Kikoff Logo

Kikoff

Head of Data

Reposted 4 Days Ago
Be an Early Applicant
Hybrid
San Francisco, CA, USA
398K-486K Annually
Expert/Leader
Hybrid
San Francisco, CA, USA
398K-486K Annually
Expert/Leader
As Head of Data at Kikoff, you will lead data strategy and execution, manage a growing team, and drive business impact through data science initiatives. You'll partner with senior leadership, oversee ML model lifecycles, and ensure data quality and governance standards while translating complex business problems into actionable data science workflows.
The summary above was generated by AI

Kikoff: The Fintech Powering Financial Security at Scale
Kikoff is a profitable, pre-IPO fintech company on a mission to empower everyone to achieve financial security. With record revenue growth in 2025 and a unicorn valuation, we've built a suite of products that help millions of people build credit, access liquidity, and save money.
We're scaling fast. Join us if you want to build something meaningful and help millions of people move forward financially.


Why Kikoff:

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business AND have real-life real-customer impact.

About the Role

As Head of Data, you will own the data strategy and execution across the organization. You will set the technical direction, build the management structure, and be a direct partner to senior leadership on the decisions that matter most to the business.

This is not a hands-off role. You will be close to the models, close to the data, and close to the business.

In This Role, You WillLead and Grow the Team
  • Manage, coach, and develop a team of 15+ data scientists and engineers, including direct reports who are themselves managing ICs
  • Own the hiring plan to grow the team to ~25 by end of year, including hiring and developing managers who can each own a sub-domain of the work
  • Set a high bar for technical rigor, ownership, and business impact across the team
Own the Data Science Strategy
  • Define and execute the data science roadmap across credit risk, growth, product analytics, and fraud
  • Own the full ML model lifecycle: scoping, development, validation, deployment, monitoring, and governance
  • Maintain best practices for experimentation design, causal inference, A/B testing, and statistical analysis across the company
  • Ensure data science output is production-grade, well-documented, and auditable.
Drive Business Impact
  • Translate complex business problems into actionable data science workstreams
  • Partner with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Risk, and Finance leadership as a peer — not a service function
  • Present findings and recommendations directly to executive leadership
Own the Data Foundation
  • Oversee data engineering and internal pipeline work that supports model development and analytics
  • Partner with Engineering to evolve the data infrastructure as the company scales
  • Drive data quality, reliability, and governance standards across the organization
You Have
  • 10+ years of experience in data science, applied ML, or product analytics — with substantial time in consumer-facing, data-intensive businesses
  • 7+ years leading data science teams, including direct experience managing managers — you have built an org that does not depend on you for every decision
  • Demonstrated experience scaling a data team through a growth phase: you have hired managers, and you know how to grow a team without losing quality or culture
  • Deep technical fluency in ML modeling, statistical inference, causal analysis, and experimentation — you can engage at the model level when it matters
  • A track record of translating data science work into product and business decisions that moved the needle at the executive level
  • The ability to make your team better every day: through clarity of goals, honest feedback, and building trust with strong practitioners
  • Strong command of Python or R, SQL, and modern cloud data platforms
  • Experience owning model governance and the full model lifecycle in a production environment
Nice to Have
  • Experience in consumer credit, risk underwriting, or fraud modeling
  • Familiarity with regulatory and model governance expectations in consumer lending
  • Experience with BI and data tools such as Metabase, Looker, dbt, Airflow, or Fivetran
  • Experience managing data engineering teams or working closely with data infrastructure
What We're Like

Scrappy. We move fast and build what we need, not what sounds impressive. We don't cut corners when they matter, and we don't over-engineer when they don't.

Risk-oriented. We make tradeoffs deliberately. A mature team knows the difference between a bet worth taking and one that isn't.

Data-obsessed. We all look at data, pull it, and believe that understanding the mechanics yields real insight. You will be surrounded by people who think this way.

Humble. We know this journey has required timing, circumstance, and the right people showing up. We are grateful, and we don't take it for granted.

Base Range
$398,000$486,000 USD

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Kikoff Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

Please reference the following for more information.

HQ

Kikoff San Francisco, California, USA Office

We’re headquartered in the Financial District of San Francisco where public transit is just a short walk away at Embarcadero Station.

Similar Jobs

3 Days Ago
In-Office or Remote
Senior level
Senior level
Financial Services
Lead a data science organisation to create commercial value from data via propensity, NBA, LTV and Gen-AI models. Define roadmap, ensure regulatory compliance, deploy and monitor models, build personalised client insights/nudges across digital channels, drive automation and operational efficiencies, and recruit and mentor a high-performing analytics team while partnering with stakeholders to deliver measurable revenue and retention outcomes.
Top Skills: AWSAzureClouderaCrm SystemsGCPGen-AiMachine LearningOpen DataOpen FinancePower BIPythonRSigmaSnowflakeSQLTableauTeradata
4 Days Ago
In-Office
San Francisco, CA, USA
150K-300K Annually
Senior level
150K-300K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Healthtech • Machine Learning • Software
Lead and scale data partnerships by identifying, negotiating, and managing relationships with health systems, payers, registries, and data vendors. Build partner pipeline, outbound motion, CRM, diligence processes, and success metrics. Align data acquisition with research and engineering needs, handle legal/privacy/governance discussions, and manage operational tasks to secure high-quality healthcare datasets for AI research.
Top Skills: ClaimsClinical NotesCRMDe-IdentificationEhrFhirHl7ImagingLabsRegistriesRwdTokenization
12 Days Ago
Hybrid
San Francisco, CA, USA
Senior level
Senior level
Angel or VC Firm
Lead a small senior data team to deliver attribution, incrementality, LTV/CAC, segmentation, forecasting, and experimentation. Own measurement of cross-product flywheels, guide data platform investments, embed experimentation, and partner with executives to influence capital allocation and GTM decisions while doing hands-on analysis.
Top Skills: PythonSnowflakeSQL

What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene

San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.

Key Facts About San Francisco Tech

  • Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
  • Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
  • Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
  • Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
  • Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
  • Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account