Director of Data Science

About KOHO

We're on a mission to make financial services better for every Canadian. That means no hidden fees, no predatory interest rates - just financial products designed to help our users spend smart, save more, and build real wealth. We're a performance organization with a strong heart: we care deeply about outcomes, and everything ties back to our mission - to financially empower a generation of Canadians.

At KOHO, we're not your average 9-5. We believe real impact comes from people who are trusted, empowered, and supported to do their best work - without sacrificing their lives to do it. We prioritize work-life integration, not just work-life balance. That means asynchronous collaboration, flexible hours, and a remote-first setup built around autonomy and high trust.

KOHO is entering its next chapter - leaner, smarter, more AI-integrated. We're building for impact, not bureaucracy. If you thrive in environments that value clarity, ownership, and bold thinking, you'll fit right in.

About the Role

We are looking for a Director of Data Science to lead our end-to-end data technology organization. This is a pure technology leadership role—you will not be responsible for business analytics or analytics engineering. Instead, you will own the systems, pipelines, and models that power our product and platform.

Reporting to the VP of Technology, you will lead a diverse team of Managers, Staff Developers, Senior Developers, and Data Scientists across four critical pillars: Data Engineering, Generative AI, Data Science, and MLOps.

As a Director at KOHO, you are a senior leader expected to operate fully autonomously. You thrive in environments where instructions may be as vague as "Figure out our GenAI strategy" or "Scale our real-time fraud models," and you have the judgment to translate those one-liners into functional plans, architectural decisions, and high-performance teams.

Scope & Influence

You will direct the activities of multiple integrated technical departments, managing through lower management (Senior Development Managers, or Development Managers) as well as directly guiding high-level individual contributors (Staff Developers).

• Team Composition: You will manage a variety of levels including Managers, Staff Developers, Senior Developers, and Developers.

• Scale: You will oversee a significant portion of our tech organization (typically 20-50 people total), creating an environment where engineers can do their best work.

• Strategic Impact: You will contribute to the development of the broader Technology department strategy. Many of your choices will be "Type 1" decisions—irreversible or nearly irreversible architectural and organizational choices that will shape KOHO for years.

Core Responsibilities1. Masters Technology (Tech Strategy)

• Vision: Drive the long-term technical strategy for Data Engineering, GenAI, and MLOps. You bring knowledge from outside KOHO to build the best systems inside KOHO.

• Innovation: Lead the adoption of Generative AI and advanced ML techniques, ensuring we are not just following trends but solving real user problems with cutting-edge tech.

• Stack Ownership: Own the vision for our data tech stack—deciding what pieces we should change, depreciate, or double down on.

2. Leads Systems (Architecture & Reliability)

• Operational Excellence: You understand the scaling limits of your services. You ensure regular load tests and operational readiness reviews are conducted so we know proactively when things are going to break.

• Architecture: Evolve system architecture to support future requirements (e.g., real-time inference, massive data ingestion) and define related SLAs.

• End-to-End Ownership: You are responsible for the entire lifecycle of data production—from ingestion (Data Engineering) to model development (Data Science) to deployment and monitoring (MLOps).

3. Leads a Domain (People & Culture)

• Manager of Managers: You will grow effective leaders within your organization, delegating leadership responsibilities to amplify impact.

• Calibration & Performance: Own the calibration and performance review process for your department. You ensure high performance is recognized and low performance is managed.

• Hiring: Drive department-level hiring initiatives, including tech contractor management and defining the interview process for data roles.

• Culture: Act as a leader in the company and a link between the CTO/VP and development teams. You reinforce the culture of the tech department and empower people to drive engagement.

4. Defines Process (Agility & Discipline)

• Process Maturity: Define the right processes for each team's maturity level, balancing agility with the discipline required for managing financial data and production ML systems.

• Stakeholder Management: You interact with senior management and executives, often negotiating matters of significance. You translate vague business requirements into clear technical deliverables for your teams.

5. Influences Community

• Internal: Author posts on our tech blog and encourage your team to do so.

• External: Participate in wider community events, speaking at conferences and meetups to elevate KOHO's engineering brand.

• Open Source: Encourage contributions to the open-source community, either by contributing back to projects we use or open-sourcing our own tools.

Who You Are

• You are a Builder: You have deep technical roots in Data Engineering, Software Engineering, or Machine Learning. You are not just a people manager; you can debate architecture with Staff Engineers and understand the complexities of MLOps pipelines.

• You are Autonomous: You don't need a roadmap handed to you. When faced with a complex issue where problems are not clearly defined, you can effectively structure a solution and assemble the right team to deliver it.

• You are a Leader of Leaders: You have experience managing managers and senior ICs. You know how to guide a Staff Engineer's career track differently than a Development Manager's.

• You Understand the Distinction: You understand that this is not a Head of Data Analytics role. You are excited about building the engine, not just reading the dashboard.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading large-scale data or engineering organizations (managing managers).

• Deep technical expertise in Python, MLOps frameworks, and Cloud Data Architecture (AWS/GCP).

• Experience deploying Generative AI or Large Language Models (LLMs) in a production environment.

• Strong background in Data Engineering fundamentals (pipelines, warehouses, real-time streaming).

• Experience with "Type 1" strategic decision-making regarding technology choices and organizational structure.

What's in it for you?

• Opportunity to shape the future of fintech and financially empower a generation of Canadians

• Competitive compensation & equity

• Fantastic, Deeply Engaged Team (check out our engagement scores here)

• Generous vacation + Wellness days + Flex Days + holiday closure

• Remote-first environment + coworking support + yearly all hands retreat

• Access to coaching & growth programs

• Parental top-up & leave policies

• Comprehensive health benefits

• Power-up budgets for books, home office setup, phone & internet, AI tools, and professional development
  

KOHO is for builders.

If you're energized by challenge, motivated by mission, and want to be part of a team that punches above its weight - we want to hear from you.

The KOHO culture is one of collaboration, creativity, and diverse perspectives. We are committed to building and fostering an inclusive, accessible environment for everyone. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding accessibility needs, please contact and the People and Culture team will be happy to help.

AI Disclosure: KOHO uses artificial intelligence (AI) in certain aspects of its recruitment process to screen, assess, or select applicants. For any questions or concerns, please contact us at

Note: this posting is for an existing vacancy that we are seeking to fill.

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