Role Overview for VP, Platform Engineering with a FinTech Unicorn – New York, NY
JRG Partners is proud to partner exclusively with a trailblazing FinTech unicorn that is fundamentally reshaping the landscape of global finance. Valued at over $10 billion and backed by premier venture capital firms, our client is on a mission to democratize financial services through a suite of innovative, user-centric products. With millions of transactions processed daily and a rapidly expanding global user base, the reliability, scalability, and security of their underlying technology platform are paramount to their continued success. We are seeking a transformative, visionary, and deeply technical leader to join their executive team as the Vice President of Platform Engineering, based in their state-of-the-art headquarters in New York, NY.
This is not just an infrastructure role; it is a strategic leadership position with a mandate to build the technological foundation that will support the company’s ambitious growth for the next decade. The VP of Platform Engineering will own the entire technology stack that empowers hundreds of product engineers to build, ship, and operate software with velocity, confidence, and unparalleled quality.
You will be responsible for the holistic vision, strategy, and execution across all core platform domains, including Cloud Infrastructure, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Developer Experience (DevEx), and CI/CD. You will lead a multi-layered organization of talented engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, operational excellence, and psychological safety. Your success will be measured by the stability of the platform, the productivity of the engineering organization, and your ability to architect a system that is both resilient and adaptable to the fast-paced, highly regulated world of financial technology.
The ideal candidate is a seasoned engineering executive who has successfully scaled a platform organization within a high-growth tech or FinTech company. You are as comfortable discussing long-term architectural strategy with the CTO as you are diving into the details of a post-mortem with your SRE team. You believe that a world-class developer platform is a key competitive advantage and are passionate about creating an environment where engineers can do their best work. If you are a leader who thrives on complex challenges, is driven to build highly reliable systems, and wants to make a lasting impact on a category-defining company, we encourage you to apply.
Key Responsibilities of VP, Platform Engineering with a FinTech Unicorn – New York, NY
As the Vice President of Platform Engineering, you will be entrusted with the critical responsibility of ensuring our client’s technological backbone is robust, scalable, and secure. Your duties will be broad and impactful, encompassing strategic direction, team leadership, and technical oversight.
Strategic Vision & Technical Roadmap
Define and articulate a compelling long-term vision and strategy for the Platform Engineering organization. Develop and maintain a clear, data-driven roadmap that aligns with product goals, business objectives, and emerging technology trends. Champion this vision across the entire company, from the engineering floor to the boardroom.
Organizational Leadership & Talent Development
Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing organization composed of multiple teams, including Cloud Infrastructure, SRE, Developer Productivity, and Platform Tooling. Attract, hire, and retain top-tier engineering talent. Foster a world-class engineering culture rooted in collaboration, ownership, blameless post-mortems, and continuous improvement.
Cloud Infrastructure & Scalability
Oversee the architecture, design, and management of a multi-region, cloud-native infrastructure, primarily on AWS or GCP. Ensure the platform can seamlessly scale to handle exponential growth in user traffic, data volume, and transaction throughput while maintaining impeccable performance.
Site Reliability & Operational Excellence
Champion and implement Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles across the entire engineering organization. Define and enforce Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Lead the incident response and management process, ensuring rapid resolution and driving preventative measures through rigorous, blameless post-mortem analysis.
Developer Experience & Velocity
Create a world-class internal developer platform that maximizes engineer productivity and satisfaction. Own the entire developer lifecycle, including CI/CD pipelines, build systems, testing frameworks, and deployment strategies. Strive to create a paved road that makes it easy for engineers to do the right thing by default.
Security, Governance, & Compliance
Partner closely with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to embed security into every layer of the platform. Implement robust security controls, automated compliance checks, and governance policies to meet the stringent requirements of the financial industry (e.g., SOC 2, PCI DSS, GDPR).
