Rajeev Maria
A TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE WHO INVIGORATES AND STRUCTURES STARTUP FIRMS WITH THE ABILITY TO SUCCESSFULLY TRAVERSE AND TRANSFORM LARGER ENTERPRISES.
Rajeev Maria is a top-notch engineering executive with extensive experience in building world-class engineering teams. He is exceptionally adept at rebuild initiatives.
He most recently served as the Vice President of Experimentation Engineering at Optimizely. When the firm lost 80% of its technology and product employees after a private equity acquisition, Rajeev rolled up his sleeves to learn the complex product and corresponding technology. From there, he hired staff in the US, Colombia, and Bangladesh to transform into an organization that could deliver new A-B Testing products and led a data migration effort of over 45 petabytes to Google BigQuery. This incorporated the move of the firm’s data ingestion pipeline, which was part of a 5-year commitment with Google Cloud Platform. Optimizely had an ARR of over $400M – the experimentation business was over $100M of that with profit margins well north of 90%.
Rajeev has spent the lion’s share of his career in financial services. He played a significant role in the comeback of PayPal. When he joined the firm in 2007, PayPal (then under eBay umbrella) was struggling mightily – the stock was $13, the company had to layoff 8% of its staff, and it was going through significant production issues. The then-CTO of PayPal said that Financial Systems Engineering was the biggest problem in the company.
Rajeev took over the FinSys vertical and rapidly changed the operating model and culture from fix-forward and firefighting to quality and performant. After software releases became uneventful, Rajeev, as the first vertical leader to not be based in San Jose, expanded the organization to Scottsdale and India (Chennai). He then restructured his team to be horizontal-based (real-time, settlement, and reconciliation) to optimize product and technology roadmaps. Rajeev was instrumental in leading an initiative that would lead credit card authorizations from 5+ seconds to milliseconds. He left an indelible mark in his nearly 7 years at the company.
Rajeev started his career at Bank of America Systems Engineering. He went through a fast-track engineering career which culminated with him being an engineering lead on a private extranet site for the bank’s Global Capital Markets Fortune 1000 clients and money managers. Rajeev ultimately got tabbed to lead the entire program, which the then-CEO stated was ”a top 5 initiative for the bank.
Rajeev wore multiple hats from there – leading direct teams, dotted-line groups, and consultants to build a currency trading module, portfolio analytics, and economic research module. He visited corporate clients, like Disney and Nike, to train clients. Rajeev had to convince his bank’s information security team to change firewall rules and went to London to negotiate data rates with British Telecom for BofA’s trading floor there. This was a tremendous company win that was the highlight of Rajeev’s six-year run there.
That role prepared Rajeev for E*OFFERING, a joint venture between E*TRADE and a few institutional investors. The firm gave IPO and private placement opportunities to the masses. Rajeev had to shutdown an office and build organization from scratch. He managed the build of a technology platform that was dynamically moving shares from his company to E*T’s IPO center. The firm was acquired by what is now Schwab Soundview for over $300M. Rajeev ran a large SaaS team for Wells Fargo Home Lending, where he ran all the services that managed data movement in the entire mortgage process. He sharpened his white-paper and presentation skills at Visa, before joining a subsidiary where he implemented the strategies that he created while at International. Rajeev also led technology at a startup in water company where he led organization to $25M funding round to build a SaaS platform. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Mathematics – he gained the former at 19yo and the latter just shy of his 21st birthday.
Who am i?
Rajeev is a technology executive based in San Diego County. He prides himself on building top-notch engineering organizations that can innovate. He brings deep experience in transforming and rebuilding startups and large firms.
Outside of the office, Rajeev enjoys body surfing and trail-running now that he has retired from pickup basketball and tennis. Rajeev and his wife are getting ready to be empty nesters as their fourth child is on his way to college in the fall of ‘25
Goals
My plan is to leverage my skills and experience to build a scalable organization with the next generation of engineering leaders.
