Chief Technology Officer, Nova Credit
$325-350k
+ Incentive compensation, and stock options
More information about location
3 days a week in office (Flatiron District, NY)
Cross-border credit reporting
Be an early applicant
Cross-border credit reporting
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
$325-350k
+ Incentive compensation, and stock options
More information about location
3 days a week in office (Flatiron District, NY)
101-200 employees
Company mission
To inspire and facilitate the flow of human diversity, helping the world's moving population to arrive and thrive.
Role
Who you are
- Engineering foundation: 15+ years of experience in software engineering, with a career arc that has grown from hands-on technical work into executive leadership spanning both engineering, product, and data science functions
- Executive experience: 5+ years in an executive role with ownership over multiple technical and product functions at a high-growth technology company
- Engineering credibility: Deep ability to engage substantively in architectural decisions, set a high bar for engineering quality, and earn the trust of a technically sophisticated team. You have built and shipped complex systems, not just managed people who did
- Organizational leadership: You've built and led layered organizations through managers, and you know how to develop talent, sustain high performance, and retain talent
- Product sensibility: You can translate market opportunity and customer insight into a compelling, differentiated roadmap, and partner effectively with design and data science to bring it to life
- AI fluency: A clear, informed perspective on the evolving role of AI in financial services and enterprise software, with practical experience guiding teams on where and how to apply AI effectively and responsibly
- Executive communication: Demonstrated ability to communicate the company's strategic vision across all levels of the organization and to external stakeholders, from engineers to board members
What the job involves
- We're seeking a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to own Nova Credit's technology and product vision at the highest level
- This is a defining executive role where you will set the strategic direction and own technical execution across Engineering, Infrastructure, Data Science, and Product & Design, driving transformative impact across everything we build
- As a member of the Leadership Team, you will serve as the visible steward of our technical and product culture, aligning innovation with long-term business outcomes and ensuring Nova Credit remains a category leader in financial infrastructure
- Owning Nova Credit's technology and product strategy, including setting the vision for our platform across Engineering, Infrastructure, Data Science, and Product & Design, and ensuring alignment with company-wide goals and mission
- Leading transformative, cross-functional initiatives that elevate the reliability, scalability, and strategic impact of our enterprise-grade platform. You’ll also need to zoom in and support the team in our fast-paced development environment
- Serving as a connective force across the organization, actively building trust and context between Build and every other function, so that engineering, product and analytics priorities stay aligned and the business operates as a cohesive whole
- Identifying where AI creates durable competitive advantage in our products and where it can meaningfully accelerate how our teams build, ship, and operate, and helping your organization act on both
- Serving as an expert coach, mentor, and empathetic leader to a team of managers across each function, fostering a culture of continuous growth, and both hard and soft skill development
- Making high-stakes decisions that shape the organization's long-term success, navigating complex tradeoffs with sound judgment and a transformative mindset
- Representing Nova Credit externally as a thought leader, communicating our technical and product philosophy to customers, partners, regulators, and the broader industry
- Recruiting, developing, and retaining talent and coaching your managers to do the same within their teams
- Reporting directly to our CEO
- WITHIN THE FIRST MONTH, YOU'LL:
- Accomplish deep understanding of Nova Credit's mission, business model, technical architecture, and product portfolio
- Build thorough relationships with your reports across Engineering, Infrastructure, Data Science, and Product & Design, as well as peer executives and key cross-functional stakeholders
- Develop a rapid understanding of the current roadmap, outstanding technical debt, and organizational design across your functions and be ready to own execution across the org
- Identify the highest-leverage opportunities and risks across the technology and product landscape
- WITHIN THE FIRST QUARTER, YOU'LL:
- Establish a clear point of view on the technology and product strategy, including where to invest, accelerate, and rationalize
- Define performance expectations and growth paths for the managers reporting to you
- Partner with the CEO and Leadership Team to align the product & analytics roadmap with company strategy and near-term business priorities
- Drive measurable improvements in delivery, velocity, and quality across your functions
- WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR, YOU'LL:
- Deliver a technology and product strategy that positions Nova Credit for its next phase of growth, including platform investments that unlock new business opportunities
- Build out and strengthen the leadership bench across all four functions
- Drive significant architectural or organizational improvements that simplify, scale, and differentiate our platform
- Become a recognized external voice for Nova Credit, engaging with technical leaders at our enterprise customers and partners, at industry events and in the press setting the standard for what world-class fintech infrastructure looks like
Our take
For the 15 million new immigrants who arrive in the US each year, it’s crucial to have a working credit history. Without this, they’ll be unable to rent an apartment, apply for a credit card or in some cases even get a job. The issue is that their credit history won’t have travelled with them, so lenders in their new country won’t be able to verify their eligibility. Nova Credit's founders experienced this problem first-hand, as Esipov is a first-generation Russian immigrant.
Nova Credit imports financial histories to enable immigrants to set up lives in new countries, with their ‘Credit Passport’. This is a digital framework that connects an individual’s credit history information from one country to the country where they are currently residing.
Nova Credit is currently able to import credit history from over 20 countries. Since being accepted to Y Combinator in 2016, the company has raised considerable funding from major finance players such as HSBC. Nova Credit has grown its footprint significantly, covering more than 1 billion consumer credit profiles, and is using its funding to strengthen its platform's infrastructure, analytics and compliance.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Oct 2025
$35m
SERIES D
Oct 2023
$45m
SERIES C
Total funding: $149.5m
Company benefits
- Free flight anywhere in the world on every anniversary
- Complementary wellness benefits, including Headspace and Ginger subscriptions
- $75/month contribution by Nova towards commuter benefits
- Dental and vision are 95% subsidized for Nova Credit employees, and 50% for dependents
- Unlimited paid time off policy
- $1500/year professional development budget
- Catered lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
- Health insurance
- SF / NY salaries across the US
- $50/month contribution by Nova Credit towards your cell phone bill
Company HQ
Financial District, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Misha Esipov
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously Teaching Fellow at NYU Stern School of Business for 2 years and Investment Banker at Goldman Sachs for 3 years.
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