Financial & Vendor Management
Own and manage the multi-million dollar cloud infrastructure budget. Drive FinOps initiatives to optimize cloud spend and improve cost efficiency without compromising performance or reliability. Manage relationships and negotiate contracts with key technology vendors and partners.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Serve as a key partner to leaders in Product Engineering, Data, Security, and Product Management. Build strong relationships to ensure the platform meets the evolving needs of the business and provides a stable, efficient foundation for all product development.
Requirements for the VP, Platform Engineering with a FinTech Unicorn – New York, NY
We are seeking an exceptional leader with a proven track record of building and scaling world-class engineering platforms. The ideal candidate will possess a unique blend of deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and inspirational leadership.
Executive Leadership Experience
A minimum of 15 years of experience in technology, with at least 7 years in a senior leadership capacity (e.g., VP, Senior Director) managing managers and leading an organization of 50+ engineers in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
Deep Technical Expertise
Hands-on experience and architectural mastery of modern cloud-native ecosystems. This includes public cloud providers (AWS strongly preferred), container orchestration using cloud native technologies like Kubernetes, infrastructure as code (Terraform, Pulumi), and robust observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, distributed tracing).
FinTech or Regulated Industry Experience
Significant experience working within the FinTech, banking, or another highly regulated industry is strongly preferred. You must have a deep appreciation for the security, compliance, and reliability standards required when dealing with sensitive financial data.
Proven Scaling Success
A demonstrated track record of scaling a platform and its supporting teams through hyper-growth. You have seen what it takes to evolve an architecture from supporting thousands of users to tens of millions.
SRE Mindset
A profound understanding of and passion for SRE principles. You have successfully implemented SLOs, error budgets, and a culture of reliability engineering in a previous role.
Inspirational Leader & Culture Builder
You are a servant leader who is passionate about mentoring and developing talent. You have a history of building diverse, inclusive, and high-trust teams that are motivated and engaged.
Strategic & Business Acumen
The ability to think strategically and translate complex business needs into a clear technical roadmap. You are financially savvy, with experience managing large budgets and making data-driven decisions about technology investments.
Exceptional Communication Skills
The ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly and persuasively to a variety of audiences, from individual contributors to the C-suite and Board of Directors.
Educational Background
A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field is highly desirable, though equivalent practical experience will be considered.
Benefits & Perks Offered
Our client believes that attracting and retaining the best talent requires a holistic and highly competitive compensation and benefits package. They are committed to investing in the well-being and growth of their employees.
Generous Compensation
A highly competitive base salary, a substantial annual performance-based bonus, and a life-changing equity package in a rapidly growing, pre-IPO company.
Comprehensive Health Coverage
Premium medical, dental, and vision insurance plans with 100% of premiums covered for employees and significant contributions for dependents.
Wellness & Mental Health
A generous monthly wellness stipend, access to mental health resources like Talkspace or Headspace, and company-sponsored wellness initiatives.
Retirement Planning
A 401(k) plan with a generous company match to help you plan for your future.
Flexible Time Off
An unlimited or generous paid time off (PTO) policy, complemented by company-wide holidays and paid sick leave, to ensure you have the time you need to rest and recharge.
Family Support
Comprehensive and paid parental leave for all new parents, as well as resources to support growing families.
Professional Growth
A substantial annual budget for professional development, including conferences, certifications, courses, and books to support your continuous learning.
NYC Office Perks
A beautiful, modern office in a prime Manhattan location. Daily catered lunches, a fully stocked kitchen with snacks and beverages, commuter benefits, and regular team-building events and offsites.
How to Apply
JRG Partners is the exclusive recruitment partner for this confidential search. We are seeking a leader who is ready to take on a career-defining challenge and shape the future of a FinTech powerhouse. If you have the experience, passion, and vision to lead this world-class Platform Engineering organization, we want to hear from you.
To apply for this transformative leadership role, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience. For more opportunities in executive technology leadership, we invite you to explore our Technology Officers Practice Area.
Our client is a proud equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other protected class.
