Sr. Manager, Research & Innovation - WEX Technology

Sr. Manager, Research & Innovation – WEX Technology Location: Remote (US) | Portland, ME | Dallas, TX | Chicago, IL Reports To: VP of Engineering, Architecture, Research & Innovation Department: WEX Technology About WEX WEX is a global commerce platform that simplifies the business of running a business. We operate at the intersection of financial technology and benefits administration, serving millions of consumers and thousands of employers through our Health & Benefits, Corporate Payments, and Mobility solutions. Our Health & Benefits business processes billions of dollars in healthcare payments annually and administers benefits for a significant portion of the U.S. workforce. The Opportunity 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. What You'll Do Innovation Pipeline Leadership 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 Technology Scouting & Evaluation 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 Proof-of-Concept Development 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 Strategic Focus Areas AI-Native Engineering: Explore applications of large language models, agentic workflows, and AI-assisted development practices to accelerate engineering productivity and product capabilities Emerging Identity & Security: Evaluate decentralized identity, passkeys, zero-trust architectures, and privacy-enhancing technologies Data & Analytics Innovation: Investigate advanced analytics, real-time processing, and intelligent automation opportunities Developer Experience: Identify tools, frameworks, and practices that improve developer productivity and platform usability Partnerships & External Engagement 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 Team Leadership 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 What You'll Bring Required Experience 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 Technical Breadth 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) Innovation Mindset 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 Preferred Experience 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 Why WEX Greenfield innovation mandate: Dedicated investment in exploring what's next, not just maintaining what exists Real-world impact: Your innovations will eventually serve millions of people managing their healthcare benefits Technical depth: Work alongside experienced architects and engineers solving complex, high-stakes problems Executive visibility: Direct line to leadership with opportunities to present findings and recommendations Learning culture: An organization that values continuous learning and experimentation The base pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the pay range for this position. Actual pay rates will vary and will be based on various factors, such as your qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role. Base pay is one component of WEX's total compensation package. Most sales positions are eligible for commission under the terms of an applicable plan. Non-sales roles are typically eligible for a quarterly or annual bonus based on their role and applicable plan. WEX's comprehensive and market competitive benefits are designed to support your personal and professional well-being. Benefits include health, dental and vision insurances, retirement savings plan, paid time off, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability insurance, tuition reimbursement, and more. For more information, check out the "About Us" section. Pay Range: $192,700.00 - $211,700.00