Data & Intelligence Platform Lead, Summer
$200-220k
Plus equity
Student loan management & repayment platform
Be an early applicant
Student loan management & repayment platform
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
$200-220k
Plus equity
101-200 employees
Company mission
To act as a “trusted advisor” to student loan borrowers.
Role
Who you are
- The Foundation: 8+ years of experience in Data Engineering or Platform Architecture, ideally within high-growth Fintech or highly regulated environments
- Architectural Vision: Proven track record of moving an organization from ad-hoc reporting to a structured "Data Platform" mindset
- AI/ML Fluency: Deep experience with the data-side of LLM orchestration, including RAG architectures, Vector Databases (Pinecone, Weaviate), feature stores, and more
- Technical Mastery: Expert knowledge of Snowflake, Python, dbt, and Airflow. Experience with Kubernetes-based data stacks and other ETL/reverse-ETL tools
- Systems Thinker: You don't just solve tickets; you solve bottlenecks. You think in terms of feedback loops, unit economics, and scalable patterns
- B-Corp Spirit: A commitment to using data as a force for good. You believe clean data is a prerequisite for financial justice
- We’re a mission-driven team that believes in solving real problems with real empathy. We care deeply about our users and each other. If you’re excited about building technology that changes lives, we’d love to meet you
What the job involves
- We are seeking a Data & Intelligence Platform Lead to join our Engineering team
- In this role, you will be the foundational architect of Summer’s Data & Intelligence Platform
- You will lead evolution from an application-first data culture—currently reliant on tribal knowledge and an ad hoc data lake—to an enterprise-grade platform capable of powering strategic business insights and AI-driven debt optimization at massive scale
- You will architect the "Identity" strategy that stitches together disparate federal and private data sources into a definitive user profile, ensuring Summer is Data Centric, AI-Native, and strategically prepared to navigate the complex business landscape intrinsic to the student loan ecosystem
- You will also support the business as a whole, including preparing data artifacts, processes, and governance methodologies to enable Sales, Marketing, Operations, and the entire Summer team
- Full enterprise data management: Define and execute the strategy for end-to-end data lifecycle management, including ingestion, storage, processing, quality, and accessibility, establishing data as a first-class, reliable asset across all business functions
- Borrower Identity Architecture: Lead the "stitching" of disparate data sources (federal servicers, payroll, and private lenders) to create a high-fidelity, 360-degree view of a user’s debt history
- Mature the Data Lake: Mature our current Snowflake infrastructure into a governed, high-performance BI layer. You will eliminate "tribal knowledge" by codifying naming conventions and logic into clean, reusable models
- AI-Native Core: Build and maintain the "Feature Store" and semantic layer required for possible AI features including agentic policy decoding, workflow review anomaly detection, and more
- Contextual Reasoning: Implement the data structures (Vector stores, Graph-based logic) that allow AI agents to navigate complex regulatory relationships on behalf of our rapidly growing user base
- Feedback Loops: Orchestrate data pipelines to ensure model predictions and behavioral signals flow back into the product UI, creating a virtuous cycle of user value
- Self-Service Sovereignty: Partner with our Analytics team to minimize ad-hoc data requests. You will build the frameworks that allow analysts to self-serve without reinventing logic
- Observability by Default: Partner with our application teams to ensure that every new feature is instrumented for deep product analytics, system health, and data mining from day one
- Cross-Functional Synergy: Bridge the gap between engineering and product / analytics, ensuring our technical architecture seamlessly supports the product and business needs before we have them
- Security: Ensure the absolute protection of user PII and financial data and partner information, upholding the core mandate of security
- Compliance: Implement and maintain industry-leading frameworks (e.g., SOC 2 Type II, FedRAMP) to meet the highest security standards for partner and government due diligence
- Ethical and Fair Practices: Establish and enforce ethical guidelines for data collection, storage, and AI model usage (e.g., fairness, bias detection, and transparency) to ensure all decisions fairly serve the financial well-being of our users, aligning with our B-Corp mission for financial justice
- Data Stewardship & Ownership: Implement automated data discovery, classification, and lineage tools to codify data ownership, establish clear metadata processes, and ensure data is well-understood and governed across the entire organization
Our take
Nearly two trillion dollars in outstanding student loans has pulled more than 45 million US students, and the country at large, into a student debt crisis. The company has attracted the attention of a slew of fintech startups and investors looking to build solutions - some are available for companies to offer their staff as employee benefits. Summer is one of them, but doing something unique.
Summer scans multiple sources to compile a directory of student loan forgiveness and repayment opportunities, and utilises these options to develop a personalised debt management program for eligible employees - all managed digitally. Not only is this a savvy way for employers to enhance benefits packages for top-tier graduates in a competitive labour market, but it’s also something for which they've recently begun to receive tax incentives.
Summer has seen good sign-ups, and it's helped tens of thousands of borrowers save millions of dollars. Through a partnership with Credit Karma, the company has also been broadening its service beyond being a simple employment benefit. It has also raised significant funds that will expand the platform's reach.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
39% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2024
$9m
EARLY VC
Apr 2023
$6m
SERIES A
Total funding: $32.8m
Company benefits
- Significant equity allocations
- Healthcare coverage
- 401(k) plans with an employer match
- Contribution toward student loan repayment
- Flexible vacation/PTO
Company HQ
Union Square, New York, NY
Leadership
Will Sealy
(Co-Founder & CEO)Has held various Washington positions, including White House business council, policy analyst and special assistant to Elizabeth Warren at the US Department of the Treasury. Was also an advisor and student loan policy expert at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Vincent Tran
(Co-Founder & Advisor)Previously an investment analyst at Loews Corporation, before moving into senior product roles at Orchard Platform and then Pave. Subsequently returned to investment with the Partnership Fund for New York City.
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