Head of Data & AI Engineering, Financial Services

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Head of Data & AI Engineering, Financial Services

Fractal is a strategic AI partner to Fortune 500 companies, with a bold vision: to power every human decision in the enterprise. We believe the future belongs to organizations that combine human imagination with intelligent systems—and Fractalites are the ones building that future. As we scale our Financial Services & Insurance (FSI) practice in the United States, we are looking for a senior, client-facing Head of Engineering to shape and deliver world-class Data & AI platforms for leading banks and insurers.

This is not a back-office engineering role. This is a consulting-led, client-facing engineering leadership position for someone who is equally comfortable whiteboarding architecture with principal engineers, rolling up their sleeves with delivery teams, and advising CIOs, CTOs, and CDOs in the boardroom.

Learn more at Fractal | Intelligence for Imagination.

Location: New York, NY

Note: This position is not eligible for Immigration Sponsorship at this time.

About The Role

As Head of Engineering for FSI, you will own the engineering strategy and delivery of large-scale Data, AI, and GenAI platforms serving Fortune 500 banks, insurers, and payments organizations. You will sit at the intersection of architecture, delivery, and executive partnership, ensuring that ambitious business goals are translated into secure, scalable, and production-grade technology.

You will:

• Shape and deliver enterprise Data & AI platforms in highly regulated environments (banking and insurance), spanning modern Lakehouse architectures, real-time and event-driven pipelines, and GenAI-enabled systems.

• Partner directly with client executives (CIO, CTO, CDO, Chief Digital/Data Officers) to define technical roadmaps, guide modernization strategy, and connect technology investments to clear business outcomes.

• Lead hands-on engineering execution: set standards, review and influence architecture, remove delivery bottlenecks, and raise the bar on quality, reliability, and velocity across multiple programs.

• Build, hire, and coach high-performing teams, creating strong engineering culture, discipline, and leadership depth across geographies.

• Own platform integrity in regulated environments, ensuring security, compliance, governance, and resilience are built in by design—not bolted on later.

• Industrialize AI and GenAI: help clients move from experimentation to enterprise-scale impact through robust MLOps, model monitoring, governance, and lifecycle management.

What Makes This Role Compelling

• True influence at scale: You will shape mission-critical platforms that power growth, efficiency, risk management, and customer experience for some of the world’s largest financial institutions.

• Depth + altitude: This role is senior enough to influence the C-suite, while staying close to architecture decisions and real delivery.

• End-to-end ownership: From strategy and platform design to execution and operationalization, you will own outcomes—not just recommendations.

• AI-first mandate: You will lead the adoption of advanced analytics, GenAI, and decision intelligence across the full financial services value chain.

• A values-driven company: Fractal is consistently recognized as a Great Place to Work, with a culture built around curiosity, diversity, and long-term thinking.

Candidate Profile

Must-Haves

• Consulting experience is required: management consulting, digital consulting, or equivalent client-services engineering leadership roles.

• Proven experience building and scaling modern Data & AI platforms in regulated industries—specifically banking and/or insurance.

• Deep cloud-native architecture expertise across one or more Hyperscalers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, GCP), including enterprise modernization programs.

• Executive-level client leadership: demonstrated ability to partner directly with CIO/CTO/CDO stakeholders and translate strategy into delivery.

• Strong engineering leadership credentials: experience hiring, developing, and running high-performing teams with rigorous delivery standards.

Strong Preferences

• Former or current Principal / Solutions Architects or Enterprise Architects at Hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) who have led FSI or Insurance platform programs end-to-end.

• Demonstrated platform pattern depth: Lakehouse architectures, event-driven systems, real-time data pipelines, governance frameworks, MLOps, and model monitoring.

• A clear product-owner mindset: ability to balance vision with pragmatism, define roadmaps, and measure impact.

• Approximately 15–20 years of experience—seasoned enough to influence senior executives while remaining close to technical decision-making.

• Commitment to building diverse, inclusive teams across backgrounds and geographies; avoids over-indexing on any single network or profile.

Financial Services at Fractal

Fractal Financial Services practice partners with banks, insurers, asset managers, and payments providers to drive growth, efficiency, and resilience using Enterprise AI and GenAI. Our work spans:

• Retail and Commercial Banking: personalized experiences, intelligent decisioning, and operational scale.

• Asset & Wealth Management: portfolio intelligence, advisory enablement, and holistic financial planning.

• Payments: authorization, settlement, tokenization, fraud prevention, and risk controls.

We help clients modernize data foundations, operationalize advanced analytics, and deploy GenAI across front-, middle-, and back-office functions—moving from experimentation to real-world impact.

Who Thrives Here

The Fractalite mindset is curious, rigorous, and impact driven. You will thrive in this role if you:

• Enjoy being client-facing and accountable for outcomes.

• Are comfortable navigating ambiguity, scale, and complex stakeholder environments.

• Believe great platforms come from strong engineering culture plus disciplined execution.

• See AI not as a novelty, but as a core enterprise capability that must be engineered responsibly.

Join us as Head of Engineering and help redefine how financial services institutions design, build, and operate Data & AI platforms that matter.

Pay:

The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.  The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled.  At Fractal, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.  A reasonable estimate of the current salary range is up to $300,000. In addition, you may be eligible for a discretionary bonus for the current performance period.

Benefits:

As a full-time employee of the company or as an hourly employee working more than 30 hours per week, you will be eligible to participate in the health, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability plans in accordance with the plan documents, which may be amended from time to time.  You will be eligible for benefits on the first day of employment with the Company.  In addition, you are eligible to participate in the Company 401(k) Plan after 30 days of employment, in accordance with the applicable plan terms.   The Company provides 11 paid holidays and 12 weeks of Parental Leave. We also follow a “free time” PTO policy, allowing you the flexibility to take the time needed for either sick time or vacation.

Fractal provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!