Vice President, Engineering

Who We Are

Join a team that puts its People First! As a member of First American’s family of companies, Data & Analytics is a national provider of property-centric information, analytics, risk management and valuation solutions. First American maintains and curates the industry’s largest property and ownership dataset with over 7 billion document images. Our major platforms and products include: DataTree®, FraudGuard®, RegsData™, TaxSource™ and ACI®. The First American Data & Analytics division boasts more than 20 patents and remains at the forefront of innovation - leveraging technology and data to deliver best-in-class decisioning solutions. Fueled by our industry-leading data and using our technology and proprietary process, our solutions provide lenders, real estate and title companies with actionable insights - enabling them to make better, increasingly automated, decisions. With offices in all major metropolitan areas, including California and New York, DNA teams work collaboratively from across the country. Since 1889, First American (NYSE: FAF) has held an unwavering belief in its people. They are passionate about what they do, and we are equally passionate about fostering an environment where all feel welcome, supported, and empowered to be innovative and reach their full potential. Our inclusive, people-first culture has earned our company numerous accolades, including being named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for ten consecutive years. We have also earned awards as a best place to work for women, diversity and LGBTQ+ employees, and have been included on more than 50 regional best places to work lists. First American will always strive to be a great place to work, for all. For more information, please visit www.careers.firstam.com.

What We Do

The Vice President of Engineering for DNA is a senior technology leader responsible for building and scaling data platforms, application ecosystems, and AI-enabled products that power next-generation analytical and transactional capabilities.  This role sits at the intersection of data, application engineering, and AI, ensuring tight alignment between data foundations, services, and user-facing applications. You will lead global engineering teams delivering end-to-end products—from data ingestion and processing to APIs, intelligent services, and customer-facing applications.  You will define architecture, scale global teams, and deliver high-quality products with predictable execution—while evolving the platform to be AI-ready by design, enabling machine learning and generative AI capabilities to be embedded across core workflows. 

*Role is Hybrid out of Santa Ana, CA*

Key Responsibilities 

Technical Strategy & Architecture 

• Define and drive end-to-end architecture across data platforms, application services, APIs, and user-facing systems 
• Design scalable systems supporting both analytical and transactional workloads 
• Establish domain-driven design, service boundaries, and API-first architecture 
• Architect AI-ready data foundations, including feature availability, metadata, and structures optimized for machine learning and AI use cases 
• Define patterns for integrating AI/ML and generative AI capabilities into applications 
• Lead modernization initiatives (cloud-native, microservices, platform consolidation) 
• Establish standards for data governance, system design, resilience, and observability 

Product & Platform Engineering 

• Own delivery of end-to-end products, including: 
• Analytical and data-driven applications 
• Customer-facing and internal applications 
• APIs, domain services, and shared platforms 
• Partner with product leadership to translate strategy into scalable engineering roadmaps 
• Lead development of AI-enabled features and intelligent applications 
• Ensure strong SDLC practices (testing, CI/CD, release engineering) 
• Drive engineering accountability for product performance, reliability, and user experience 

Global Engineering Delivery 

• Lead global engineering teams across multiple regions and time zones 
• Establish product-aligned team structures with clear ownership of services and domains 
• Implement delivery governance with clear milestones and measurable outcomes 
• Optimize global delivery models to balance speed, quality, and cost 
• Manage capacity planning, workforce strategy, and vendor partnerships 

Operational Excellence & Reliability 

• Own performance, uptime, scalability, and cost efficiency across platforms and applications 
• Implement metrics-driven engineering management (velocity, quality, reliability, cost) 
• Establish observability across data, services, and AI systems 
• Drive SRE practices, including incident management and continuous improvement 
• Implement MLOps/LLMOps practices, including model monitoring, performance evaluation, and lifecycle management 
• Ensure compliance with security, privacy, and regulatory standards 

Talent & Culture 

• Build and scale global teams across: 
• Application engineering (frontend and backend) 
• Data engineering 
• Platform engineering 
• Develop leaders who own products and platforms end-to-end 
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and engineering excellence 

Required Experience 

• 12+ years of engineering experience, with 5+ years in senior leadership roles managing global teams 
• Proven experience leading application and platform engineering organizations, in addition to data platforms 
• Demonstrated success delivering complex, enterprise-scale systems and products 

Technical Expertise 

• Modern data architectures (lakehouse, streaming, warehouse) 
• Distributed systems and scalable backend architectures 
• Microservices and API design 
• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) 
• Strong programming background (e.g., Python, Java, or similar) 

AI & Data Systems 

• Experience building or scaling AI/ML-enabled platforms or applications in production 
• Understanding of: 
• Feature engineering and data modeling for AI 
• Model serving and inference patterns 
• Vector databases or semantic search 
• Retrieval-based or AI-enhanced application architectures 
• Experience integrating AI capabilities into real-world applications and workflows 
• Familiarity with MLOps or LLMOps practices 

What “Great” Looks Like 

• Builds platforms where data, applications, and AI operate as a unified system 
• Delivers end-to-end products, not just infrastructure or pipelines 
• Translates strategy into clear execution with measurable outcomes 
• Creates transparency into delivery health and system performance 
• Balances architectural rigor with pragmatic execution 
• Builds teams that deliver high-quality, scalable software products 

Leadership Traits 

• Technically credible across data, applications, and modern AI systems 
• Product-oriented mindset with focus on business outcomes 
• Operationally disciplined and metrics-driven 
• Clear, decisive communicator 
• Strong bias toward impact and continuous improvement 

Impact 

You will define both the technical foundation and product delivery engine for the DNA platform—shaping how data, applications, and AI capabilities come together to drive innovation, efficiency, and scalable growth. 

What We Offer

By choice, we don’t simply accept individuality – we embrace it, we support it, and we thrive on it! Our People First Culture celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion not simply because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s the key to our success. We are proud to foster an authentic and inclusive workplace For All. You are free and encouraged to bring your entire, unique self to work. First American is an equal opportunity employer in every sense of the term.

Based on eligibility, First American offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401k, PTO/paid sick leave and other great benefits like an employee stock purchase plan.

Pay Range: $236,700.00 - $315,500.00 Annually

This hiring range is a reasonable estimate of the base pay range for this position at the time of posting. Pay is based on a number of factors which may include job-related knowledge, skills, experience, business requirements and geographic location.