Director of Engineering / B2B Pod / KYE + FinPro

A year of turning around
FinPro, scaling KYE,
and shipping the unscheduled.

Twelve months as the engineering anchor for the B2B pod. Built and launched the PFM platform across four AMCs, migrated every analytics client from Pyramid to Equal with zero downtime, took over a FinPro team in crisis and turned Bajaj — the noisiest client — fully silent while bringing the MoneyOne AWS bill from $65k/mo down to $45k/mo. Migrated 220 client environments to a single multi-tenant instance. Cut onboarding from seven days to one. Shipped three Innovation initiatives on top of the day job. Coached Sarath into an Engineering Manager and reset the operating culture of both FinPro and KYE.

5/5Functional avg
4.8Cultural avg
$20k/moAWS bill $65k → $45k
0Bajaj RCAs since Sep '25
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The year in numbers

Outcomes, not output.

Every number below is sourced from Jira, GitHub, Outlook, or Slack. Hover any tile to inspect the underlying detail in the case-study sections.

infra
$20,000/mo
MoneyOne AWS bill cut · $65k → $45k · Bajaj programme
platform
290clients
Multi-tenant clients on a single instance · 220 CUAT + 70 Prod
ops
7–10d→ 1d
Client onboarding · self-serve, version-controlled, repeatable
product
35clients
FinPro Insights live · IC-led data deep-dive across iterations
product
10clients
Multi-AA WebRD live · supports 4 AAs in Prod · widgetised UI
revenue
₹15–20L/mo
Analytics revenue retained · Pyramid → Equal Analytics migration
reliability
0RCAs
Bajaj RCAs since September 2025 · was the noisiest client in FinPro
product
4AMCs
PFM stack live · Tata AMC, Axis MF, and two more · widgetised v2
The year in three waves

Sequenced turnaround,
not a swarm of fixes.

I sequenced the FinPro turnaround in three deliberate waves so the team could own each handover without me bottlenecking. The Apr–Jun KYE / PFM / Analytics era ran in parallel.

WAVE 01

KYE turnaround, PFM launch, Analytics migration

Apr–Jun 2025
  • PFM platform end-to-end for Tata AMC — account dedup, AMC dedup, IC build with Vishnu / Keval / Abhilasha, in-person client visits during launch.
  • Pyramid → Equal Analytics migration for every analytics client, zero downtime, ~₹15–20L/mo revenue retained; client-wrapper architecture with Himagarwal (SG2).
  • Sarath grooming into Engineering Manager for KYE — weekly 1:1s, sprint reviews, cultural reset for KYE leadership (Slack thread to founders, 2025-05-27).
  • Coaching the KYE leadership — Bhargava on KPI clarity, Dhoorjati on AI agent build, Nataraj on customer-support RCA discipline.
WAVE 02

Bajaj turnaround sprint

Jul–Sep 2025
  • Activity logs migrated from RDS → Athena, eliminating the DB-restart cycle Bajaj was triggering.
  • One-time vs recurring flow segregation — completely stopped Bajaj-team noise on failures.
  • DB sized down from 27 TB → 10 TB, saving $4,000/month in infra.
  • Queuing mechanism for recurring fetch + my own 150 TPS rate-limiting design.
  • Result: zero RCAs from Bajaj from September 2025 onward.
WAVE 03

Engineering process at FinPro

Oct–Dec 2025
  • Centralised version-controlled CI/CD replacing manual EC2-script deploys; same artefact promotes from CUAT to Production.
  • Console + user-management + logging revamp — POC → full migration to v2 console.
  • Static + Dynamic QR consent management (SMS + WhatsApp) ideated, designed, shipped.
  • Wrote the Bulk Balance View LLD + backend implementation personally (Jira FP-6080) including JSON_EXTRACT optimisation.
WAVE 04

Building products

Jan–May 2026
  • Multi-AA WebRD live at 10 clients · supports 4 AAs in Production; final widgetised-UI PR #100.
  • PFM v2 widgetisation — 3 clients live including Tata Capital; Phi Paisa proposal shared.
  • OneApp UI rewrite — UAT + Production ready.
  • Billing Automation for Equal & FinPro — automated invoice generation, usage metering, and dispatch.
  • In-house Bank Statement Parser — replaces external dependency on BSA vendors.
  • FinPro Insights at 35 clients; EWS / AWS Analytics portal originated by me (JSON PRD → dashboard prototype → product handover → shipped).
  • 220 clients migrated to a single multi-tenant instance in CUAT, 70 in Prod; self-serve deployment portal; onboarding 7–10d → 1d.
WAVE 05

