Director

Founding Technology Lead | Bangalore Engineering Center

Role Positioning

Build and scale a strategic engineering organization from the ground up.

Lead autonomous Agile pods with end-to-end accountability for\:

• Delivery
• Quality
• Stability
• Business outcomes

Partner directly with North American business and technology leadership on enterprise-scale banking platforms.

Description

A strategic Global Transaction Banking Engineering Center is being established in Bangalore to serve as a core extension of a North American technology organization.

This is not a traditional offshore support function. The center will operate through autonomous, cross-functional Agile pods responsible for\:

• End-to-end solution delivery
• Quality and engineering excellence
• Operational stability
• Business outcomes

The center will deliver mission-critical banking capabilities supporting\:

• Commercial Banking
• Corporate Banking
• Payments
• Treasury Services
• Cash Management
• Trade Finance
• Liquidity Management
• Digital Banking Platforms

The organization is seeking a Founding Technology Lead to build, scale, and evolve this center from inception. The leader will establish\:

• Operating model
• Engineering culture
• Delivery practices
• Talent strategy
• Governance framework
• Technical standards

The ideal candidate is a builder who has successfully established and scaled engineering organizations within complex regulated environments.

Why This Role Matters

• Build a strategic engineering organization from the ground up.
• Establish autonomous Agile delivery pods with true end-to-end accountability.
• Influence technology strategy for enterprise-scale banking platforms.
• Partner directly with executive leadership across North America.
• Develop future engineering and technology leaders.
• Create a world-class engineering destination recognized for technical excellence and business impact.

Key Responsibilities

Build and Scale the Engineering Organization

• Establish and scale a high-performing engineering organization consisting of\:
  • Software Engineers
  • Quality Engineers
  • DevOps Engineers
  • Business Systems Analysts
  • Architects
  • Technical Leads
• Design and implement a pod-based Agile operating model.
• Build organizational structures, career frameworks, succession plans, and leadership pipelines.
• Create a culture centered on accountability, ownership, engineering craftsmanship, and continuous improvement.
• Develop long-term talent strategies.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop future technology leaders.

Drive Delivery Excellence

• Establish delivery governance and performance management practices.
• Ensure predictable execution against business priorities and strategic objectives.
• Drive\:
  • Planning
  • Prioritization
  • Dependency management
  • Risk management
  • Release execution
• Implement measurable delivery KPIs.
• Lead teams through ambiguity and rapidly changing priorities.

Establish Engineering Excellence

• Define and implement engineering standards across all delivery teams.
• Drive adoption of cloud-native engineering practices.
• Establish\:
  • DevSecOps
  • CI/CD
  • Automation
  • Quality Engineering
  • Observability
  • Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
• Ensure SDLC controls and quality frameworks.
• Build a culture of technical excellence and engineering accountability.

Develop Technical Leadership Capability

• Establish strong local technical leadership capability.
• Mentor\:
  • Technical Leads
  • Architects
  • Engineering Managers
  • Senior Engineering Talent
• Ensure Bangalore-based ownership of technology decisions and architecture.
• Build engineering communities of practice and leadership forums.

Executive and Stakeholder Partnership

• Partner with North American business and technology executives.
• Translate business strategy into delivery execution.
• Provide delivery reporting and operational insights.
• Build relationships across\:
  • Product
  • Architecture
  • Security
  • Risk
  • Operations
  • Business Leadership
• Serve as trusted advisor on engineering strategy and organizational growth.

Required Qualifications

Financial Services Domain Expertise

• Minimum 10 years technology leadership experience within a G-SIB or comparable global financial institution.
• Deep experience in\:
  • Commercial Banking
  • Corporate Banking
  • Transaction Banking
  • Cash Management
  • Treasury Services
  • Payments
  • Liquidity Management
  • Trade Finance
• Strong understanding of banking regulatory, risk, security, governance, and operational requirements.

Organization Building Experience

• Proven experience building and scaling engineering organizations from inception.
• Demonstrated success establishing engineering practices, delivery centers, or distributed technology organizations.
• Experience designing\:
  • Operating models
  • Leadership structures
  • Talent strategies
  • Governance frameworks
  • Performance management models

Critical Requirement

Demonstrated experience building and scaling autonomous engineering organizations of 50+ professionals delivering end-to-end business capabilities within a large enterprise environment.

Agile Delivery Leadership

• Proven experience leading multiple Agile product teams or Agile delivery pods.
• Experience creating ownership-based delivery models.
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery frameworks, scaling models, and engineering governance.

Technical Expertise

Cloud & Platform Engineering

• Deep experience delivering cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure.
• Strong expertise in\:
  • Kubernetes
  • Container Platforms
  • Cloud-native Architectures
• Experience with\:
  • APIs
  • Microservices
  • Event-Driven Architectures
  • Enterprise Integration Patterns

Engineering Excellence

Hands-on experience implementing\:

• DevSecOps
• CI/CD
• Infrastructure as Code
• Automated Testing
• Quality Engineering
• Site Reliability Engineering
• Observability Platforms
• Monitoring Platforms

Modern Data Platforms

• Enterprise-scale data platforms
• Cloud-based data architectures
• Analytics ecosystems
• Modern data engineering practices

Leadership Competencies

Builder Mindset

• Ability to create organizations from the ground up.
• Passion for defining culture, standards, and operating models.
• History of creating sustainable engineering organizations.

Ownership Mentality

• Accountability for outcomes.
• Bias toward execution.
• Ability to empower teams while maintaining rigor.

Leading Through Ambiguity

• Effective decisions with incomplete information.
• Strong prioritization capability.
• Large-scale transformation experience.

Talent Development

• Proven ability to develop future leaders.
• Strong coaching and mentoring capabilities.
• Experience improving engagement, retention, and workforce stability.

Executive Presence

• Influence with senior business and technology leaders.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication.
• Experience operating within global organizations.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a builder, not an operator.

The person should have\:

• Successfully transformed distributed delivery teams into autonomous engineering organizations.
• Ownership of\:
  • Technology outcomes
  • Engineering quality
  • Operational resilience
  • Talent development
  • Business value delivery
• Ability to discuss\:
  • Business strategy
  • Product delivery
  • Technology architecture
  • Engineering practices
  • Organizational design
  • Leadership development