacing and/or prototyping etc.)
• Analytical & Organized mind: structured thought, comfortable with numbers, detail oriented

• Preferred
• Experience launching products (0 → 1)
• Graduated from top schools and/or with top grades 
• Participated and/or won in competitions, received work-related awards 
• Active leader in the community, has published articles, given lectures etc. 
• Other demonstrable proofs of ambition, intelligence and/or resilience

The Target Companies

Candidates with at least 2 years of full-time experience in the companies below will be prioritized:

• Strong Local Fintechs: 
• Acquirers: Cloudwalk, Stone, Hash
• Card Processors: Pismo, Stark, Pomelo
• Card Issuers: Nubank, Cora, Clara, PicPay, RecargaPay
• Other: Belvo, Klavi, Iniciador, Magie, Jota, Barte, Pagaleve, Ume, Creditas
• Strong Global Fintechs: Stripe, Plaid, Melio, Brex, Wise, Affirm, Klarna, AfterPay, Marqeta, Chime
• Strong Financial Services: XP, Willbank, Inter, C6, Mercado Pago, Avenue, Itaú
• Strong Local Start-Ups: Wildlife, QuintoAndar, Loggi, JusBrasil, iFood, Loft, Olist
• Big Tech: Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft
• Other Tech: Netflix, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Spotify, Snap, X (Twitter), Pinterest

The Selective Process

Materials about Nova, including a pitch deck and pitch videos will be made available through the process

• Screening Call: 15min call with HR for alignment on requirements and qualifications
• Introduction Interview: 30min call with Hiring Manager for a quick review of past experiences
• Deep Dive Interview: 60min call with Hiring Manager to deep dive on past experiences and profile
• Bar Raiser Interview: 45min call with another Leader to validate assessment with a 2nd opinion
• Cultural Fit Interview: 30min call with CEO to evaluate culture fit and answer questions about Nova

The Offer Package

• Model: PJ
• Compensation: R$30-40 K
• Stock Option: aggressive stock option grants
• Other Benefits: premium health insurance, flexible hours, paid vacations and wellhub

If you're excited about building the rails of the next generation payment network alongside a small team of high-caliber, highly motivated professionals, we'd love to hear from you.