Associate Director Domain Consulting

Description Ciklum; Pune District; On-site; INR 2,400,000 - 3,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company-paid medical insurance

Mental health support

Internal learning opportunities

Job summary

Ciklum is seeking an Associate Director Domain Consulting to enhance our Fintech & Payments vertical in India. You will engage with banking and fintech clients, providing strategic advisory and leading presales efforts.

The ideal candidate has 12–15 years of experience in IT/Digital Services, particularly in Consulting and Domain Advisory. Responsibilities include advisory and solutioning across financial technology, with a focus on modern banking and payment infrastructures.

Qualifications

• 12–15 years of professional IT/Digital Services experience, including 10+ years in Consulting/Domain Advisory.
• Proven track record in Digital Engineering, UX/UI, and Cloud Migrations.
• Demonstrable portfolio in Core Banking platforms and Payment gateways.

Responsibilities

• Lead domain consulting and advisory for financial technology ecosystems.
• Own the domain story, authoring functional solutions for complex proposals.
• Develop IP through white papers and analyze market trends.

Skills

Consultative Selling

Communication & Presence

Collaborative Mindset

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Finance

MBA (Finance/Strategy)

Job description

Ciklum is looking for an Associate Director Domain Consulting to join our team full-time in India.

About the role:

We are seeking a seasoned, high-impactan Associate Director Domain Consultingto anchor and scale ourFintech & Payments vertical. With 12–15 years of industry expertise, you will act as the core consultative bridge between our global banking, financial services, and fintech clients' business challenges and our advanced IT and Digital Engineering services.

In this role, your primary responsibility will be up-front business consulting, proactive discovery, and strategic advisory. You will lead high-value presales engagements, shape proactive transformational pitches, and author industry-specific solutions acrossDigital Banking, Modern Payments Infrastructure, and Next-Gen Fintech ecosystems. You will partner closely with Regional Sales Leaders and Technical Solution Architects to accelerate pipeline conversion and position our firm as an elite digital transformation partner.

Responsibilities:

• Domain Consulting & Advisory (50%)
• Subject Matter Expertise: Serve as the global designated authority on modern financial technology ecosystems, driving the foundational business strategy across:
  • Digital & Neo-Banking: Core banking modernization, customer onboarding/KYC virtualization, open banking/PSD2 APIs, and omni-channel digital wealth management
  • Payments Infrastructure: Real-time/Instant payments (e.g., FedNow, UPI, SEPA), cross-border remittance, ISO 20022 messaging standards, card management, and merchant acquiring ecosystems
  • Next-Gen Fintech: Embedded finance, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) frameworks, microservices-driven lending platforms, and AI-powered fraud/risk management engines
  • Discovery Workshops: Architect and lead consultative discovery sessions with enterprise-tier financial institutions and hyper-growth fintechs to unearth hidden operational pain points and map out actionable digital transformation roadmaps
  • Strategic Client Advisory: Act as a trusted advisor to prospective client executives (CTOs, Heads of Payments, Chief Product Officers), bridging the gap between their regulatory/business pain points and our technical delivery capabilities long before an RFP is issued
• Presales, Bid Advisory & Solutioning (35%)
  • Own the Domain Story: Author end-to-end functional and business solutions for complex RFPs, RFIs, and high-value proactive pitches within the Fintech & Payments space
  • Value Proposition Engineering: Translate complex financial workflows and strict regulatory requirements (e.g., PCI-DSS, GDPR, local banking compliances) into cutting-edge Digital Engineering, Cloud, Data, and AI solutions
  • Deal Governance: Partner closely with Regional Bid Managers and Technical Architects to ensure final engineering designs map perfectly back to the client’s expected business value, security posture, and compliance standards
  • Defense & Presentation: Lead orals and solution defense sessions with global prospect stakeholders (C-level, VPs, Directors) to instill absolute confidence in our vertical capability
• Collateral & Capability Building (15%)
  • IP Development: Author forward-looking white papers, case studies, point-of-view (POV) documents, and reusable fintech-specific capability frameworks (e.g., reference architectures for payment gateways or ledger modernization)
  • Market Intelligence: Collaborate with the Enablement/Research team to analyze global financial trends (e.g., Central Bank Digital Currencies, open finance), tech disruptions, and competitive landscapes to continuously optimize our market messaging
  • Sample KRAs:Deal Win Ratio & Conversion, Revenue Generation & Pipeline Influence, Consulting Billability & Utilization, Thought Leadership & IP Creation, Solution Quality & Stakeholder CSAT

Requirements:

• Overall Experience: 12–15 years of professional IT/Digital Services experience, with a minimum of10+ years dedicated strictly to Consulting / Domain Advisory, Pre-sales, & Solutioning within the Fintech, Payments, or Banking domain
• Services Portfolio: Proven track record of winning large-scale deals inDigital Engineering, UX/UI Engagements, Agentic, Custom Application / Product Development, Cloud Migrations (AWS/Azure/GCP), and Data/Analytics environments
• Domain Track Record: Demonstrable portfolio of shaping solutions across Core Banking platforms (e.g., Temenos, Finacle, Mambu), Payment gateways/ switches, clearings infrastructure, or microservices-led lending platforms
• Core Competencies:
  • Consultative Selling: Ability to pivot fluidly from a high-level compliance or customer retention conversation with a Chief Risk Officer or Head of Retail Banking to a high-scale technical alignment discussion with a Chief Enterprise Architect
  • Communication & Presence: Exceptional verbal, written, and narrative storytelling skills. Ability to write clear, compelling proposal responses that articulate financial business outcomes alongside technical solutions
  • Collaborative Mindset: Experience working in a global matrixed environment, seamlessly orchestrating inputs from localized sales reps, security/compliance teams, technical leads, and shared enablement utilities
• Education:
  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Finance, or a related field
  • An MBA (Finance/Strategy) or equivalent post-graduate management degree from a tier-1 institute is highly preferred

What’s in it for you?

• Strong community: Work alongside top professionals in a friendly, open-door environment
• Growth focus: Take on large-scale projects with a global impact and expand your expertise
• Tailored learning: Boost your skills with internal events (meetups, conferences, workshops), Udemy access, language courses, and company-paid certifications
• Endless opportunities: Explore diverse domains through internal mobility, finding the best fit to gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies
• Care: We’ve got you covered with company-paid medical insurance, mental health support, and financial & legal consultations