Role : Application Development Manager - Software Architecture & Engineering

Location : Mumbai

Experience : 10 - 20 Years

About the Role :

We are looking for an experienced Application Development Manager to lead the engineering and architectural evolution of enterprise-grade financial software platforms.

This role combines hands-on technical ownership with engineering leadership, requiring a professional who can design complex systems, contribute to critical application components, and establish robust development practices while guiding a team of engineers.

The successful candidate will drive technology strategy, strengthen application scalability and resilience, and oversee the delivery of business-critical solutions.

With a strong foundation in Python, JavaScript-based technologies, and AWS, the individual will also explore emerging capabilities such as AI/ML and serverless computing to improve platform performance and operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities :

1. Application Engineering & Technical Ownership :

- Contribute directly to the development of high-impact application components using Python, React, and Node.js, particularly where advanced technical expertise is required.

- Establish engineering standards for code structure, maintainability, security, testing, and performance across development teams.

- Review complex code changes and architectural implementations, ensuring adherence to established design principles and technical guidelines.

- Lead the investigation of critical application failures, identify underlying defects, and implement sustainable corrective measures.

- Develop and evaluate proof-of-concept solutions to assess the feasibility of new technologies, AI/ML capabilities, and infrastructure modernization initiatives.

- Improve application performance through code optimization, database query tuning, and efficient resource utilization.

2. Architecture & Platform Modernization :

- Define application architecture for scalable, secure, and highly available financial technology systems.

- Establish architectural guidelines covering service decomposition, API design, inter-service communication, data consistency, and fault tolerance.

- Drive the evolution of AWS-hosted applications toward cloud-native and serverless architectures where appropriate.

- Evaluate emerging frameworks, development tools, and infrastructure capabilities to identify opportunities for technical improvement.

- Develop architectural roadmaps that balance business growth, system reliability, implementation complexity, and long-term maintainability.

- Identify technology risks, architectural dependencies, and potential points of failure, implementing appropriate mitigation strategies.

- Ensure application designs accommodate growing transaction volumes, integration requirements, and changing business needs.

3. Engineering Leadership & Capability Development :

- Provide technical direction to engineering teams, guiding implementation decisions and resolving complex development challenges.

- Mentor developers on software design, debugging techniques, coding practices, application performance, and architectural problem-solving.

- Conduct technical reviews, knowledge-sharing sessions, and targeted training to strengthen engineering capabilities.

- Assess team competencies and resource requirements to support effective allocation of work across development initiatives.

- Encourage accountability, continuous improvement, and engineering ownership throughout the software development lifecycle.

- Promote collaboration between developers, architects, QA professionals, and infrastructure teams.

4. Delivery Governance & Business Collaboration :

- Oversee the complete software development lifecycle, from requirement analysis and solution design through implementation, release, and production support.

- Translate business objectives into technical specifications, delivery plans, and measurable engineering outcomes.

- Coordinate with product management and operations stakeholders to establish priorities, manage dependencies, and align technical execution with business requirements.

- Balance feature delivery with technical debt reduction, infrastructure improvements, and application stability initiatives.

- Monitor delivery risks, resolve technical blockers, and ensure development milestones meet agreed quality and reliability standards.

- Establish effective processes for release readiness, incident management, technical documentation, and ongoing platform maintenance.

5. Security, Reliability & Compliance :

- Integrate security considerations into application architecture, development workflows, and cloud deployment practices.

- Promote secure coding standards, access control, vulnerability management, and appropriate handling of sensitive financial information.

- Support the implementation of monitoring, logging, recovery mechanisms, and operational safeguards for business-critical systems.

- Align engineering practices with applicable organizational security policies and relevant compliance requirements.

Required Qualifications :

- 10 - 20 years of experience in software development, application engineering, and technical leadership.

- At least 5 years of experience in a combined technical leadership and software architecture capacity.

- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline.

- Strong hands-on programming experience in Python, with working expertise in React and Node.js.

- Demonstrated capability in designing and delivering enterprise applications with complex integration and performance requirements.

- Strong understanding of application architecture, distributed systems, microservices, API design, and cloud-native development.

- Practical experience with AWS infrastructure and application deployment, including familiarity with serverless architecture patterns.

- Experience conducting code reviews, resolving production issues, and implementing performance and reliability improvements.

- Ability to evaluate new technologies through prototypes and translate validated solutions into production-ready implementations.

- Proven experience leading engineering teams, mentoring developers, and maintaining technical standards across projects.

- Strong understanding of SDLC governance, Agile delivery practices, technical risk management, and stakeholder communication.

- Excellent analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance architectural priorities and delivery commitments.

Preferred Qualifications :

- Exposure to investment management platforms or financial services systems spanning front-office, middle-office, and back-office operations.

- Familiarity with AI/ML integration, intelligent analytics, or automation within enterprise software applications.

- Experience supporting cloud security and compliance requirements aligned with frameworks such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001.

- Understanding of HIPAA requirements where applicable to systems handling regulated healthcare information.

- Experience modernizing legacy applications and transitioning workloads toward scalable cloud-based infrastructure