Senior Fraud Research Analyst

We evaluate what to pursue, craft strategies to maximize impact, and help teams deliver market success. We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam. Our Fraud team's mission is to help companies detect and prevent fraud using Plaid's financial network data. We believe that transaction patterns, device signals, identity linkages, and behavioral data are dramatically underleveraged tools in fraud prevention. Our products — including Protect and Signal — operate at network scale and depend on real-world investigation and research to stay ahead of adaptive adversaries. As a Senior Fraud Researcher, you will sit at the intersection of live fraud investigation, applied data science, and product innovation. You will lead complex investigations, translate findings into detection improvements, and collaborate tightly with Data Science, ML, and Product teams to shape the next generation of Plaid's fraud capabilities. This is not a purely operational role — your research directly drives features, model inputs, and product design. Responsibilities Live Fraud Investigation & Reconstruction Lead investigations into complex fraud cases across identities, accounts, devices, and transaction surfacesProvide support to day-to-day fraud operations including SEVs and alert triageReconstruct attacker sequences and hypothesize actor intent and toolingDistill patterns from noisy signals into clear narratives and actionable insightsBridge investigation outcomes to product and model improvements Signal & Tool Utilization at Scale Operate across Plaid's fraud tooling — dashboards, alerting systems, network signals, and analytics platforms — to detect and validate anomaliesStress-test existing capabilities, identify systemic gaps, and define new detection primitivesProactively identify gaps in internal fraud tooling and automation, driving enhancements to improve efficiency and scale Product & Model Partnership Collaborate with Data Science, ML/AI, and Product teams to improve labeling, feature sets, evaluation frameworks, and model decay monitoringSurface data quality limitations and systematically formalize missing featuresTranslate exploratory research into reusable feature pipelines, model inputs, or rule augmentationsParticipate in product discovery, roadmap planning, and post-launch evaluation to ensure fraud-awareness by design Deep Applied Fraud Research Conduct longitudinal and structural analysis of how fraud types manifest in Plaid network data — entity linkages, temporal patterns, attack rotations, tool chainsExperiment with network/graph analysis, sequence mining, anomaly detection, and custom heuristics where off-the-shelf approaches fail Ecosystem Monitoring & Knowledge Leadership Continuously survey external fraud trends, adversary techniques, tooling, and emerging threat vectorsProactively perform threat modeling of abuse surfaces and initiate research proposals when patterns emerge Case Studies & Reporting Produce clear, evidence-backed technical reports and case studies for product, engineering, operations, legal, and executive stakeholdersDocument investigation workflows, attack classifications, and proof-of-concept detection logicDrive post-incident learning by capturing lessons from fraud incidents and feeding them back into defenses Qualifications 3+ years of applied fraud experience in a high-velocity environment (fintech, consumer payments, banking, SaaS, marketplace risk, or security research)Investigator mindset: pattern synthesis, hypothesis testing, and skilled triage between signal and noiseEnd-to-end investigation experience reconstructing attacker intent and behavior in multi-step attack sequences across accounts, devices, and identitiesPost-containment incident response experience with a deep emphasis on post-mortems and root cause analysisDark and grey-web navigation and investigation experience; ability to assess source credibility and translate external intelligence into actionable insightsStrong communication: ability to explain complex, ambiguous behavior to technical and non-technical audiencesTool fluency with data environments and investigative toolchains (BI tools, anomaly detection, case trackers) Preferred SQL for deep data querying and exploratory analysisPython for scripting, rapid prototyping, and analytical workflowsGraph/network analysis experience to detect linked behavioral structures or actor networksFamiliarity with rule engines, signal gating, and large-scale monitoring systemsExperience applying AI tools and agents to accelerate investigations and research workflowsAbility to translate fraud research into actionable signals, rules, or labeled datasets that improve model performance Nice to Have Fraud domain certifications (e.g., CFE)Prior work on consumer identity, payments, or risk platform developmentExposure to production ML model lifecycles and metrics for drift/decayExperience improving internal fraud tooling, automation, or case management systems Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid! Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations@plaid.com. Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here. Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans. $139,000.00 - $191,400.00 per year Other opportunities London Office Product Manager - Europe See role New York City Office Fraud Solutions Consultant See role San Francisco HQ, New York City Office Product Manager, Account Verification See role New York City Office, San Francisco HQ Product Manager, Fraud Data See role San Francisco HQ Product Manager See role San Francisco HQ Product Manager See role San Francisco HQ Senior Product Manager, Consumer See role San Francisco HQ Staff Product Manager - Fraud See role New York City Office, San Francisco HQ Senior Product Manager, Credit See role New York City Office, San Francisco HQ Senior Product Manager, Financial Management See role San Francisco HQ, New York City Office Staff Product Manager - AI Foundations See role