Head of AI/ML
Head of Data / VP Data Science
Kikoff · Financial Services / Consumer Fintech · 200-500 employees · 📍 San Francisco, CA
Kikoff needs a player-coach data leader to own ML strategy, credit risk models, and a 15-person team as the company scales toward IPO.
AI Maturity
scaling
Reports To
CTO
Why Role Exists
Expansion
Company Stage
scale-up
Source
linkedin
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and scale a 15-person data science and engineering team to ~25, including hiring and developing managers
- Define and execute data science roadmap across credit risk, growth, product analytics, and fraud
- Own full ML model lifecycle: scoping, development, validation, deployment, monitoring, and governance
- Maintain company-wide standards for experimentation design, causal inference, A/B testing, and statistical analysis
- Partner with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Risk, and Finance as a senior peer — not a service function
- Oversee data engineering and pipeline infrastructure; drive data quality, reliability, and governance at scale
Requirements
- 10+ years in data science, applied ML, or product analytics in consumer-facing, data-intensive businesses
- 7+ years leading data science teams including managing managers
- Demonstrated experience scaling a data org through high-growth phases
- Hands-on fluency with ML models, experimentation frameworks, and production data systems
- Fintech or credit/risk domain experience strongly implied
Signals
- ⚠ No salary range posted — unusual for a senior exec role in SF
- ⚠ Job description cuts off mid-sentence in requirements section — suggests rushed posting
- ⚠ No explicit reporting line stated
- ✓ Company is profitable with unicorn valuation — real financial stability for a startup
- ✓ Record revenue growth in 2025 signals strong business momentum
- ✓ Team already exists at 15+ people — not a greenfield build
- ✓ Clear headcount budget to grow to ~25 indicates organizational commitment
- ✓ Pre-IPO stage means meaningful equity upside is plausible
- ✓ Role has genuine executive scope: owns strategy, hires managers, presents to leadership