VP, Data
Updater operates at the intersection of affiliate marketing, embedded commerce, and consumer marketplaces where we create (and lose) revenue through complex, multi-party data flows. In this environment, data isn’t a support function-data runs the business.
We’re seeking a VP of Data to materially elevate how we make data-driven decisions across the company. Reporting to the SVP of Engineering, this leader will architect the systems, standards, and team that transform fragmented signals into trusted, decision-enabling intelligence.
This business-critical leadership role will directly impact growth, margin, risk mitigation, and executive velocity. You will build the canonical data engine powering a complex B2B2C marketplace-increasing trust, speed, and profitability through better systems and sharper insight.
We’re also aggressively leaning into machine learning and AI. We’ve been developing LLM-based agentic models to help consumers purchase complex products with confidence. In addition the engineering and data teams have been utilizing Claude Code, Codex, and other LLM-based tools to increase insights and productivity. We believe strongly in being a thought leader in this space.
If you’re motivated by meaningful ownership and the chance to turn complexity into competitive advantage, this role offers a rare opportunity to do exactly that.
What Success Looks Like
- Stakeholders trust the numbers-even when they’re uncomfortable
- Revenue questions that once took weeks now take hours or minutes
- Leading indicators surface risk before it hits the P&L
- KPIs are clearly defined, role-aware, and consistently interpreted
- Data enables faster, smarter decision-making across the company
- External data anomalies get identified immediately, rather than weeks later
- Clearly defined schema, data usage rules, and organizational understanding both in a financial and product landscape.
- Data can be consumed by humans and AI models with the correct semantic boundaries.
Key Responsibilities
- Data Strategy & Architecture - Own the long-term data strategy in partnership with Engineering, Finance, Product, and Executive Leadership. Define and evolve the end-to-end data architecture across acquisition, transactions, fulfillment, revenue recognition, and lifecycle events. Design scalable, auditable systems that accurately model complex, multi-role KPIs while balancing speed, accuracy, and cost.
- Current stack includes Snowflake, Looker, Python, Postgres, and SQL Server.
- Revenue & Risk Intelligence - Build data systems that accurately models affiliate revenue-share agreements, confirmations, cancellations, and adjustments. Enable early detection of fraud and performance anomalies before they materially impact margin. Partner with Finance and cross-functional leaders to establish canonical revenue metrics and shared KPI definitions.
- Time-to-Insight - Reduce the latency between business events and actionable insight. Enable faster experimentation, channel optimization, and partner performance analysis through reliable pipelines and tooling that support both real-time visibility and deep historical analysis.
- Leadership & Team Management - Build and scale a high-performing data engineering organization grounded in technical excellence, data quality, and operational rigor. Foster a collaborative, high-ownership culture that empowers teams to do their best work, operate effectively in ambiguity, and deliver durable systems that accelerate business impact.
- Cross-Functional Influence - Translate business ambiguity into technical clarity - and technical complexity into business understanding. Clearly articulate data definitions, tradeoffs, and system constraints. Serve as a trusted partner to Product, Engineering, Finance, and Executive Leadership in driving high-impact decisions.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in data engineering or data platform leadership, including prior VP / Head of Data Engineering scope (or equivalent)
- Proven ownership of data systems directly tied to revenue, billing, or financial outcomes
- Deep expertise in modern data architectures (batch + streaming, warehouses, orchestration, modeling)
- Comfortable doing vendor evaluations, build vs buy decisions, and success implementing infrastructure projects.
- Strong command of data quality, lineage, observability, and governance - with pragmatic execution
- Experience stewarding data lifecycle with ML models, both traditional supervised learning as well as LLM-based models
- Experience designing systems that accommodate ambiguity, delayed signals, and evolving business rules
- Ability to drive clarity and alignment where metrics are contested and incentives may compete
- Strong understanding of attribution, leading vs. lagging indicators, and decision-enabling data principles
- Clear judgment that timely, decision-enabling truth is more valuable than theoretical perfection
- Experience in affiliate marketing, marketplaces, fintech, adtech, or other revenue-complex environments strongly preferred
Compensation
This posting is anticipated to remain open until 8/31/2026. The new hire salary range for this position is $275,000 - $310,000 annually. Factors which may affect the starting pay within this range include skills, experience, and other qualifications aligned with Updater's internal leveling guidelines.
About Updater
Updater is a leading technology platform helping major brands acquire and retain customers at scale. We are on a mission to power millions of complex transactions through intelligent, autonomous systems. By combining deep integrations, real-world data, and purpose-built AI agents, we’re transforming fragmented purchasing workflows into seamless, automated experiences - freeing businesses and consumers from operational friction and enabling a new standard of speed, accuracy, and scale.
Updater has raised over $450 million from leading investors, including SoftBank Capital, Vista Credit Partners, IA Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Second Century Ventures (the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors®), and more. For more information, please visit www.updater.com.
Updater is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants regardless of color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or family status, disability, gender identity or expression, veteran status, actual or presumed belonging to an ethnic group, or any other legally protected status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
Benefits: The Company offers the following benefits for full-time positions, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- Flexible PTO
- 13 paid company holidays annually
- Updater Stock Options
- 401(k) with employer match
- Wellbeing Subsidy
- One Medical membership
- Virtual on-demand healthcare through Teladoc and Talkspace
- Flexible spending account (FSA)
- Health savings account (HSA)
- Supplemental Short & Long Term Disability Insurance
- Supplemental Life Insurance
- Paid Parental Leave