Application Development Manager - Software Architecture & Engineering
First seen by Alion on Oct 13, 2026.
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
Skills
Python, React.js, Node.js, Full Stack, IT Service Delivery, AWS, API, Microservices Architecture, System Design, Distributed Systems, SDLC