The RoleWe're hiring a Founding AI Data Scientist to help define and build the intelligence layer at the core of Grand.This is a high-impact individual contributor role with real ownership. You'll work AI-first by default, using modern tools to accelerate analysis, experimentation, and iteration. The goal is leverage: turning complex, real-world data into decisions that are reliable, explainable, and useful in practice.This is not a research lab role and not a demo factory. You'll be building AI that runs in production, influences real financial outcomes, and improves continuously over time. Judgment matters as much as modelling. Knowing where AI adds value and where it doesn't is part of the job.You'll sit close to the founders, builders and creatives teams, shaping how intelligence is designed, evaluated, and deployed across the platform. This is a seat at the founders' table, helping define how AI is applied responsibly in a regulated, real-world environment.What You'll DoDesign and build core AI and data systems that support decision-making across the platformWork with complex, imperfect, and evolving data from multiple internal and external sourcesDevelop models and signals that balance accuracy, uncertainty, and explainabilityHelp define how intelligence is represented, updated, and acted upon inside the productDecide when to use ML, statistical methods, rules, or hybrids, and whyPartner closely with product and engineering so AI is embedded in workflows, not bolted onEstablish standards for evaluation, monitoring, and iteration in productionUse modern AI tooling, including LLMs where appropriate, with a bias toward leverage over noveltyCollaborate with regulatory and compliance teams to ensure outputs are defensible and robustMove fast without being reckless, understanding the cost of false confidenceMust HaveStrong grounding in statistics, probability, and applied machine learningProven experience shipping AI or ML systems into productionExperience working with non-ideal data where ground truth is partial, delayed, or noisyComfort making trade-offs between precision, recall, confidence, and coverageAbility to reason about uncertainty and error, not just point predictionsClear communicator who can explain complex ideas to non-technical stakeholdersStrong experience with Python and modern ML toolingPractical experience working with LLMs or advanced AI systems in real applicationsBias toward building decision-support systems, not opaque black boxesHigh intellectual honesty and strong technical judgmentNice to HaveExperience building data science models or AI systems in fintech environmentsExposure to credit, underwriting, or risk decisioning in real-world settingsExperience operating in regulated or high-stakes domainsBackground working in early-stage or zero-to-one productsFamiliarity with data platforms, feature pipelines, or model monitoringExperience designing systems that evolve over time, not static modelsSalary and BenefitsExcellent Salary: Competitive and reflective of the responsibility of a founding roleEquity Options: Meaningful ownership in a long-term companyHybrid Work: At least 3 days in our London or Dublin officeExtended Remote Work on Request: Outcomes matter more than opticsBuilders, Not Tourists: Work with people who care deeply about getting things rightWho You AreYou're a builder with a scientist's discipline. You're excited by messy reality, not pristine datasets. You're skeptical of hype and careful about claims.You think in systems, not models in isolation. You understand that data reflects behaviour, incentives, and change over time. You design AI that improves gradually and fails gracefully.You've seen what breaks when models leave the lab, and you design accordingly. You take responsibility for what your work influences.You care about trust, credibility, and long-term impact more than clever tricks. You value correctness, clarity, and humility over novelty.You thrive in ambiguity, enjoy hard problems with no obvious solution, and take pride in building AI that earns its place.You're based in Dublin or in close commuting distance (or ready to be), and ready to help build something genuinely new.If this sounds like you, let's talk.