Innovation

Apr–May 2026
  • KYE outbound reminder calling system production-tested with DJ + Nataraj sign-off; launching Monday.
  • Support-bot automation pilot running 2 weeks for KYE + FinPro; some flows already auto-replying.
  • Client-success deck automation — April decks generated and sent to 15 clients.
WAVE 06

Process & culture improvements

All year, continuous
  • Culture reset across FinPro and KYE — at the individual, Product, and leadership layers. From firefighting and blame to ownership, sprint discipline, and shared SLOs.
  • Weekly sprint planning installed as a hard cadence — coordinated with EM / product / design leads so tickets are pre-groomed, problems are identified up front, and the team picks up work that is actually ready to build.
  • Weekly deliverable follow-through — actively tracked sprint commitments through the week, drove deployment, and validated impact before closing the sprint. Sprint completion rate went from ~50% to consistently green.
  • Coached Sarath into an Engineering Manager for KYE; coached Bhargava, Dhoorjati, and Nataraj on KPI clarity, escalation hygiene, and ownership. KYE now runs without my direct day-to-day intervention.
  • Cultural-reset thread to founders (May 2025, MPDM with Keshav / Rajeev / Bhargava / Nataraj / Sarath) — set the bar for the year that followed.
Case studies

Five bets I made,
five outcomes that landed.

01 · Reliability & cost

Silencing the noisiest client.
Cutting the AWS bill by $20k/mo.

$65k → $45k AWS bill $20,000/mo saved 27 TB → 10 TB DB 0 RCAs since Sep '25 150 TPS rate-limit (own design)

Bajaj was triggering near-weekly RCAs and DB restarts when I inherited FinPro, and was the largest driver of the MoneyOne AWS bill. I sequenced the fix — migrate activity logs from RDS to Athena, segregate the one-time and recurring flows to stop blast radius, resize the DB from 27 TB to 10 TB with zero downtime, add a queuing mechanism for recurring fetch, and cap inbound at 150 TPS with rate-limiting I designed. Combined impact: the MoneyOne AWS bill fell from $65,000/month to $45,000/month, and from September 2025 onward the team has not shared a single Bajaj RCA.

02 · De-escalation & ownership

From firefighting
to a smooth-oiled machine.

SBI AMC, Chola, EWS launched PDF orchestration, Analytics SLAs · support / oncall / tech Every escalation owned personally

The biggest unit of work this year was changing how FinPro responds to fire. I pushed all production tickets to Oncall directly with no delay, added Oncall onto the support inbox and empowered them to reply, and set clear expectations and SLAs between support, oncall, and engineering. I personally handled every major client escalation and every major launch — SBI AMC, Chola, EWS, PDF orchestration, Analytics, and every new-client setup shipped within the committed timelines. In parallel I pushed Product to anticipate needs, run weekly grooming and PRD meetings, and demo before merging. The team that took five months to feel safe shipping is now a smooth-oiled machine that does it weekly.

03 · Product launch

PFM live across 4 AMCs.
Analytics migrated, zero downtime.

4 AMCs live · Tata, Axis + 2 3 clients on PFM v2 ₹15–20L / mo retained Phi Paisa proposal

Built the PFM platform from scratch as an IC with Vishnu, Keval, and Abhilasha — including account- and AMC-level deduplication. Visited Tata AMC in person to drive the launch and iteration cycles. PFM stack now live across 4 AMCs (Tata AMC, Axis MF, and two more). Behind the scenes, with Himagarwal (SG2), I designed the client wrapper that migrated every analytics client from Pyramid → Equal Analytics with zero downtime, retaining ~₹15–20L/mo of revenue. Later widgetised PFM v2: three clients live including Tata Capital; Phi Paisa proposal shared.

04 · Innovation

Three innovation initiatives
shipped on top of the day job.

KYE outbound calling Support-bot pilot live 15 client decks automated

Designed and shipped three production initiatives in parallel with two EM tracks. KYE outbound reminder calling system — production-tested with DJ + Nataraj sign-off, launching Monday. Support-bot automation pilot running 2 weeks for KYE + FinPro; some flows already auto-replying without manual review. Client-success deck automation — end-to-end pipeline of data fetch, content templates, design, and dispatch; April decks generated and sent to 15 clients.

05 · People

Sarath into an EM.
A KYE team that runs itself.