Skillset
Combines strong business acumen with the ability to fosterproductive, globally-focused cultures and lead technology teams through the complex processes odevelopment, deployment, and integration. Growth-driving strategist who delivers groundbreakingcorporate and market value through innovations for leading Internet and financial services firms
Specialization
Global Delivery
Organization Engineering
Developing High Performance Teams
Data Transformation
Quality Engineering
Finance Technology
Experimentation
SaaS
Directed and completely rebuilt Experimentation Engineering organization for a private equity firm that saw a mass exodus prior to my tenure.
Managing the Lending Grid platform, which accounts for framework, capabilities, services, and data analysis for all of Home Lending organization.
Led startup organization in migration from managed services firm to a SaaS company.
Helped lead transformation of company’s startup culture into sophisticated global eCommerce leader.
Pioneered development standards for firm to allow effective production of large HR information system initiatives.
Directed international team to create open platform for safe eCommerce transactions, strengthening company’s market leadership.
Spearheaded creation of groundbreaking website and technology platform that positioned firm for $300M acquisition by Schwab Soundview.
Delivered one of the bank’s 5 most important initiatives in its history: private extranet targeting Fortune 1000 clients that propelled bank to the forefront of its market.
Carlsbad, CA
OPTIMIZELY
- Overhauled organization with 80+ leaders and engineers across US, Colombia, and Bangladesh to run all SaaS product, data, and analytics development in support of large corporate clients. Team had $20M budget for a business line that made over $100M in Annual Recurring Revenue.
- Managed data ingestion pipeline migration and platform as part of firm’s multi-million dollar partnership with Google Cloud – this included 45PB analytics data store move from Hbase on AWS to Google BigQuery.
- Modernized Python codebase to deliver highly performant and scalable applications.
- Conducted two-pronged strategy with client base by leveraging SaaS for all, while deputizing a few of my leads to provide white glove treatment for those customers with sophisticated A/B testing methodologies.
Phoenix, AZ
WELLS FARGO
- Headed the Lending Grid framework, which handles all service development and 3rd party connectivity within Home Lending. The team includes over 100 engineers and data analysts in the US and India.
- Revamped development methodology to Agile Scrum and Kanban in an organization that was 100% Waterfall and specifically to support demands on middleware teams.
- Drove overhaul of Pricing architecture and delivered new platform for all lines of business within Home Lending (Originations, Correspondent, Capital Markets) and non-Home Lending (Wealth, Auto, Personal Lines & Loans).
- Oversaw all 3rd Party Technology Relationships and Programs within Home Lending including vendors, government-sponsored enterprises, and Mortgage Industry Standard Maintenance Organization
Phoenix, AZ
FATHOM
- Ran both product and technology organizations for the startup. Ran an organization over 20 employees and 50+ consultants in Phoenix and India with a budget over $10M.
- Formulated a Software-As-A-Service model for water sector that fit for company and its partner organizations.
- Shepherded firm through product and technology diligence with investor, which concluded in a significant Series B funding.
- Created strategy for building key products - Customer Information Systems and Meter Data Management and sunsetting antiquated legacy platforms.
Scottsdale, AZ
PAYPAL
- Directed application development for global eCommerce company’s financial systems, ensuring smooth operation of credit card, buyer credit, and bank transfer activities. Lead team of 4 direct reports for 80-person multinational organization (San Jose, Scottsdale, India) and manage budget of $40M+. Spearhead long-term architecture for new Settlement and Reconciliation organization.
- Co-launched Scottsdale development office and transformed mindset from Silicon Valley startup focus to global outlook that allowed successful decentralization of software product development to accelerate completion and implementation.
- Saved company millions of dollars in transaction fees by bypassing Visa and MasterCard processing with external processing agreements.
- Integrated Bill Me Later acquisition into systems as part of strategy to produce millions of dollars in savings through in-house transactions.
Chandler, AZ
COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL
- Led strategic planning and operations of HRIS application development organization for $10B mortgage lender with 10,000 employees. Managed $20M budget and 3 directors in organization with 5 managers/developers and 10 business systems analysts.
