Head of Data

Job description

Head of Data - Seattle (hybrid, 2x/week in-office) - Paid relocation available RentSpree is looking for a Head of Data to lead our Data organization, reporting directly to the CTO. In this role, you'll own Data Engineering, Data Science, Analytics, and Data Strategy as a single org and turn our data into one of RentSpree's core competitive advantages: proprietary rental data and ML-driven products that are unparalleled in the marketplace. As a key member of the engineering leadership team, you'll define what RentSpree's data should do for the business, not just what dashboards it produces — from strategic data assets and ML to governance, data culture, and team growth. This is a player-coach role. You will manage managers and still be fluent enough in SQL and data warehouse design to review a model, question a metric definition, and be credible both with your own analysts and in front of the executive team. You'll operate across our globally distributed teams in Seattle and Bangkok, bringing clarity, accountability, and a strong bias for action to everything you do. This position is hybrid (2 days/week) based in our Seattle office. What You'll Do Partner with Executives and the Product team to drive product strategy through data. Translate company vision into the data capabilities needed to support it, and invest ahead of the product roadmap to keep our Data Platform modern Own the strategic data asset & ML roadmap: take our early data-asset initiatives from keystone use cases to a real architecture decision, and decide where ML earns its keep across pricing, lead scoring, propensity, and screening risk Build the GTM data foundation: define and own the unified customer profiles, segmentation, and journey tracking that Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success all run on, and make sure it reaches the systems they actually work in - campaign tools, the CRM, and in-product surfaces Own how we measure impact: set the company-wide standard for the experimentation lifecycle, from design and success-metric definition through causal readout, balancing speed with rigor and long-term hygiene Lead the Analytics team directly: manage our Business Analysts and Data Scientists, review their work and code quality, set the analytical rigor bar, prioritize the request queue, and guide how they scope and initiate their own projects Own Analytics Self-serve: continue improving our semantic layer and AI-powered self-serve tooling that keep routine requests off your analysts' plates, and drive adoption across our business verticals, GTM, and Finance — treating adoption as the deliverable, not just the tooling Lead Data Engineering through our Data Engineering Manager, who owns our Bronze/Silver/Gold pipeline architecture, warehouse cost and governance, and platform reliability Scale the Data organization: set the governance and quality standards that let us grow safely, and build the team through hiring, coaching, and career development across all data disciplines Cultivate RentSpree’s data-driven culture by driving data literacy and insight adoption across Product, Engineering, GTM, and Finance, not just building tools and waiting for people to use them Represent Data to executives and the Board , translating forecasts, board data requests, and OKR targets into a roadmap the team can execute against Own vendor and tooling strategy for our analytics stack, deciding when a vendor relationship is a lever versus a distraction Our job descriptions evolve with our business needs and priorities. Your role may include other tasks, projects, and team support. Skills You Bring 7+ years in data, including 3+ years directly leading an analytics or data science team. Hiring, reviewing work, setting the quality bar. Ideally at a Series A–D startup where you had to build the plane while flying it. Experience leading or partnering closely with data engineering, enough to set direction for warehouse architecture and pipeline priorities and hold that team to a high standard. Experience in shipping ML-powered features and operating them in production, not just a proof of concept Fluency in modern data stack tools (BigQuery or equivalent warehouse, dbt/Dataform, an experimentation platform), with enough hands-on SQL/Python to review your team's work directly Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with Engineering, Product, Design, Finance, and executive stakeholders to drive product strategy with data, and align the data roadmap with business outcomes Experience building or scaling a self-serve analytics culture, including what it takes to keep a single source of truth for metric definitions Experience standing up data governance practices in a growing organization: stewardship, data quality monitoring, access controls Excellent communication skills: you can translate complex technical topics into clear insights for diverse, non-technical audiences Experienced in balancing being strategic and hands-on: you know when to go deep on a pipeline or model and when to delegate and focus on strategy Bonus Points Experience in B2B2C or platform/marketplace product environments Background in fintech, proptech, or real estate technology, or with property/marketplace data specifically Experience standing up or governing an internal AI/LLM tooling layer: you'll inherit Claude-based skills and an internal semantic-search bot already in production Experience managing globally distributed teams across the US and Southeast Asia Qualities You Practice These are the principles we hire for and hold ourselves to: Own it end to end. Drive projects from idea to execution. Take pride in the work. Do what it takes. Communicate like a teammate. Direct, candid, and respectful. Give feedback well, receive it well, and build trust through transparency. Hold a high bar. Think critically. Stay curious. Keep looking for ways to do it better. Stay adaptable. Anticipate challenges, take initiative, and bring resourcefulness to whatever comes next. Be audacious, learn loudly: Take the big swings our mission demands, treat every outcome as impact or a lesson, and share what you learn openly so the whole company grows stronger. Debate well, commit fully. Push back constructively, contribute your point of view, then align and move together. AI is a core skill. Use AI tools to move faster and think sharper. Why Join Us? The work here is real, the problems are hard, and you'll have teammates who push you to do your best. Competitive compensation. $250k - $280k base. Equity. Share in what you help build. The team. Talented colleagues who push you and back you up. Room to grow. Coaching, resources, and development beyond the role you start in. Health coverage from day one. Medical, dental, and vision for you and your dependents. HSA/FSA options. Headspace Care+, gym discounts, and more. A real plan for your future. Life and disability coverage, plus a SIMPLE IRA with company match. Flexible vacation. Take the time you need. We trust you to manage it. 11 holidays a year, plus 3 recharge days. Ways to connect. Reimbursed weekly team lunches, game nights, and events. In-person and remote. Recognition. Recognize a peer with Sprees (redeemable for gift cards or donations). Nominate someone for a S.P.R.E.E. Award with a potential spot bonus. The tools to do your best work. Business expense allowance and internet reimbursement. Family support. Parental leave and fertility benefits. Legal and tax help. Legal benefits and tax support through RocketLawyer. Seattle HQ perk. Company-sponsored Orca card for public transit to and from the office. High impact, lean team. Small teams, close to customers, shipping work that matters. Your fingerprints are on the product. SpreeHours RentSpree has teams in the US and Bangkok. Collaboration across that distance requires a shared window: Monday-Thursday, 5–7pm PT / 7-9am ICT. How often you're in SpreeHours depends on your role, team, and projects. Any SpreeHours you work, you take back as flex time the same week. Outside of SpreeHours, your schedule is yours. Ready to Build Something Big? If you take ownership, move with urgency, and want to work on problems that matter, we'd love to hear from you. You don't need to meet every requirement. If this feels like the right place to do your best work, reach out. EEO Statement RentSpree is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. This applies to all employment practices, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Hiring decisions are made on qualifications, merit, and business need. About RentSpree Renting should be faster, fairer, and less stressful than it is. We're the infrastructure that makes that happen. Four million users. 300+ real estate company and MLS partnerships. Ten years of consistent growth. From applications and screening to payments and lease management, the full rental journey runs on RentSpree. Recognized by Forbes as a Best Startup Employer and by BuiltIn Seattle as a Best Place to Work.