Socure Inc.

Head of Data Science - Document Verification & Biometrics

Socure Inc.$150K — $200K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Advanced degree (MS/PhD preferred) in Computer Science or related field
  • 10+ years of experience in data science or applied AI
  • Deep expertise in computer vision and multimodal AI
  • Proven experience building domain-specific foundation models
  • Strong understanding of biometric systems and anti-spoofing techniques
  • Experience with vector databases
  • Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch)

Responsibilities

  • Own and define the data science vision for document verification and biometrics
  • Lead and scale a high-performing team of data scientists and researchers
  • Architect and deploy state-of-the-art computer vision systems
  • Drive the development of domain-specific foundation models
  • Lead the transition to intelligent agent systems for verification workflows
  • Advance fraud detection capabilities including deepfake and counterfeit detection
  • Represent Socure externally as a thought leader in biometrics and fraud prevention

Benefits

  • Work on industry-defining problems at the intersection of AI and security
  • Build cutting-edge systems in computer vision and autonomous agents
  • Join a high-caliber team that values ownership and innovation
  • Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits
  • Opportunity to shape the future of digital identity globally
Full Job Description
About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional and forward-thinking leader to drive the next generation of AI-powered Document Verification and Biometrics solutions. This role owns the end-to-end data science strategy and execution across document understanding, facial biometrics, and reusable identity systems, powering seamless and secure identity experiences.

You will lead the evolution from traditional computer vision systems to foundation model-driven, agentic architectures, tackling increasingly sophisticated threats such as deepfakes, presentation attacks, and counterfeit documents. This role demands a leader who operates with strong ownership, moves decisively, and consistently pushes the boundary of what is possible in applied AI.

What You'll Do
  • Own and define the data science vision for Document Verification, Biometrics, and Reusable ID, delivering step-function improvements in accuracy, speed, and user experience.
  • Lead and scale a high-performing team of data scientists and applied researchers, setting a high standard for execution, innovation, and accountability.
  • Architect and deploy state-of-the-art computer vision and multimodal systems, including vision-language models (VLMs), for document understanding, face matching, liveness detection, and identity verification.
  • Drive the development of domain-specific foundation models tailored to identity, documents, and biometrics, leveraging large-scale proprietary datasets.
  • Lead the transition to agentic systems, building intelligent agents that can reason over document and biometric signals, automate verification workflows, and adapt dynamically to new fraud patterns.
  • Advance fraud and attack detection capabilities, including deepfake detection, presentation attack detection, and counterfeit document detection.
  • Design and implement secure and robust systems resilient to emerging threats such as prompt injection and adversarial attacks on multimodal and agent-based systems.
  • Leverage vector databases and embedding systems to power similarity search, identity linking, and reusable identity experiences.
  • Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Risk teams to deliver scalable, production-grade solutions that meet both business and regulatory requirements.
  • Drive rapid experimentation and deployment, balancing innovation with reliability, explainability, and compliance.
  • Own customer communication and stakeholder management, serving as a trusted technical leader in engagements with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders; clearly articulate model behavior, agentic systems, performance trade-offs, and roadmap decisions while building strong, long-term relationships.
  • Represent Socure externally as a thought leader in biometrics, document AI, and fraud prevention.


What You Bring
  • Advanced degree (MS/PhD preferred) in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Machine Learning, or a related field.
  • 10+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied AI, with a strong track record of building and deploying production systems.
  • Deep expertise in computer vision and multimodal AI, including experience with vision-language models (VLMs).
  • Proven experience building domain-specific foundation models or large-scale representation learning systems.
  • Strong understanding of biometric systems, including face recognition, liveness detection, and anti-spoofing techniques.
  • Experience detecting and mitigating deepfakes, presentation attacks, and counterfeit documents.
  • Strong understanding of agentic system design, including agent skills, orchestration/harness frameworks, and real-world deployment of autonomous or human-in-the-loop agents.
  • Experience with vector databases and embedding-based retrieval systems.
  • Strong awareness of emerging attack vectors, including prompt injection, adversarial inputs, and model exploitation techniques.
  • Proven ability to lead and scale high-performing teams while delivering under ambiguity and tight timelines.
  • Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch).
  • Proven ability to engage with customers and external stakeholders, clearly explaining complex AI systems, trade-offs, and outcomes to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Experience representing organizations in customer-facing discussions, executive briefings, or public speaking engagements is strongly preferred.


What's Ahead: Areas of Innovation
  • Agentic Document Verification systems that can reason, adapt, and automate complex verification workflows
  • Deepfake detection at scale, across images, video, and multimodal inputs
  • Injection and adversarial attack detection for multimodal and agent-based systems
  • Agentic red teaming, proactively identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in AI systems
  • Reusable identity platforms, enabling seamless and secure identity reuse across channels
What You'll Get
  • Work on industry-defining problems at the intersection of AI, identity, and security
  • Build cutting-edge systems spanning computer vision, multimodal AI, and autonomous agents
  • Join a fast-moving, high-caliber team that values ownership and innovation
  • Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits
  • Opportunity to shape the future of digital identity globally


Please note that we can only hire within ~45 miles of San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Miami, and DC. We are unable to provide sponsorship support now or in the future.

About Socure Inc.

Socure is a New York-based technology company that provides digital identity verification services. The company's products use artificial intelligence and machine learning to verify the identities of individuals in real-time. Socure's customers include financial institutions, online marketplaces, and other businesses that need to verify the identities of their users. The company was founded in 2012 by Sunil Madhu and Johnny Ayers and has raised over $70 million in funding to date.
Learn more about Socure Inc.
Size
250 employees
Industry
Founded
2012

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