Senior Platform Product Director - Data Automation in London

ABOUT XCEPTOR

Data is at the heart of everything we do: Xceptor has been designed around data manipulation in its broadest sense. We source data from wherever it flows. We curate, normalise, validate, repair, and enrich that data so it reaches its destination in a reliable and consistent format. Data coming out of Xceptor is data our clients can trust. We are recognised as an expert in the Financial Services vertical, which strongly aligns with Business Users in Middle and Back-Office teams. We enable these users to solve their data challenges by themselves, rather than through a technology-led project.

Our mission is to empower business users within financial institutions to build automated processes that deliver trusted data. Our values are:

• Client Centricity
• One Team
• Impactful

Your Role:

We are seeking a Senior Director, Platform in London (hybrid) to lead our platform product organisation through one of the most consequential chapters in Xceptor’s history. This role requires innovative thinking and the ability to deliver impactful change at pace - we are building the next generation of an AI-native data automation platform, transforming a proven financial services data platform into an intelligent, scalable foundation for mission critical operations that matter most. You will own the platform product strategy end-to-end: driving the migration of our legacy capabilities into our new platform architecture, while simultaneously defining and delivering the AI and ML capabilities that will differentiate Xceptor for years to come. You will work at the intersection of product, engineering, and data science - translating deep domain expertise and proprietary insight into intelligent platform capabilities that no competitor can replicate. Equally, the platform you build has a direct line to commercial impact. Our solution teams across tax, trading, and financial operations are internal clients of the platform - and the speed, quality, and intelligence of what they can bring to market depends on what you build. You will define the internal service model that governs how platform capabilities are consumed, prioritised, and evolved in response to their needs, creating a tight feedback loop between platform investment and commercial outcomes. This role requires someone who is AI-native by instinct - someone who treats AI as a high-trust collaborator in how they think, build, and lead, and who can bring that mindset to an organisation in transformation.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Platform Strategy & AI Vision
  • Define and own the platform product strategy and roadmap, spanning both the transformation of legacy capabilities and the build-out of next-generation AI and ML functionality.
  • Establish a clear, differentiated vision for how Xceptor’s proprietary data and domain expertise becomes the foundation for intelligent, agentic workflows across trading, tax, and financial operations.
  • Drive 0-to-1 execution on new AI/ML platform capabilities - from concept through to scalable, production-ready product.
  • Continuously evolve the platform strategy in line with advances in AI, changing customer needs, and Xceptor’s expanding market position.
• Platform Transformation & Migration
  • Own the product strategy for migrating legacy platform capabilities into Xceptor’s new platform architecture - sequencing, prioritising, and managing the complexity of transformation without disrupting existing customers.
  • Define clear migration paths and deprecation strategies, working closely with engineering to de-risk delivery and maintain platform stability throughout.
  • Embed platform transformation as a first-class product discipline, with the same rigour applied to new capability development.
• AI & ML Capability Development
  • Lead the definition and delivery of Xceptor’s AI and ML platform capabilities - including intelligent data processing, predictive enrichment, agentic workflow automation, and model lifecycle management.
  • Work directly with data science, engineering, and customer-facing teams to identify real enterprise use cases and abstract them into scalable, durable platform patterns.
  • Drive a model-informed product approach - tracking key AI performance metrics (accuracy, latency, model reliability) and using data to continuously improve platform intelligence.
  • Ensure AI capabilities are built with the governance, auditability, and explainability standards required by financial services clients.
• Prioritisation & Operating Model
  • Own and drive the prioritisation of platform work across teams and domains.
  • Establish and embed effective product operating models and governance for platform delivery in a complex, fast-moving environment.
  • Balance competing demands across product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
• Cross-functional Leadership
  • Partner closely with engineering leadership to ensure alignment on priorities, sequencing, and delivery.
  • Drive coordination across multiple teams and tribes, managing complex cross-functional dependencies.
  • Influence and align senior stakeholders across product, engineering, and business functions- including executive leadership.
  • Define the platform's internal service model - SLAs, consumption patterns, prioritisation governance.
  • Act as the product interface between platform and the solution teams.
  • Build feedback loops so solution team needs shape the platform roadmap.
• Platform Delivery & Execution
  • Act as the key interface between product and engineering at the platform level, ensuring platform investments are connected to product priorities and customer outcomes.
  • Ensure delivery of high-quality, scalable platform capabilities that enable product and engineering teams to operate effectively.
  • Enable consistent execution across teams through strong product leadership and clear direction.
  • Champion strong API design, platform extensibility, and internal client service model to ensure both platform and solutions KPIs are successful.
• Organisational Leadership
  • Lead, develop, and scale a team of product managers and leaders across platform domains.
  • Establish clear standards for product management excellence within the platform function - including rigorous discovery, sharp prioritisation and outcome-driven delivery.
  • Build a strong, collaborative culture across product, engineering and data.
• Continuous Improvement & Scalability
  • Drive improvements in platform capabilities, processes, and performance.
  • Identify opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce duplication, and improve developer productivity.
  • Ensure the platform evolves to support future growth and complexity.

