James Kelso

Trailblazer
DISC Type : ID

Director of Data Engineering at Kin Insurance

Cincinnati Metropolitan Area, United States

Overview

James is a data engineering leader with over 15 years of experience, currently serving as the Director of Data Engineering at Kin Insurance. His career showcases a unique journey from a business expert learning to code to a director at a Fortune 100 company, 84. 51˚.

Outside of his technical leadership, James is committed to helping others advance their careers. He actively uses his professional network to find opportunities for family members and colleagues and promotes open roles on his teams, demonstrating a passion for building strong teams through mentorship.

He once co-founded a mobile app company, Vervv, which launched multilingual apps that achieved Apple staff pick status and a 4. 5/5 rating with hundreds of thousands of downloads.

Personality Overview

Friendly But Fast

Values Relationships

Achievement-Oriented

A combination of speed and relationship gets the best response from them.  They are more likely to accept new and exciting technologies. They will fight for you if they come to believe in you.

Topics They Care About

Hiring Data Engineers
He is actively recruiting for his teams at Kin, frequently posting about open roles for staff, senior, and principal data engineers to build out their data lakehouses.
Data Platform Architecture
He leads teams responsible for data availability, quality, privacy, and orchestration, and is focused on architecting and implementing Kin's data platform.
Scaling Tech Teams
In a previous role at 84. 51˚, he successfully scaled his data-focused team from just two members to approximately 30 people to support business growth.

Media Appearances

James has no verified media appearances

Work History

3-2025
Director of Data Engineering at Kin Insurance
1-2023 - 3-2025
Director, Enterprise Data Products at 84.51˚
1-2023
Director, Enterprise Data Services at 84.51˚
Director, Prism Measurement at 84.51˚
Managing Consultant at Cardinal Solutions

Education

8-1998 - 5-2002
High School Diploma from God's Bible School & College

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 2 Location : Cincinnati Metropolitan Area, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Director of Data Engineering at Kin Insurance
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Insights For Selling To James

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Talk about yourself and some of your achievements at the start of the conversation
  • Ask them for a lunch or coffee once some rapport has been established
  • Showcase existing customers and use case-studies to grab their attention

DONT's

  • Don't make any commitments that you might not be able to fulfill
  • Don’t hesitate from asking questions or pushing them, but take a friendly approach
  • Don’t force involvement of other stakeholders unless it is critical

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with James is

  • Relationship and product conviction matter equally, followed by a sense of achievement.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from James

  • If they are not convinced, they will say no though in a friendly way.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will James move?

  • They can reach decisions quickly if they develop trust and confidence in the product.
  • Can James take some risk or not?

  • If necessary, they will be ready to take risks.

You And James

Personality Compatibility


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