- Leveraged entrepreneurial mindset to launch Chandler office and build application team.
- Overcame gaps in PeopleSoft modules by leading development of home-grown, high transaction applications with .NET, including objective-based bonus system for managers.
- Introduced company’s first-ever proper development practices including Software Development Life Cycle, QA, and SOX compliance, saving millions of dollars in potential fines.
- Seamlessly integrated 3rd-party applications for large initiatives including Taleo’s applicant tracking software and products for learning and performance managements.
Tempe, AZ and Foster City, CA
VISA
- Delivered both strategic and tactical leadership for product development function, leading 40+ international staff (US and India) and managing $10M+ budget.
- Directed entire POS product set processing millions of transactions daily, including terminals merchant system of record, eCommerce transaction systems, connectivity platforms, PC-based applications.
- Led development of innovative products such as Dynamic Currency Conversion to allow international cardholders to process US transactions in either US dollars or their own currency.
- Launched and developed remote team in India to engage in ambitious projects that streamlined services for merchants and delivered new functionality for consumers.
Foster City, CA
VISA
- Envisioned and executed technology strategy. Managed 10 software architects and $2M budget.
- Masterminded open platform strategy for trusted eCommerce transactions and data communication for Visa and its member banks, strengthening Visa’s market leadership within payment industry through “Verified by Visa” product.
- Co-authored white papers and delivered presentations on platform strategy and other projects at all levels of Visa organization.
- Safeguarded Visa innovations by devising intellectual property rights strategy for all Internet-related activities.
San Francisco, CA
SCUDDER WEISEL CAPITAL
- Wore multiple hats for startup Internet investment bank that dissolved before full operations, leading 6 direct reports in organization with 70 staff and 50 outside consultants. Headed development to enable research, portfolio analytics, equity trading, and venture capital application. Managed $15M+ budget.
- Built technology platform for new firm still in use by Thomas Weisel Partners today.
- Led team development, along with SiteMinder, gave user seamless access to partner servers while maintaining SWC branding experience.
San Francisco, CA
E*OFFERING
- Directed development of startup Internet investment bank backed by E*TRADE, General Atlantic, and other partners. Served as firm’s technology advisor evaluating potential technology investments.
- Spearheaded creation of groundbreaking website and technology platform that positioned firm for $300M acquisition by Soundview.
- Reorganized technology operations by swiftly closing Newport Beach office and opening San Francisco office, seamlessly leading new employees to build new technology platform.
- Achieved development of cutting edge initiatives including online private placements of venture capital and using XML-based technology to distribute shares to E*TRADE’s IPO Center.
San Francisco, CA
BANK OF AMERICA
- Progressed through fast-track career with multiple promotions from Systems Engineer to VP. Delivered one of the most important initiatives for one of the world’s leading financial institutions. Managed 5 directreports for 40-person organization and 100 indirect reports.
- Pioneered a $12M private extranet site for economic research, portfolio analytics, and online trading for Fortune 1000 CFOs and money managers.
- Attracted high-profile clients like Nike, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s, generating tens of millions in revenue.
- Transformed the bank’s culture, positioning it at the forefront of Internet services within the market.
Dublin/Modesto, CA
PAYLESS NORTHWEST
Modesto/Stockton/San Ramon, CA
PACIFIC BELL
Public Speaking Engagements.
California State University Stanislaus
California State University Stanislaus
Pacific Bell
1990 - 1991
PAYLESS NORTHWEST
1991 - 1993
Bank of America
1993 - 1999
E*OFFERING
1999 - 2000
Scudder Weisel Capital
2000 - 2001
Visa
Visa International
2001 - 2003
Visa
Vital Processing Services
2004
COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL
2005 - 2007
Paypal
2007 - 2014
Fathom
2014
Wells Fargo
2015 - 2021
OPTIMIZELY
2021 - 2024
