Director, Data Product Engineering

About the role

We are seeking a strategic and technically accomplished Director, Data Products Engineering to lead the architecture, engineering, and delivery of AI products, data products and scalable data solutions across our fintech and payment processing ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Drive the company’s transition toward a product-centric data operating model by building trusted, reusable, scalable, and business-aligned AI/data products that power analytics, operational intelligence, AI/ML initiatives, customer experiences, regulatory reporting, and enterprise decision-making.
• Lead teams responsible for engineering high-quality AI/data products, designing scalable data architectures, and enabling reliable enterprise data consumption at scale.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Risk, and Operations teams to define enterprise data strategies, architect scalable data solutions, and operationalize high-value AI/data products that accelerate business growth and innovation.
• Collaborate with the Data leadership team on the refinement of our strategy for Data Products Engineering and scalable data product delivery with a focus on enabling/building AI-powered solutions.
• Establish a product-centric operating model for data capabilities, emphasizing:
  • Reusable and governed data products with a focus on accelerating AI/data products
  • Domain-oriented ownership
  • Data contracts and SLAs
  • Product lifecycle management
  • Discoverability and interoperability
  • Standardized business metrics and semantic models
• Identify, prioritize, and deliver strategic data products aligned to enterprise goals.
• Create scalable enterprise data assets supporting:
  • Fraud and risk intelligence
  • Transaction analytics
  • Merchant and customer insights
  • Financial and operational reporting
  • AI/ML enablement
  • Regulatory and compliance requirements

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, Information Systems, or related field required; Master’s or PhD preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in Data, Analytics, or AI/ML organizations.
• 5+ years leading enterprise-scale analytics, data science, or AI engineering teams.
• Proven experience building scalable enterprise data products.
• Strong hands-on expertise in predictive analytics, machine learning, recommendation systems, decision intelligence, and AI-enabled analytics.
• Deep experience with modern cloud data platforms and analytical ecosystems including: Snowflake, Dataiku, Fivetran, Apache Iceberg, Looker / LookML.
• Strong technical expertise in: Python, SQL, ML frameworks and AI tooling, Cloud platforms such as AWS.
• Experience leading within complex, matrixed organizations.

Qualifications

• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills with ability to influence executive and technical audiences.
• Experience within fintech, payment processing, transaction platforms, fraud analytics, or regulated financial services.
• Experience with real-time analytics and streaming architectures.
• Familiarity with MLOps platforms, feature stores, vector databases, semantic retrieval architectures, and agentic AI frameworks.
• Knowledge of PCI, SOC2, GDPR, and financial data governance requirements.
• Experience integrating predictive AI and analytical AI capabilities with broader GenAI enterprise initiatives.

Benefits

Competitive salary and benefits with growth-company options grant
Fast-paced and professional work culture
Stock options with standard startup vesting - 1 year cliff; 4 years total
$50 monthly communication expense stipend to go towards your phone/internet bill
$250 stipend to enhance your WFH setup
Reimbursement for peripheral equipment: monitor (up to $400), keyboard and mouse (up to $200)
Premium medical benefits including vision and dental (100% coverage for employees)
Company-sponsored life and disability insurance
Paid parental bonding leave
Paid sick leave, jury duty, bereavement
401k plan
Flexible Time Off (our team members typically take off ~3-4 weeks per year)
Volunteer Time Off
13 scheduled holidays

Pay

The annual base salary range for this role represents PayNearMe's good-faith estimate of the base salary it reasonably expects to offer for this position at the time of hire. Actual compensation may vary based on factors including the candidate's experience, qualifications, skills, and work location.

Schedule

This role will remain posted until filled.