Sr. Manager, Research & Innovation - WEX Technology

WEXWEXUS•Remote, OH

11d•$192,700 - $211,700•Remote

About The Position

We are seeking a Sr. Manager, Research & Innovation to lead our R&I function within the Health & Benefits organization. This role is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and prototyping emerging technologies that will shape our next-generation platform capabilities—from AI-native engineering and agentic workflows to novel approaches in identity, data, and developer experience. You will own our innovation pipeline end-to-end: scanning the technology landscape, building proof-of-concept implementations, validating business applicability, and partnering with Architecture and Product teams to graduate promising innovations into production roadmaps. This is a hands-on leadership role that balances strategic technology foresight with the ability to build working prototypes that demonstrate the art of the possible. This role is ideal for a technologist who is energized by what's next—someone who reads research papers for fun, builds side projects to test new frameworks, and can translate bleeding-edge concepts into practical solutions for enterprise-scale problems.

Requirements

8+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with 3+ years leading innovation, R&D, or advanced engineering initiatives
Hands-on technical proficiency with the ability to personally build proof-of-concept implementations across multiple technology domains
Track record of technology evaluation that led to successful adoption decisions—and equally important, decisions to pass on technologies that weren't ready
Experience translating research into practice—taking concepts from whitepapers, conferences, or vendor pitches and determining real-world applicability
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both engineering and business audiences
Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and prototype with unfamiliar technologies, languages, and frameworks
Solid foundation in distributed systems, cloud platforms (AWS and/or Azure), and modern application architectures
Familiarity with AI/ML concepts including large language models, prompt engineering, embeddings, and retrieval-augmented generation
Understanding of API design, event-driven architectures, and integration patterns
Awareness of security and compliance considerations in regulated industries (HIPAA, PCI-DSS experience is a plus)
Genuinely curious about emerging technology—you read Hacker News, follow research labs, and experiment with new tools on your own time
Comfortable with ambiguity and able to structure exploration when the destination isn't clear
Pragmatic optimist who can separate hype from substance and identify what's actually production-ready
Skilled at building consensus and generating excitement for new ideas across skeptical audiences
Resilient in the face of failed experiments—you treat negative results as valuable data

Nice To Haves

Background in healthcare technology, benefits administration, or payments/fintech
Experience with agentic AI systems, workflow orchestration, or autonomous agent architectures
Familiarity with developer experience tooling, platform engineering, or internal developer platforms
Contributions to open-source projects or published technical writing
Experience managing vendor relationships and technology partnerships

Responsibilities

Own and operate the innovation funnel with Product from Ideation → Validation → PoC → Incubation → Graduation, managing initiatives across both revenue-generating and internal efficiency tracks
Develop structured intake processes that capture innovation ideas from across the organization and prioritize based on strategic fit and feasibility
Define success criteria for each pipeline stage and make go/no-go recommendations to leadership
Maintain visibility into pipeline status and communicate progress to stakeholders through regular readouts
Continuously scan the technology landscape for emerging trends, tools, and techniques relevant to fintech, healthcare, benefits administration, and enterprise platforms
Monitor competitor and industry developments including product launches, patent filings, conference presentations, and open-source releases
Evaluate new technologies against our architectural principles, compliance requirements, and operational constraints
Build and maintain a technology radar that informs architectural and product decisions
Produce written assessments and recommendations that help leadership make informed technology adoption decisions
Lead hands-on development of proof-of-concept implementations that demonstrate viability and value of emerging technologies
Design PoCs that answer specific technical and business questions with minimal investment
Build working prototypes across a range of technology areas including AI/ML, agentic systems, developer tooling, integration patterns, and user experience innovations
Document PoC outcomes with clear findings, limitations, and recommendations for next steps
Ensure successful PoCs can be evolved into production-ready patterns
Establish relationships with technology vendors to gain early access to roadmaps, betas, and partnership opportunities
Engage with academic institutions, research labs, and industry consortia to stay connected to foundational research
Represent WEX at conferences, meetups, and technology forums; contribute thought leadership through writing and speaking
Facilitate vendor evaluations and pilot programs in partnership with Procurement and Legal
Lead and mentor a small team of research engineers, fostering a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and rigorous evaluation
Create an environment where creative exploration is balanced with disciplined execution
Coach team members on technical skills, research methodology, and stakeholder communication
Collaborate closely with Architecture, Engineering, Product, and Security teams to ensure R&I efforts align with organizational priorities