Who we're looking for:

We’re looking for a senior technical product leader who combines deep platform expertise with genuine AI technical fluency - someone who has built and scaled complex data or AI platforms, and who brings the strategic ambition and executional rigour to lead Xceptor’s platform into its next era. A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field is required.

• AI-Native Product Leadership
  • Demonstrable AI fluency - you use AI tools natively in how you work, think, and build; you understand LLMs, ML model lifecycles, and agentic systems well enough to drive meaningful product decisions.
  • Experience defining and delivering AI or ML platform capabilities in production environments, ideally within enterprise SaaS or data platform companies.
  • Ability to work across the full AI product lifecycle - from identifying use cases and defining requirements through to model performance monitoring and iterative improvement.
  • Comfort with AI infrastructure concepts: model serving, inference performance, feature engineering, and data pipelines.
• Platform & Technical Expertise
  • Deep understanding of modern platform architecture, APIs, data and integration layers, and scalable cloud-native infrastructure.
  • Experience leading platform transformation or migration programmes - moving from legacy architectures to modern, scalable platforms while managing continuity for existing products and customers.
  • Ability to operate effectively in highly technical, engineering-led environments and earn credibility with senior engineers and architects.
  • Familiarity with data governance, lineage, and auditability - particularly in regulated industries.
• Product Leadership & Operating Model Design
  • Minimum 10 years of product management experience, including leadership of platform, infrastructure, or technical product organisations.
  • Proven track record of launching new platform capabilities from vision through to scale.
  • Experience establishing and scaling product operating models for platform teams, including prioritisation frameworks and governance approaches.
  • Ability to balance long-term platform strategy with near-term transformation and delivery demands.
• Cross-functional Influence & Stakeholder Management
  • Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders across product, engineering, data science, and business leadership - including the executive team and board.
  • Strong stakeholder management in environments with high complexity, multiple competing priorities, and fast-changing requirements.
  • Experience aligning multiple teams and domains around shared goals and sequenced delivery plans.
• Commercial & Strategic Awareness
  • Strong understanding of how platform capabilities underpin product outcomes, customer value, and commercial growth.
  • Ability to connect platform investment decisions to customer impact, competitive differentiation, and business strategy.
  • Experience in financial services, fintech, or regulated data-intensive industries is a strong advantage.
• Leadership & Team Development
  • Experience leading and developing high-performing product teams, including coaching senior PMs and building team capability.
  • Ability to build clarity, alignment, and accountability across teams in ambiguous, fast-evolving environments.

Diversity & Inclusion at Xceptor

We believe great ideas come from everywhere — and that the best teams are made up of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. At Xceptor, we’re committed to building a workplace where everyone feels welcome, valued, and empowered to be themselves. We know that not everyone ticks every single box in a job description — and that’s okay. If you’re excited about this role and think you could make a difference, we’d love to hear from you. Your unique skills and experiences might be just what we need, even if you don’t meet every requirement. We celebrate diversity and are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all employees — regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or background.

Hybrid at Xceptor

We love the buzz of the office and the flexibility of home—so at Xceptor, you get the best of both. Our people spend 2-3 days per week in the office collaborating, brainstorming, and connecting in person. The rest is up to you. It’s all about great teamwork, balanced with the freedom to work your way.

Please note: Xceptor works with clients in financial services and our offers of employment are subject to the satisfactory completion of background checks, which includes criminal record checks, and credit reference checks. If you have any employment gaps exceeding three months within the last six years, we will request additional information and evidence to clarify those periods.