Derek Gottfrid

Wildcard
DISC Type : isc

Global Head of Engineering at Paxos

New York, New York, United States

Overview

Derek Gottfrid is the Global Head of Engineering at Paxos, a regulated blockchain infrastructure company. His career showcases a blend of senior engineering and product leadership, including roles as Chief Product Officer at CLEAR and a long tenure as CTO of The New York Times, where he led their digital API strategy. He is a graduate of Boston University with a degree in Computers.

There is no publicly available information about Dereks personal life, hobbies, or interests outside of his professional accomplishments.

During his time at The New York Times, he spearheaded the ambitious project to digitize and make available every public domain article from 1851 to 1922.

Personality Overview

ROI Driven

Friendly But Slow

Curious But Skeptical

They are often friendly and nice, but can sometimes suprise you with their piercing questions  They are unlikely to ever become strong champions even when the conversations are going well; you should focus on cultivating other champions They typically tend to be late adopters even when they seem friendly and excited about what you have to sell

Topics They Care About

Blockchain Infrastructure
As the Global Head of Engineering at Paxos, he is focused on building regulated, transparent, and transformative financial solutions on the blockchain.
Regulated Innovation
He emphasizes building with rigor and compliance, viewing federal structures like the OCC trust charter as a critical foundation for the digital asset industry.
Developer Platforms
He has a history of creating APIs for external developers, from his work at The New York Times to enabling partners to build products on Paxos's platform.

Media Appearances

Derek has no verified media appearances

Work History

2-2025
Global Head of Engineering at Paxos
9-2023 - 2-2025
Chief Product Officer at CLEAR (clearme.com)
10-2022 - 9-2023
Senior Vice President of ❌Engineering ✅Product at CLEAR (clearme.com)
5-2021 - 11-2022
Senior Principal Engineer at CLEAR (clearme.com)
1-2018 - 2-2022
Co-Founder at Caisson

Education

Computers from Boston University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 27 Location : New York, New York, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Global Head of Engineering at Paxos
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Derek

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Help them understand the risk aspect fully while inspiring confidence
  • Ask them questions to understand their needs better while staying affable
  • Help them realize that there is no personal risk in making this decision

DONT's

  • Don’t overhype the product/pitch, keep it measured
  • Do not sound overly eager, modulate your energy levels especially if you are generally enthusiastic
  • Don't ask them to move fast, let them take their time and digest all the information

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Derek is

  • Clear proof of product value matters to them, followed by others' testimonials and rapport.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Derek

  • They are likely to give you a clear answer without taking you around in circles. However, if you share a good relationship, they might not be so forthcoming.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Derek move?

  • They like to perform full analysis and can take time to make any decision.
  • Can Derek take some risk or not?

  • They weigh all decisions systematically and are unlikely to take many risks.

You And Derek

Personality Compatibility


Other Paxos Employees

Explore more public profiles from related professionals at the same organization.

More Profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Search more profiles

Looking for someone else? Search here for anyone.

Or visit Humantic AI to know more.