Technical Professional Services Lead

Who We Are

Sardine is a leader in fraud prevention and AML compliance. Our advanced platform leverages device intelligence, behavior biometrics, machine learning, and AI to proactively stop fraud. Trusted by over 300 banks, retailers, and fintechs globally, Sardine combats identity fraud, payment fraud, account takeovers, and social engineering scams. We have secured $145M in funding from prominent investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Activant, Visa, Experian, FIS, and Google Ventures.

Our Culture

We foster a remote-first work culture, allowing our globally distributed team to #WorkFromAnywhere, with hubs in the Bay Area, NYC, Austin, and Toronto. We seek talented, self-motivated individuals who demonstrate extreme ownership and a high growth orientation. At Sardine, performance is paramount, not hours worked. We believe in work-life balance, ensuring you can attend to personal and family commitments without adhering to arbitrary schedules.

Location

This is a remote position, open to candidates in the United States or Canada, with an ideal preference for individuals based in San Francisco or New York City. You are encouraged to find your most productive zone, whether that's from home, a beach, a mountain, or a cafe.

About the Role: Technical Professional Services Lead

We are seeking a Technical Professional Services Lead to establish and manage our professional services function. This pivotal role involves developing a partner delivery network and certifying integration partners to provide tailored customization services for our global key accounts. This is a unique opportunity to scale a new function within a rapidly expanding company. You will be instrumental in scoping, planning, and delivering custom projects. Your responsibilities include sourcing, onboarding, and managing a network of specialized contractors to execute custom Statement of Work (SOW) engagements for our clients. You will oversee the entire project lifecycle—from initial scoping and contractor selection through delivery and billing—ensuring exceptional quality, timely execution, and healthy profit margins.

This high-impact, cross-functional role bridges post-sales, operations, and finance. You will collaborate closely with sales, post-sales, product, and engineering teams to translate client needs into clearly defined project scopes, aligning them with the most suitable contractor talent.

What You'll Be Doing

• Draft and manage Statements of Work (SOWs) for client customizations, white-label solutions, new builds, and change orders.
• Partner with sales and post-sales teams to scope custom SOW engagements, defining deliverables, timelines, and success criteria.
• Plan, coordinate, and drive the delivery of large projects for global key accounts, utilizing both in-house resources and outsourced contractors/ISVs.
• Build and maintain a vetted network of specialized contractors and consultants for custom fintech implementations.
• Source, screen, and onboard new contractors; negotiate rates and establish Master Service Agreements (MSAs).
• Match contractor skills and availability to incoming project requirements.
• Manage contractor performance, provide feedback, and maintain a quality scorecard system.
• Ensure all contractors comply with relevant financial services regulations, security, and compliance standards.
• Oversee project execution to guarantee on-time, on-budget, and high-quality delivery.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for project issues and client concerns.
• Conduct project retrospectives and implement continuous improvement practices.
• Own the end-to-end billing process for contractor engagements, including time tracking, invoice review, and payment processing.
• Manage project budgets, track margins, and report on the profitability of the professional services book of business.
• Coordinate with finance and accounting to ensure accurate revenue recognition and contractor payables.
• Build and refine operational processes, tools, and templates to scale the professional services function.
• Develop and maintain reporting dashboards to track utilization, project health, and financial performance.

What You'll Need

• 10+ years of experience in Professional Services or Product roles.
• 3–5+ years of experience hiring and leading teams in high-growth environments.
• Deep domain expertise in payments, fintech, fraud, AML/KYC, or compliance.
• Demonstrated experience in project scoping and financial operations, including SOWs, MSAs, and managing project profitability.
• Mandatory technical fluency to oversee frontend, backend, and SQL-heavy projects to resolution.
• Superior critical thinking skills and the ability to seamlessly integrate external expertise (contractors/consultants) for high-quality delivery.
• Exceptional executive presentation and communication skills, with a proven ability to command a room.

Compensation & Benefits

Sardine offers a competitive base pay range of $210,000 - $250,000, plus equity with significant upside potential and attractive benefits. The final compensation package will be determined based on location, qualifications, work history, and interview performance.

Our comprehensive benefits include: generous cash and equity compensation, early exercise for all options (including pre-vested), a remote-first culture with flexible PTO and a year-end break, health/dental/vision coverage for employees and dependents (US/Canada specific), 4% matching in 401k/RRSP (US/Canada specific), MacBook Pro, a one-time home office stipend, monthly meal and social meet-up stipends, and annual health/wellness and learning stipends.

Key skills/competency

• Professional Services Management
• Project Lifecycle Management
• Contractor Network Management
• Fintech Implementation
• Fraud Prevention
• AML/KYC Compliance
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Master Service Agreements (MSAs)
• Financial Operations
• Technical Project Oversight