Karun Harikrishnan

Director of Engineering

Philadelphia, PA, United States20 yrs 7 mos experience

Highly Stable

Key Highlights

$30M+ revenue impact through data-driven strategies.
Led zero-disruption integration across 5 acquisitions.
Achieved 300% increase in self-service analytics adoption.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fintech and Data Architecture expert with a strong focus on enterprise data solutions.

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Skills

Core Skills

Data StrategyData ArchitectureData Warehouse ArchitectureData Modeling

Other Skills

Executive LeadershipData StrategiesAWSSnowflakeDatabricksMLOpsMySQLPostgreSQLTableauSQL ServerETLDimensional ModelingETL/ELT ArchitectureGlobal Client ManagementStakeholder Management

About

I'm currently exploring Head of Data, VP of Data Platform, and Senior Director opportunities where I can drive real transformation — not just move metrics on a slide. Over 20 years I've built data organizations that generate revenue, cut costs, and hold together through acquisitions. The work I'm most proud of isn't the technology, it's the outcomes it produced: 💰 $30M+ incremental revenue through predictive pricing (12% uplift), churn reduction (20% improvement), and fraud detection (35% loss reduction) 💰 $5M+ annual cost savings through cloud optimization and strategic architecture decisions 💰 $200M+ in M&A synergies integrating data platforms across 5 acquisitions without disruption 🏗️ Data platforms processing $150B+ annually at 99.9% uptime, serving 10,000+ users 🏗️ Enterprise data lakes at 500TB+ with governance and self-service built in from the start 🏗️ 6 production ML models deployed with full MLOps practices generating measurable business value 👥 Cross-functional teams spanning data engineering, analytics engineering, ML engineering, and platform engineering 👥 85% retention rate with 5 team members advancing to senior and staff positions 👥 300% increase in self-service analytics adoption, because a platform nobody uses isn't a platform I believe data teams should be revenue generators, not cost centers. The platforms I build give people answers without filing a ticket. 📍 Malvern, PA | 📧 karun.harikrishnan@gmail.com | 🇺🇸 US Citizen

Experience

20 yrs 7 mos

Total Experience

6 yrs 10 mos

Average Tenure

Current Experience

Fiserv

Director, Head of Data Engineering and Analytics

Dec 2016 – Sep 2025 · 8 yrs 9 mos · King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States · On-site

Led enterprise data transformation for a Fortune 500 fintech processing $150B+ in annual payment volume.
💰 Strategic Impact
Drove $30M+ revenue growth through predictive pricing (12% uplift), churn reduction, and fraud detection. Secured $5M+ capital investment approvals through board-level presentations. Led zero-disruption data integration across 5 acquisitions enabling $200M+ in cost synergies.
👥 Team & Organization
Built cross-functional data organization across engineering, analytics, ML, and platform functions. Achieved 80% retention with multiple team members advancing to VP and senior leadership. Managed $5M+ annual technology budget with 30% vendor cost reductions.
🏗️ Platform & Architecture
Architected payment infrastructure processing $150B+ annually at 99.9% uptime. Deployed 6 production ML models across fraud detection, churn prediction, and pricing optimization. Built AWS data lakehouse (500TB+) with Snowflake, Databricks, Kafka, and full PCI-DSS/SOC2 compliance.

Executive LeadershipData StrategiesData ArchitectureAWSSnowflakeDatabricks+2

Katabat

Director, Head of Data and Insights

Apr 2012 – Dec 2016 · 4 yrs 8 mos · Wilmington, DE · On-site

Scaled global data infrastructure supporting 300% business growth across 3 countries.
💰 Strategic Impact
Reduced infrastructure costs 25% through strategic capacity planning while supporting 300% user growth. Secured board approval for multi-million dollar capital investments through ROI-focused business cases. Delivered executive dashboards with real-time product metrics and financial insights transforming leadership decisions.
👥 Team & Organization
Led global team managing 110+ MySQL/PostgreSQL servers with 24/7 operations across international time zones. Managed annual technology budget, vendor negotiations, and hardware refresh cycles. Partnered with product, sales, and finance teams delivering data-driven insights shaping product roadmap and go-to-market strategies.
🏗️ Platform & Architecture
Architected globally distributed database infrastructure across 6 data centers in 3 countries with zero data loss guarantees. Managed 6 Tableau hosted servers democratizing analytics across global stakeholders. Improved query performance 60% through ETL optimization and data warehouse architecture redesign.

Data StrategyData ArchitectureMySQLPostgreSQLTableau

Cognizant technology solutions

BI Architect and Data Warehousing Specialist

Feb 2005 – Apr 2012 · 7 yrs 2 mos · Wilmington, DE · On-site

Delivered enterprise data warehouse and BI solutions for Fortune 500 clients across insurance, energy, healthcare, and manufacturing, progressing from developer to architect over 7 years.
🏗️ Client Engagements
ACE Insurance: Architected 400GB SQL Server data warehouse for multinational claims processing, reducing ETL processing time 83% (24 to 4 hours) while maintaining 1,000+ complex business rules. Led 12-member cross-functional team through full implementation — received Employee of the Quarter award.
Travelers Insurance: Built DB2-to-SQL Server ETL pipeline with Type-2 slowly changing dimensions supporting 500+ concurrent users across claims, underwriting, and finance. Delivered self-service reporting reducing IT bottlenecks.
Marathon Petroleum: Reduced OLAP cube build time 75% (8 to 2 hours) enabling real-time inventory analytics across multiple refineries processing 30GB data and 50,000 files daily.
Additional clients: EDS/HP Enterprise Services (60% query performance improvement), John Deere Health (claims auto-adjudication 26% to 52%), Perdue Farms, Alliance Data.

Data Warehouse ArchitectureData ModelingSQL ServerETL