*Anticipated future opportunity upon contract award* (Estimated start of September 2026)
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced Data Scientist to support the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in its mission to safeguard the financial system from illicit use, combat money laundering, and counter terrorist financing. This role will focus on cleaning, analyzing, and transforming complex commercial, financial, and regulatory data to derive actionable insights in support of FinCEN’s enforcement and compliance operations. The Data Scientist will design and implement advanced analytical models, utilize machine learning methods, and develop tools to enhance data usability and analysis. As part of a multidisciplinary team, the Data Scientist will collaborate closely with investigators, analysts, and technical staff, applying their expertise to identify patterns, typologies, and anomalies related to illicit financial activity, including money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and cybercrime.
Essential Responsibilities
- Analyze and Transform Data: Extract, clean, transform, and analyze complex, large-scale datasets from various structured and unstructured sources, including BSA data, financial systems, and internal databases.
- Build and deploy machine learning models and analytic methods to detect patterns and anomalies, such as fraud, money laundering, and other illicit finance activities.
- Utilize anomaly detection methods to identify suspicious activity in financial data sets.
- Apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques using Python libraries like NLTK, Gensim, or scikit-learn to extract insights from unstructured textual data.
- Conduct entity resolution for identifying relationships across business and individual names using analytic techniques and methodologies.
- Create and refine data insights to inform regulatory enforcement actions and compliance efforts.
- Data Visualization: Develop high-quality data visualizations using platforms or libraries such as Matplotlib, Seaborn, or Plotly to communicate complex patterns and findings effectively.
- Collaborate with Investigative Teams: Work closely with Investigative Analysts, Enforcement Support personnel, and FinCEN Program Managers to provide analytical support to cases involving violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and 31 C.F.R. Chapter X regulations.
- Assist in assessing illicit activities, including money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and similar financial crimes.
- Analyze transactional data, such as blockchain payments, correspondent accounts, and other financial systems, to uncover fraudulent behaviors, typologies, and violative activities.