Team Lead, Financial Analytics & AI/ML Optimization

About the role

Hopper is looking for a Team Lead, Financial Analytics & AI/ML Optimization to drive our data warehouse strategy, business intelligence, GCP/AI optimization, and the integration of AI within finance. As a key strategic business partner within the organization, you will manage partnerships across a wide range of commercial agreements and report directly to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Your day-to-day will look like this:

• Provide actionable insights to guide business decisions based on financial and data analytics.

• Drive the strategy, governance, and execution of the data warehouse for the financial ledger.

• Build and lead a Center of Excellence for cloud computing and performance reporting, including managing infrastructure and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the finance team and business units.

• Create, lead, implement, and measure the success of the financial AI automation roadmap, in partnership with FP&A, accounting, and data teams.

• Set up data pipelines and the foundations for AI models.

• Understand and optimize our GCP infrastructure costs, in partnership with engineering and Financial Operations (FinOps).

• Establish the finance team as the single source of truth for financial and business performance, and create self-service analytics tools for key stakeholders.

• Manage a team of 4 engineers and 1 finance and strategy manager.

• Implement internal controls and support external audits related to data governance.

The ideal profile:

• 15+ years of work experience in the travel and/or SaaS sector.

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree strongly preferred or equivalent experience.

• Engineering background preferred.

• Proficiency in SQL, Python, GCP, and data science, with proven "hands-on" coding ability.

• Understanding of Large Language Model (LLM) based systems, prompt design, and AI model evaluation frameworks.

• Familiarity with automation environments and observability tools (Amplitude, Datadog, Looker) to assess reliability and performance.

• Strong skills in reconciling data from large, multi-source datasets.

• A natural propensity for first-principles thinking — questioning assumptions, testing process resilience, and always seeking to understand the "why" behind things.

• Excellent communication skills with senior management and external partners.

• High comfort level with ambiguity and a "ground-zero building" culture.

Assets:

• Experience within a high-growth technology company or marketplace.

• Experience working cross-functionally with data engineering or data warehouse teams.

This position requires proficiency in French and English. The successful candidate will need to communicate and collaborate regularly with colleagues, managers, clients, suppliers, and business partners located outside of Quebec, as well as consult, prepare, and use documentation, systems, and communications in both French and English. Knowledge of English is therefore necessary for the performance of the duties related to the position as well as to meet operational requirements and client needs in an international business environment.

Perks and benefits of working with us:

• A solid, well-funded startup with global ambitions, offering a competitive salary and the potential for a pre-IPO stock option program.

• Hopper covers 100% of your group insurance plan premiums.

• Comprehensive life, short-term, and long-term disability insurance coverage.

• Health Spending Account (HSA) covering eligible medical and dental expenses.

• Free and unlimited access to Dialogue telemedicine services for all employees and their dependents, anywhere, anytime.

• Access to a retirement savings plan (RRSP) with automatic pre-tax payroll deductions.

• An ultra-generous parental leave policy, well beyond industry standards (ask us about it!).

• Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO).

• Travel allowances in "Carrot Cash".

• On-demand access to co-working spaces via FlexDesk AND a work-from-home allowance.

• An entrepreneurial culture where pushing boundaries and taking risks is part of daily life.

• Open and direct communication with management and company leaders.

• Small, dynamic teams = massive impact.

Learn more about Hopper

At Hopper, our mission is to become the world's leading travel platform — powering the Hopper mobile app, our website, and our B2B division, HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions). By leveraging massive volumes of data and advanced machine learning algorithms, Hopper combines its world-class travel agency offering with proprietary fintech products to provide transparency, flexibility, and savings to travelers around the world. We have developed several unique fintech solutions that address every challenge, from price volatility to travel disruptions, helping people travel better and save more.

The Hopper platform serves hundreds of millions of travelers and continues to gain market share globally. The Hopper app has been downloaded over 120 million times and has become extremely popular with young travelers, with 70% of its users belonging to Gen Z and Millennials.

Although we are recognized as the preferred travel app for Gen Z and Millennials, Hopper has evolved to become much more than that. In recent years, we have become a travel fintech provider, an e-commerce platform, and a global travel agency that powers some of the world's largest brands.

Through HTS, our B2B division, the company supercharges its partners' direct channels by integrating our fintech products on their sites or powering their end-to-end travel portals. Today, our partners include industry leaders such as Capital One, Nubank, Air Canada, and many others.

Some figures that illustrate our recent growth:

• Billions of dollars in travel and travel fintech services are sold each year through Hopper and HTS channels.

• Our fintech products — including "Cancel for Any Reason" and "Flight Disruption Assistance" — show an exceptionally high Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score, as terms are always clear and customers benefit from instant, no-questions-asked resolutions.

• Nearly 30% of our app customers purchase at least one fintech product when booking; and consumers are 1.6 times more likely to book with us again if they add a fintech option to their trip.

Building on the success of its fintech products, Hopper launched HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions), which now represents more than 75% of the company's business. Through HTS, any travel provider (airlines, hotels, banks, travel agencies, etc.) can seamlessly integrate and distribute Hopper's fintech products or travel inventory on their own direct channels. As part of its first HTS partnership, the company partnered with Capital One to co-develop Capital One Travel, a new travel portal designed specifically for cardholders. Our other HTS partners include Air Canada, Uber, CommBank, Nubank, Flair Airlines, and several others.

Hopper was named the world's most innovative company in the travel sector by Fast Company. The app has exceeded 120 million downloads and continues to record millions of new installs each month. Hopper now ranks as the 3rd largest online travel agency in North America.

Hopper has raised over $750 million USD in private capital and is backed by some of the world's largest institutional investors and banks. HTS is ideally positioned to continue its growth as a leader in travel e-commerce in an online shopping category that represents $1 trillion. The Hopper app and website will also remain the preferred options for Gen Z and Millennial travelers.

Ready to take off with us?

This position uses automated decision-making systems to assess candidate suitability. In accordance with local regulations, you have the right to know the main factors used in this assessment, to request the rectification of your data, or to request that a person review any automated decision. To exercise these rights, please contact [email protected].