Full-Time

Principal Data Scientist 1

AI Innovation

Posted on 6/18/2025

Zeta

Zeta

1,001-5,000 employees

Cloud-native payment card issuer platform

No salary listed

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

In Person

Category
Data & Analytics (1)
Required Skills
Scikit-learn
Python
Data Science
Apache Spark
Machine Learning
Pandas
Hadoop
NumPy
Data Analysis
Requirements
  • Exceptional quantitative and problem-solving skills - capable of tackling complex data-driven challenges and formulating effective solutions.
  • Solid understanding of natural language processing (NLP) - Fundamentals, including techniques such as named entity recognition (NER), topic modeling, and sentiment analysis.
  • Proven proficiency - In essential data science libraries, including Pandas, Numpy, SciPy, and Scikit-Learn, for data manipulation, analysis, and modeling.
  • In-depth expertise in Python programming - Focus on data analysis, model building, and algorithmic implementation.
  • Experience with distributed computing frameworks - Hadoop or Spark, for handling large-scale data processing and machine learning tasks.
  • Comprehensive understanding - Supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques, including decision trees, random forests, boosting algorithms, and clustering methods.
  • Master's or Bachelor's degree in Machine Learning/Data Science, Applied Statistics, Mathematics, or Engineering
  • Minimum 8+ years of relevant experience with a proven track record of developing ML solutions.
Responsibilities
  • Collaborate seamlessly with Engineering, Product, and Operations teams to conceptualize, design, and construct AI systems for diverse applications, including Email Suites, Conversational chatbots, and various NLP and ML use cases.
  • Lead the development of inventive strategies and models, ensuring practical operationalization of AI solutions in alignment with organizational goals.
  • Generate ideas for exploratory analysis, actively shaping the trajectory of future projects. Provide insightful recommendations for strategic actions based on data-driven insights.
  • Drive the rapid prototyping of solutions, actively participating in discussions related to product and feature development.
  • Develop dashboards and comprehensive documentation to effectively communicate results. Regularly monitor key data metrics, facilitating informed decision-making.
  • Collaborate closely with software engineers to deploy and integrate data models into production systems. Ensure scalability, reliability, and efficiency of integrated solutions.
  • Identify and analyze key business metrics, offering strategic insights. Recommend product features based on the identified metrics to enhance overall product functionality.

Zeta provides cloud-native, API-connected payment card issuer processing platforms for banks, financial institutions, and fintechs. Its core product, Omni Stack, lets clients launch and manage digital credit, debit, and prepaid card programs through integrated APIs and cloud services. Transactions and card program management are handled via the platform, often with managed services and partner integrations (e.g., Sparrow) to offer comprehensive payment solutions. The company differentiates itself with a fully cloud-native, API-first approach combined with strong regulatory compliance (ISO IEC 27001, PCI DSS 4.0, SOC 2 Type 2), enabling rapid deployment and secure operation of embedded banking and payments. Zeta’s goal is to accelerate the world toward invisible payments by rethinking payment systems from core to edge.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

Late Stage VC

Total Funding

$430M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2015

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Raised $50M from Optum in 2025, boosting valuation to $2B from $1.15B.
  • Serves 25M accounts, plans 25M more, with $50M+ annual revenue.
  • Digital Credit as a Service launched 2024 processes 2M daily UPI transactions.

What critics are saying

  • Optum builds competing card processing, poaches Zeta customers within 12-24 months.
  • Mastercard integrates issuer processing, bypasses Zeta for issuers in 18-36 months.
  • Profitability target missed by March 2026, collapses investor confidence immediately.

What makes Zeta unique

  • Zeta's Omni Stack enables rapid launch of compliant digital cards and loans.
  • Tachyon platform powers Sparrow's top-rated credit card for underserved since October 2023.
  • Cloud-native API stack supports issuing, fraud, and digital banking apps globally.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

Professional Development Budget

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

1%

2 year growth

-2%
Tech in Asia
Oct 14th, 2025
Zeta raises $50M, valuation hits $2B

Zeta, an Indian fintech firm, has raised $50 million from Optum, boosting its valuation to $2 billion, up from $1.15 billion in 2021 when it received $250 million from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Founded in 2015, Zeta aids banks and fintechs in modernizing services with cloud tech. It serves 25 million accounts, plans to add 25 million more, and aims for profitability by March 2026. The US is its largest market, followed by India, generating over $50 million annually.

VentureCapital.com
Jun 24th, 2025
Acorns Acquires Zeta for Family Finance

Acorns has acquired Zeta, a financial planning platform for couples and families, to enhance its financial wellness offerings across various life stages. This acquisition, which includes Zeta co-founders Kevin Hopkins and Aditi Shekar joining Acorns, marks the company's fifth strategic acquisition in under two years. Existing Zeta customers will gain access to Acorns' financial wellness benefits. Financial terms were not disclosed.

TechCrunch
Feb 11th, 2025
Zeta valued at $2B in new funding | TechCrunch

Zeta, a provider of banking software to banks and fintech startups, has raised $50 million from a strategic investor at a $2 billion valuation. The new Zeta, a provider of banking software to banks and fintech startups, has raised $50 million from a strategic investor at a $2 billion valuation.

Entrackr
Feb 11th, 2025
Zeta secures $50M, valued at $2B

Zeta, a modern banking tech company, has raised $50 million from an undisclosed strategic investor, valuing the company at $2 billion. Zeta became a unicorn in May 2021 with a $250 million Series C round from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company also received $30 million from Mastercard in March 2022 at a $1.5 billion valuation. Zeta's Indian entity reported a 9.42% revenue increase to ₹893.12 crore in FY24, with PAT rising 5.4x to ₹119.82 crore.

Business Wire
Mar 7th, 2024
Zeta Powers Sparrow’S Industry-Leading Credit Card For The Underserved

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zeta, a leading provider of next-gen card processing solutions to banks and credit unions, is proud to announce its partnership with Sparrow Financial to power the most modern credit card program in existence for non-prime customers.Sparrow is founded by industry veterans - Evan Feldman and Lisa Sturm - who have spent 30+ years building and managing large-scale credit card portfolios. They embarked on a quest for a modern card processing solution to launch a differentiated card program for underserved Americans. After meticulous evaluation of various card processors, they chose Zeta's Tachyon platform.Evan Feldman, Co-CEO of Sparrow Financial, said: “Sparrow has built the #1 credit card experience for the underserved in every respect, from a seamless application journey and instantaneous underwriting, a user-friendly mobile app, cutting-edge virtual card experience, a hassle-free repayment process, and an operations center that puts the customer first. This achievement has been made possible through the next-gen capabilities and integrated stack of Zeta.”The Sparrow credit card went live in October 2023, leveraging Zeta for card processing, mobile app, servicing, and advanced data & analytics capabilities. And, in under 6 months of launch, it has received glowing reviews for its intuitive and modern experience from customers with consistently high ratings on Credit Karma and mobile app stores, such as:Great card, easy to use app | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“The virtual card is available right away on the app, which was super convenient. Overall the app is really easy to use, especially compared to some of my other cards.”| ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “The virtual card is available right away on the app, which was super convenient

INACTIVE