Senior Director of Product Management - Core Services

At Koalafi, we believe in a world where no one has to put an important purchase on hold. That’s why we’re making it easier for more people to pay for big purchases over time.

Retailers across the country rely on us to offer flexible lease-to-own financing to their non-prime consumers, while increasing sales and strengthening customer loyalty. Their 2M+ customers love us because we provide a flexible way for them to make payments and give them an opportunity to improve their credit. Our 200+ Koalafi teammates enjoy inspiring and challenging work that accelerates their careers.

Interested in learning more about how we’re transforming the financing experience and joining our team?

What You’ll Do

Koalafi is seeking an experienced and highly technical Sr. Director of Product, Core Services to lead product strategy and execution across our most foundational technology platforms. This leader will oversee the Core Services group, including Shared Tech and SWAT teams, who are modernizing our back-end systems and building the next-generation platform capabilities that power Koalafi’s business.

This role is ideal for a hands-on product leader who thrives at the intersection of deep technical problem-solving, platform product strategy, and organizational leadership. You will define the roadmap for mission-critical infrastructure, guide 0→1 product development for new platform capabilities, hire, mentor, and lead a team of product managers.

You’ll partner closely with Engineering, Architecture, and senior business leaders to drive modernization of our legacy systems, while delivering new platforms that enable faster innovation, scalability, and resilience across all Koalafi.

Product Strategy & Vision

• Define and own the Core Services product strategy, spanning modernization of legacy systems and the creation of new shared technology platforms
• Develop a multi-year roadmap for foundational services such as payments, servicing, event streaming, and communications infrastructure
• Balance near-term migration efforts and quick wins with long-term innovation opportunities

Platform Product Leadership

• Drive 0→1 product development for internal platforms, enabling cross-team capabilities, developer velocity, and business-critical functionality
• Translate complex technical requirements into clear product direction, working closely with the Group Engineering leader as well as the engineering leads on the Shared Tech and SWAT teams
• Partner with Architecture and Engineering to establish standards for scalability, reliability, and observability across core services

Team Building & Leadership

• Hire, mentor, and lead a team of product managers focused on platform and technical domains
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and technical curiosity within the Core Services group
• Coach PMs on working effectively with deeply technical stakeholders and translating business needs into platform requirements
• Serve as a player/coach, driving initial product discovery and working closely with engineers on solutions and then figuring out which roles are most critical to hire

Execution & Delivery

• Prioritize and manage a portfolio of complex platform initiatives, ensuring timely delivery with minimal business disruption
• Support phased modernization strategies, including legacy decomposition, migration, and integration approaches
• Partner with stakeholders across Finance, Operations, and Risk to ensure platform investments unlock business value

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Serve as a bridge between technical teams and business leadership, articulating platform strategy and trade-offs to diverse audiences
• Lead cross-functional alignment on core service capabilities, ensuring they meet regulatory, operational, and compliance requirements

About You

• 10+ years of professional product management experience, with at least 5+ years leading platform, infrastructure, or core services product teams
• Proven experience driving modernization of legacy systems into cloud-native, service-oriented architectures
• Strong technical acumen: ability to engage with engineers on topics such as microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture, and high-volume transaction processing
• Track record of 0→1 product development in technical domains, ideally building internal platforms or shared services
• Experience managing and scaling product teams; ability to hire, mentor, and develop high-performing PMs
• Deep understanding of financial systems, payment processing, or consumer financing is highly preferred
• Strong organizational and communication skills, with experience aligning executives, technical leads, and business stakeholders
• Comfort working in high stakes, regulated environments where reliability, compliance, and scalability are critical
• Location Requirement: This position requires regular in-person attendance at one of our two office locations (Richmond, VA or Arlington, VA). Candidates must already be located within a commutable distance to either location, as relocation assistance is not available at this time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in fintech, lending, or consumer financial services
• Experience collaborating on technical roadmaps for large-scale migrations (e.g., monolith to microservices, MSSQL to PostgreSQL)
• Familiarity with observability, developer experience tooling, and AI-assisted development practices
• Knowledge of compliance and security standards relevant to financial platforms

Why choose Koalafi: A career at Koalafi means opportunities to tackle exciting challenges every single day. We take pride in a culture of innovation, trust, and ownership. You'll get outside your comfort zone, build meaningful relationships, and most of all, take charge of projects that ultimately help people get the things they need most.

Benefits:

At Koalafi, you will have a direct impact on our products and help shape the company’s success. We offer competitive compensation & benefits packages to keep you at your best:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 20 PTO days + 11 paid holidays
• 401(k) retirement with company matching
• Student Loan & Tuition Reimbursement 
• Commuter assistance
• Parental leave (maternal + paternal)
• Inclusion and Associate Engagement Programs

Who we are & what we value: 

• We focus on what’s most important
• We set clear expectations and deliver
• We embrace challenges to reach our full potential
• We ask, “How can this be better?”
• We move fast together