CONTEXT
Colombia's leading BNPL fintech with explosive growth but no structured data team. Every decision depended on ad-hoc requests and fragmented tools.
CHALLENGE
Accelerated growth without mature data infrastructure. Dashboards fragmented across 3 tools, ~3h data latency, 90% ad-hoc requests consuming the team.
SOLUTION
Data strategy aligned with C-level. BI consolidation (Looker), Data Academy, NRT pipelines and cost optimization.
WHAT I DID
Led and prioritized a team of 15 data engineers and analysts. Migrated dashboards from 3 tools (Databricks, Imply, Periscope) to Looker. Created Data Academy training ~70 employees. Implemented NRT pipelines for critical cases. Optimized the platform reducing costs by 32%.
RESULTS
Data cost reduction YoY
Pipeline latency to NRT
Employees trained in SQL/Looker
Ad-hoc request reduction
WHAT WAS HARD
Speed vs. quality: in a startup, ship fast or die. Chose rapid iterations with rigorous statistical validation. The biggest challenge was shifting the culture from "request data" to "self-serve".