Role Overview for VP, Cloud Infrastructure with a Fintech Unicorn – New York, NY
JRG Partners is exclusively representing a trailblazing, high-growth fintech unicorn in their search for a visionary Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure. This is a rare opportunity to join a category-defining company in the heart of New York City and take ownership of the technological backbone that powers a platform used by millions. Our client is reshaping the financial landscape, and they need an executive leader to build, scale, and secure the global infrastructure that will support their exponential growth for the next decade.
As the VP of Cloud Infrastructure, you will be a key member of the senior technology leadership team, reporting directly to the CTO. You will be responsible for the entirety of our client’s cloud presence, including site reliability engineering (SRE), DevOps, cloud engineering, and data infrastructure operations. You will command a significant budget and lead a talented, distributed team of engineers dedicated to building a world-class, resilient, and highly automated platform.
This is not just a technical leadership role; it is a strategic business role. You will be expected to translate business objectives into a clear technology infrastructure roadmap, ensuring that the platform’s performance, security, and scalability are not just operational metrics but key business enablers. You will be the visionary who ensures our client’s infrastructure is a competitive advantage, capable of handling massive transaction volumes, safeguarding sensitive data, and providing flawless service availability around the clock. If you are a leader who thrives on high-stakes challenges and wants to leave a lasting mark on a revolutionary company, this role is for you.
Key Responsibilities of VP, Cloud Infrastructure with a Fintech Unicorn – New York, NY
The VP of Cloud Infrastructure will have a broad and impactful mandate. Your primary duties will encompass strategic planning, team leadership, technical architecture, and operational excellence. Success in this role will be measured by the reliability, security, and efficiency of the platform.
Strategic Vision & Technical Roadmap
Develop and execute a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy for all cloud infrastructure. Define the 3-5 year roadmap for technology, architecture, and processes to support aggressive business goals, global expansion, and new product launches.
Leadership & Team Development
Lead, mentor, and grow a world-class organization of SRE, DevOps, and Cloud Engineers. Foster a culture of technical excellence, accountability, innovation, and psychological safety. Champion professional development and create clear career paths for your team members.
Architectural Excellence & Scalability
Oversee the design and implementation of a secure, highly available, and fault-tolerant multi-cloud architecture (primarily AWS and GCP). Ensure the infrastructure can scale seamlessly to support 10x user and transaction growth while maintaining low latency and high performance.
Operational Rigor & Site Reliability
Champion and embed SRE principles across the organization. Define and manage Service Level Objectives (SLOs), Service Level Indicators (SLIs), and error budgets. Lead the incident management and post-mortem processes, driving a culture of blameless learning and continuous improvement.
Security & Compliance Leadership
Partner with the CISO to implement and maintain a robust security posture across all infrastructure. Ensure adherence to the highest standards of financial industry compliance, including SOC 2, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001. Lead the infrastructure team through regular security audits and regulatory examinations.
Financial Acumen & Cost Optimization
Own and manage the multi-million dollar cloud infrastructure budget. Implement best practices for cloud financial management (FinOps) to drive efficiency and optimize spend. Lead negotiations with cloud vendors and third-party service providers to maximize value.
Automation & Developer Enablement
Drive a culture of automation across the board, eliminating manual toil and improving operational efficiency. Enhance and scale the CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices, and internal developer platforms to empower engineering teams to ship code faster and more safely.
Cross-Functional Partnership
Serve as a key strategic partner to the CTO, CISO, VP of Engineering, and product leadership. Effectively communicate complex technical strategies, risks, and trade-offs to executive stakeholders and the board of directors.
Requirements for the VP, Cloud Infrastructure with a Fintech Unicorn – New York, NY
We are seeking a seasoned executive with a deep technical background and a proven track record of leading infrastructure at scale. The ideal candidate will be both a strategic thinker and a hands-on leader who is passionate about building reliable systems and high-performing teams.
Executive Leadership Experience
15+ years of experience in technology, with at least 8 years in a senior leadership capacity (Director, Senior Director, or VP level) managing infrastructure, DevOps, or SRE teams. Demonstrable experience scaling teams in a high-growth, fast-paced tech environment is essential.
Technical Depth
Expert-level knowledge of modern cloud architecture and public cloud platforms (AWS is a must; GCP or Azure is a plus). Deep familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation), CI/CD tooling (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Spinnaker), and observability platforms (Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana).
Fintech or Regulated Industry Experience
Significant experience working within the fintech, banking, or another highly regulated industry is strongly preferred. A thorough understanding of the security, compliance, and data privacy challenges unique to financial services is critical for success.
Proven Scalability Success
A demonstrated track record of architecting and managing infrastructure for a large-scale, high-traffic platform. You must be able to speak in detail about past experiences with scaling challenges, system design for high availability, and disaster recovery planning.
Strong Business & Financial Acumen
Experience managing large operational budgets, driving cost-optimization initiatives, and effectively communicating the business value and ROI of infrastructure investments to non-technical stakeholders.
Exceptional Communication Skills
The ability to articulate a clear and compelling vision, influence peers and executives, and inspire your team. You must be as comfortable in a boardroom presentation as you are in a deep-dive architectural review.
Educational Background
A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field is required.
Benefits & Perks Offered
Our client believes in investing in their people and provides a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, well-being, and financial future.
Competitive Compensation
A highly competitive base salary, annual performance bonus, and a substantial equity package in a pre-IPO unicorn.
Comprehensive Health Coverage
Premium medical, dental, and vision insurance plans with 100% of premiums covered for you and your dependents.
Retirement Planning
A 401(k) plan with a generous company match to help you save for the future.
Flexible Time Off
An unlimited paid time off policy, encouraging you to take the time you need to rest and recharge.
Family Support
Generous paid parental leave for all new parents.
Wellness & Development
A significant annual stipend for wellness, professional development, conferences, and continued education.
Office Perks
A modern office in a prime NYC location with catered daily lunches, a fully stocked kitchen, and commuter benefits.
How to Apply
If you are ready to take on this career-defining challenge and lead the infrastructure of a company that is changing the future of finance, we want to hear from you. JRG Partners specializes in connecting elite technology executives with transformative opportunities.
Please submit your application to be considered for this exclusive role. To learn more about our expertise in this domain, please visit our Fintech Executive Search practice area. We look forward to reviewing your qualifications.
