Role Overview for VP, Data Engineering with a FinTech Platform – Austin, TX
JRG Partners is proud to partner with a trailblazing, high-growth FinTech platform that is fundamentally reshaping the financial services landscape. Our client, a well-funded and rapidly scaling organization based in the vibrant tech hub of Austin, TX, is seeking a transformative leader to join their executive team as the Vice President of Data Engineering. This is a career-defining opportunity to build and lead a world-class data organization from the ground up, establishing the strategic vision and technical foundation that will power the company’s next phase of explosive growth. As the VP of Data Engineering, you will be the ultimate owner of the company’s data assets, responsible for the entire data lifecycle—from ingestion and processing to storage, security, and accessibility. Reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), you will be a pivotal member of the technology leadership team, tasked with creating a data-driven culture and delivering a highly available, scalable, and secure data platform. Your work will directly enable critical business functions, including advanced analytics, machine learning, product innovation, risk management, and regulatory compliance. This role demands a unique blend of deep technical expertise, strategic foresight, and inspirational leadership. If you are a seasoned data leader with a passion for building great teams and solving complex challenges in the FinTech space, we invite you to apply for this exceptional opportunity.
Key Responsibilities of VP, Data Engineering with a FinTech Platform – Austin, TX
The VP of Data Engineering will have a broad and impactful mandate. Your primary responsibilities will encompass strategic leadership, team development, architectural design, and operational excellence across the entire data domain. Success in this role will be measured by your ability to build a robust data platform that serves as a competitive advantage for the business.
Strategic Vision and Leadership
Develop, articulate, and execute a comprehensive, forward-looking data strategy that aligns with the company’s overarching business goals. Create a multi-year roadmap for data infrastructure, BI, analytics, and data governance. Champion data as a strategic asset across the organization and influence key decisions at the executive level.
Team Building and Mentorship
Recruit, hire, mentor, and lead a high-performing, geographically distributed team of data engineers, data architects, and BI developers. Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement. Set clear goals, provide regular feedback, and create career development paths for your team members.
Data Architecture and Platform Modernization
Lead the design, implementation, and continuous optimization of a secure, scalable, and cost-effective data platform. Oversee the architecture of data lakes, data warehouses, and data marts using cloud-native technologies. Drive the evolution of our data stack, evaluating and adopting best-in-class tools and frameworks. Your leadership will be instrumental in building out and refining our modern data stack to meet future demands.
Data Pipeline and ETL/ELT Development
Supervise the development and operation of robust, fault-tolerant data pipelines for both batch and real-time streaming data. Ensure data is ingested, transformed, and made available to downstream consumers in a timely and reliable manner. Implement best practices for data modeling, data quality, and performance tuning.
Data Governance, Security, and Compliance
Establish and enforce a comprehensive data governance framework. Define policies and procedures for data quality, data lineage, metadata management, and data access control. Partner with legal and compliance teams to ensure the data platform adheres to all relevant industry regulations, such as PCI DSS, GDPR, and CCPA.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Enablement
Act as a key partner to leaders across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Finance, and Operations. Work closely with them to understand their data requirements and deliver solutions that provide actionable insights. Empower the organization with self-service analytics capabilities and foster widespread data literacy.
Operational Excellence and Performance Management
Implement rigorous monitoring, alerting, and incident response protocols to ensure the high availability and reliability of all data systems. Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for data platform health, data quality, and pipeline performance. Drive operational efficiency and manage the cloud data infrastructure budget effectively.
Requirements for the VP, Data Engineering with a FinTech Platform – Austin, TX
We are seeking a candidate with a proven track record of leading data engineering teams in complex, high-stakes environments. The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of both technology and business strategy, with a passion for leveraging data to solve real-world problems.
Professional Experience
A minimum of 12-15 years of progressive experience in data engineering, data warehousing, or data platform development, with at least 5-7 years in a senior leadership role (Director, Senior Director, or VP) managing teams of 10 or more engineers.
Domain Expertise
Significant experience within the FinTech industry is strongly required. A deep understanding of financial data models, payment processing systems, lending platforms, risk analytics, or regulatory reporting is highly desirable.
Technical Acumen
Extensive hands-on experience designing, building, and operating large-scale data platforms on a major cloud provider (AWS preferred, GCP or Azure acceptable). Deep expertise in modern data technologies, including data warehousing (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery), data processing engines (Spark, Flink), streaming technologies (Kafka, Kinesis), and workflow orchestration tools (Airflow, Dagster, Prefect).
Architectural Leadership
Proven ability to design and implement scalable data architectures, including Lambda or Kappa architectures, data mesh concepts, and event-driven systems. Strong understanding of software engineering principles and best practices (e.g., CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code).
Inspirational Leadership
Demonstrated success in building, scaling, and motivating high-performing, inclusive engineering teams. An empathetic leader who excels at coaching and developing talent.
Strategic and Business Mindset
Ability to translate complex business requirements into a clear technical vision and roadmap. Experience managing budgets, negotiating with vendors, and presenting to executive stakeholders and board members.
Educational Background
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related quantitative field is required.
Benefits & Perks Offered
Our client offers a highly competitive compensation and benefits package designed to attract and retain top-tier talent. They are committed to providing an environment where employees can do their best work and thrive both professionally and personally.
Executive Compensation
A highly competitive base salary, a significant annual performance-based bonus, and a substantial equity package with meaningful upside potential.
Comprehensive Health and Wellness
Premium medical, dental, and vision insurance plans for you and your dependents with a majority of premiums covered by the company.
Retirement Planning
A 401(k) retirement plan with a generous company matching contribution.
Work-Life Balance
A flexible and generous Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, coupled with company-paid holidays to ensure you have time to recharge.
Family Support
Comprehensive parental leave policies for all new parents.
Professional Growth
A dedicated annual budget for professional development, including conferences, certifications, and continued education.
Relocation Support
A comprehensive relocation package is available for exceptional candidates moving to the Austin, TX area.
Exceptional Work Environment
A modern, collaborative office space in the heart of Austin, complete with catered lunches, a fully stocked kitchen, and regular team-building events.
How to Apply
JRG Partners has been exclusively retained for this critical search. If you are a visionary data leader ready to make a lasting impact on a category-defining FinTech company, we encourage you to apply. To be considered for this opportunity, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience. We look forward to reviewing your application and discussing this exciting role in more detail.