Sarath · 77 1:1 DMs Dhoorjati · 92 DMs Bhargava · 43 DMs KYE running on weekly sprints

Spent the year grooming Sarath into the Engineering Manager he is today — 77 direct 1:1 DMs, weekly sprint-completion reviews, accountability nudges ("this is setting a wrong example", 2026-04-30), recognition, coaching on KPI clarity, and trust-building. In parallel, coached Bhargava on KPI clarity and review hygiene, Dhoorjati through the entire KYE AI agent build, and Nataraj across customer-support RCA threads. Wrote the FY's cultural-reset message to founders in May 2025 and held the line on weekly sprint discipline until the KYE team became well-oiled.

Founder competency matrix

Self-rated against the Tech Manager
and Tech Architect bar.

Scale: 1 Does Not Meet · 2 Partially Meets · 3 Meets · 4 Exceeds · 5 Consistently Exceeds.

Competency
Evidence
Rating

Technical Understanding

Architecture · scalability · reliability

Drove Bajaj DB internals (27 → 10 TB, ibdata1 bloat diagnosis), designed 150 TPS rate-limiting, led activity-logs RDS → Athena, wrote LLD for Bulk Balance View (FP-6080) with full architecture deep-dive, drove encryption + key-management with IDBI / SMFG, led PFM v2 SDK widgetisation end-to-end.

5/5

Operational Excellence

SLA · cost · incidents · monitoring

Bajaj zero-RCA streak from Sep '25; $4,000/mo infra savings; centralised version-controlled CI/CD; multi-tenancy 220 + 70; self-serve deploys; KYE oncall process stood up (2025-05-30); 12 leadership email threads on BFSI Infra Cost in April alone.

5/5

Engineering Excellence

Quality · automation · CI/CD · debt

Replaced script-based EC2 deploys with centralised version-controlled CI/CD; owned Multi-AA WebRD E2E test automation with Laxman; pushed PRD / design discipline; drove Bulk MIS LLD personally with JSON_EXTRACT optimisation.

5/5

People Management

Coaching · feedback · growth

Groomed Sarath into an EM (77 direct 1:1 DMs, weekly sprint reviews, accountability nudges, recognition). Coached Bhargava (43), Dhoorjati (92, peak 44 in Jul '25), Nataraj. Wrote FY's cultural-reset message to founders (2025-05-27).

5/5

Strategy & Team Direction

Priorities · charter · long-term

Defined B2B Pod tech charter with Rajeev (2026-04-22). Designed the Pyramid → Equal Analytics migration strategy. Sequenced the FinPro 3-wave turnaround. Drove BFSI POD Employee Review, BCP/DR/CCMP, Monthly Demo & Goal Status reviews with KP / Rajeev.

5/5

Execution & Delivery

Predictability · cross-team alignment

Tata AMC PFM, Pyramid → Equal Analytics, FinPro Insights at 35 clients, Multi-AA WebRD at 10 clients, PFM v2 at 3, OneApp UI rewrite, Static + Dynamic QR consent, console & user-management revamp, KYE AI calling system — all shipped within window.

5/5

Problem Solving & Decision Making

Ambiguity → plans · trade-offs

Wrote the FP-6080 architecture deep-dive ("Realistic Implementation Strategy"). Diagnosed and shipped the X25519 / AES-256 resolution for IDBI RBI audit. Diagnosed the KYE AI turn-4 disclosure prompt failure as structural, not runtime. Originated the EWS / AWS Analytics segmentation idea from PRD to dashboard prototype.

5/5

Customer & Stakeholder Focus

Proactive comms · ownership

1,461 outbound emails in 12 months — 329 Rajeev, 243 Shravan, 82 KP, 17 Anand Menon, 12 Keshav. Visited Tata AMC in person. Drove BoB × OneMoney April Monthly Adoption Review with KP, BFL Onetime/Recurring coordination, HomeCredit production-incident threads.

5/5

Innovation / Influence

Long-term technical leverage

Originated the EWS / AWS Analytics idea (JSON PRD → dashboard prototype → product handover). Shipped three AI / automation initiatives end-to-end. Pushed BFSI AI toolkit plugin adoption (2026-05-12). Rate-limiting + Athena archival now reusable platform patterns.

5/5

Privacy & Trust

Compliance · PII · secure-by-default

IDBI RBI-audit key management end-to-end; SMFG Sahamati key audit observation; MoneyOne SOC Monitoring Report (Apr '27); BCP / DR / CCMP for FY 26-27; PII masking / tokenisation architecture brief to Itla on Ujjivan EWS / PDF infosec questions (2026-05-05). Self-rated one below — proactive privacy reviews are next year's investment.

4/5
Communication footprint

Where the day went.

