AI maturity
scaling
Head of AI/ML
Head of Data / VP of Data Science
Kikoff · Financial Services / Consumer Fintech · 📍 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.
Reports to
CTO
Company stage
scale-up
Source
linkedin
Key responsibilities
- Own data science strategy and roadmap across credit risk, growth, product analytics, and fraud
- Lead, coach, and grow a team of 15+ data scientists and engineers including managing managers
- Drive full ML model lifecycle: scoping, development, validation, deployment, monitoring, and governance
- Oversee data engineering, pipeline infrastructure, data quality, and reliability standards
- Present findings and strategic recommendations directly to executive leadership
Requirements
- 10+ years in data science, applied ML, or product analytics in consumer-facing, data-intensive businesses
- 7+ years leading data science teams including direct experience managing managers
- Demonstrated experience scaling a data org through a high-growth phase
- Hands-on technical depth — close to models and data, not purely managerial
- Experience with ML model governance, experimentation design, causal inference, and A/B testing
Signals
- ⚠ No salary range posted — unusual for a senior SF fintech role and may indicate negotiation leverage imbalance
- ⚠ Role reposted: identical posting appeared in company history (2026-05-30), suggesting prior search stalled or candidate fell through
- ⚠ Job description text appears truncated at the end ('...scaling a data team through a growth') — possible copy-paste error signals rushed posting
- ✓ Profitable company with unicorn valuation and record 2025 revenue — real financial stability for a pre-IPO scale-up
- ✓ Existing team of 15+ already in place — not a greenfield build
- ✓ Clear mandate and budget: explicit hiring plan to ~25 headcount by EOY
- ✓ Well-defined scope across credit risk, fraud, growth, and product analytics
- ✓ Executive-level visibility: direct partner to senior leadership and C-suite
- ✓ Pre-IPO equity upside in a profitable, high-growth fintech
Company history
Same role posted at least twice — the May 2026 posting matches this one almost verbatim. This strongly suggests the prior search did not close successfully, either a candidate declined, a hire did not work out quickly, or the role scope changed. Candidates should probe why the seat is open and what happened with the previous search.