Director of Product Systems & Architecture

About This Role

Tax Maverick | $180K–$220K Base + 15–20% Performance Incentive Executive-Caliber Thinker. Director-Level Operator. Hands-On Builder. Tax Maverick is looking for a hands-on product leader to help architect both the product and the systems that enable our team to build it faster. This is not a traditional executive role focused on managing layers of leaders. We’re looking for someone who can personally work through product architecture, requirements, workflows, UX, data, delivery bottlenecks, and product decisions. We care more about what you’ve built than the title you’ve held. What You’ll Own * Translate founder and market vision into product architecture and roadmap. * Architect Tax Maverick across firm, organization, client, tax, and business intelligence, AI, and advisory-first practice management. * Build a product operating system that moves ideas from vision → build-ready work → production. * Improve PRDs, workflows, user stories, UX logic, data requirements, and acceptance criteria. * Identify and remove bottlenecks across product, UX, engineering, QA, and decision-making. * Enable multiple product workstreams to move in parallel. * Embed AI into product development and improve team output and quality. * Develop product leaders and build systems that reduce dependency on individual knowledge. What We’re Looking For * Experience building product systems, architecture, teams, or operating models in a scaling SaaS company. * Strong background in workflow-heavy SaaS, CRM, practice management, fintech, accounting software, or similarly complex products. * Demonstrated AI product experience. * Strong systems, platform, workflow, and data-model thinking. * Technical fluency and the ability to work effectively with UX and engineering. * Proven ability to operate in ambiguity, challenge constructively, and work directly with founders. * A genuine builder mentality. You still enjoy getting into the details and doing the work. What Success Looks Like Your mandate is to help Tax Maverick significantly increase meaningful product velocity without sacrificing quality, coherence, or customer outcomes, including enabling multiple product workstreams to execute in parallel. Why Tax Maverick? We’re building more than tax software. Our ambition is to create the operating system that powers the Primary Advisor, connecting client intelligence, tax intelligence, AI, advisory, practice management, and the full client journey. If you’ve built the machine before and still want to build it yourself, we want to hear from you. Apply or reach out directly at www.davidaperez.com/careers or email careers@davidaperez.com with the subject line: Applicant for Director of Product Systems & Architecture

What You'll Do

• Translate founder and market vision into product architecture and a clear, sequenced roadmap.
• Architect Tax Maverick across firm, organization, client, tax, and business intelligence, Goose AI, and advisory-first practice management.
• Build a repeatable product operating system that moves ideas from vision → build-ready requirements → production.
• Personally improve PRDs, workflows, user stories, data requirements, UX logic, edge cases, and acceptance criteria.
• Identify and remove bottlenecks across product, UX/UI, domain context, engineering handoff, QA, and decision-making.
• Design a pod/parallel-workstream model so multiple meaningful initiatives can move simultaneously.
• Establish practical build vs. buy vs. embed vs. integrate decision frameworks.
• Embed AI into the product-development process to improve output and quality.
• Partner with Engineering and Operations leadership on architecture, dependencies, capacity, and delivery.
• Establish metrics around adoption, business outcomes, quality, and product velocity.
• Develop existing product leaders and distribute product knowledge so the organization is not dependent on one person.
• In short: The person will own the product architecture + product operating system + velocity improvement, while still being hands-on in the actual product work.

What We're Looking For

• Proven SaaS product-building experience — personally helped build product systems, architecture, teams, or operating models during meaningful company growth, ideally from roughly $10M toward $100M revenue or comparable complexity.
• Hands-on product leadership — has created, built, launched, or materially redesigned product organizations/systems rather than simply inheriting and managing them.
• Complex SaaS experience — workflow-heavy vertical SaaS, CRM, practice management, fintech, accounting software, or similar operational products preferred.
• AI product experience — demonstrated experience shipping AI-enabled products or using AI meaningfully in product development.
• Strong systems thinking — thinks in platforms, systems, workflows, and data models rather than isolated features.
• Founder collaboration — can absorb a founder's vision and context quickly while bringing independent judgment and constructive challenge.
• Leadership development — able to coach existing leaders and build organizational capability rather than creating dependency on themselves.
• Technical fluency — comfortable working with engineering and understanding architecture, dependencies, workflows, and technical decisions; does not need to be the strongest coder.
• Hands-on mindset — willing to personally work through PRDs, workflows, user journeys, data structures, prototypes, acceptance criteria, prioritization, bottlenecks, and product decisions.