Outlook · 1,461 sent items

524 · to leadership 329 · Rajeev 243 · Shravan 82 · KP
Rajeev Ranjan
329
Shravan
243
KP
82
Anand Menon
17
Keshav Reddy
12

Slack · 500+ tracked

finpro-tech-only · 44 kyc-dev-internal · 38 bfsi-aws-cost · 35 finpro-product-tech · 18
Sarath (1:1)
77
Dhoorjati (1:1)
92
Bhargava (1:1)
43
Rajeev (channel + DM)
147
Shravan
146
Self assessment

In my own words.

★ Significant projects

  1. Bajaj turnaround. Zero RCAs since Sep '25; 27 → 10 TB DB; $4k/mo saving; activity logs to Athena; one-time / recurring segregation; queuing + 150 TPS rate-limiting (my own design).
  2. FinPro multi-tenancy + CI/CD revamp. 220 CUAT + 70 Prod on a single instance; centralised version-controlled CI/CD replacing manual EC2 deploys; self-serve deployment portal.
  3. PFM platform. Built end-to-end with Vishnu / Keval / Abhilasha; Tata AMC live; PFM v2 widgetised — 3 clients live (incl. Tata Capital); Phi Paisa proposal shared.
  4. Analytics migration Pyramid → Equal. Zero downtime; ~₹15–20L/mo retained; wrapper with Himagarwal (SG2).
  5. FinPro Insights at 35 clients. IC-led data deep-dive, multi-iteration revamp, complete ownership.
  6. Multi-AA WebRD at 10 clients. End-to-end ownership; final widget PR #100.
  7. Onboarding 7–10 days → 1 day. Self-serve flow shipped to production.
  8. EWS / AWS Analytics portal. Originated the segmentation idea; built dashboard prototype; product picked up and shipped.
  9. Console + user-management + QR consent revamp. v2 console; Static + Dynamic QR; SMS + WhatsApp.
  10. Three AI / automation initiatives. KYE outbound reminder calling (launching Mon), support-bot pilot, client-success deck automation (15 April decks).
  11. People. Sarath → Engineering Manager; KYE team running on weekly sprints with owned SLOs.

∇ Challenging situation

Taking over FinPro mid-year. Bajaj was triggering near-weekly RCAs; deployment was manual EC2 scripts with no version control; there was no PRD / design discipline; infra cost was climbing. I could not freeze — Bajaj was actively haemorrhaging engineer time.

I sequenced the turnaround in three waves with measurable handovers: stabilise Bajaj (Athena → flow segregation → DB sizing → queuing → rate-limiting), install engineering process (multi-tenancy + CI/CD + self-serve onboarding), raise the product bar (console + PFM v2 + Insights + Multi-AA WebRD + EWS).

By Sep '25 Bajaj was silent. By Mar '26 onboarding was 1 day. By May '26 three AI initiatives were in production. The hardest part was holding the line on engineering rigour while the team's reflex was to patch and move on — done through 1:1 coaching, weekly sprint accountability, and pointed questions in DMs.

↗ Areas of improvement

  • Scale asynchronous written communication. 1,461 emails and 500+ Slack messages this year are healthy but too much team context still lands in 1:1 DMs that should be Confluence pages, RFCs, or weekly notes.
  • Build a second EM behind me on FinPro. The way Sarath now anchors KYE. Single-point-of-failure on FinPro EM is the next operational risk.
  • Cross-pod technical influence. Bring the Bajaj cost playbook + multi-tenancy patterns to B2C; bring B2C AI toolkit back to BFSI. Started in May '26 — should be monthly cadence.
  • Proactive privacy / threat-model reviews. The IDBI / SMFG audit work this year was reactive; want proactive next year for the multi-tenant platform and the new AI surface area.

+ Going above & beyond

  • EWS / AWS Analytics portal. Originated outside JD — JSON / Excel PRD → dashboard prototype → product handover → shipped.
  • KYE outbound AI calling. Designed end-to-end as IC on top of EM responsibilities; structural fix for turn-4 disclosure failure; launching Mon.
  • Support-bot automation. 2-week pilot for KYE + FinPro; some flows auto-replying without manual review.
  • Client-success deck automation. End-to-end automation of data fetch + content + design; April decks for 15 clients.
  • OneApp UI rewrite. IC contribution while running two EM tracks; UAT + Prod ready.
  • Multi-AA WebRD E2E test automation. Wrote significant parts of the suite with Laxman.
  • KYE turnaround. Coached Sarath into an EM; coached Bhargava / Nataraj / Dhoorjati through 200+ direct DMs.