Anyone move from Finance VP into Data Science / SDE internally?
Location: Tampa, FL
Edit: The role would require relocating to either the Dallas/Plano campus or NYC, with relocation covered either way.
Hi all,
I'm currently a VP on the Finance side and was recently offered a VP level Data Science role that sits under the SDE job family. The comp increase attached to the move is significant and a real factor in why I'm taking it seriously, but I want to understand what I'm actually walking into before I commit.
My finance work has been pretty analytics heavy. Forecasting, variance analysis, reporting automation, working through large datasets, building out executive reporting around trends and operational metrics. So the move doesn't feel totally out of left field.
The context is that the team has seen some senior attrition recently, one retirement and another who moved to a different firm, and from what I can tell the restructuring going on in the org is partly a response to that. Leadership seems to be consolidating the function and elevating the role rather than just backfilling at the same level. I'm trying to figure out if that makes this a real opportunity or just a staffing gap with a better title.
For anyone already in DS or SDE roles:
How much of the work is actually AI/ML versus pipeline support, production issues, and general data engineering?
When senior people leave, do these teams usually get stuck in legacy maintenance and undocumented processes for a while?
At VP level, how hands-on is the expectation day to day? Still a lot of IC work or does it shift more toward oversight and architecture?
For anyone on the SDE track at VP level, is the comp ceiling actually higher long term or does the gap close as you get more senior? And is the pay weighted more toward base or bonus compared to the Finance side?
Thanks in advance.