Head of Engineering

Intellectual Capital HR Consulting Pvt. Ltd.; Mumbai; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Intellectual Capital HR Consulting Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai seeks a hands-on Head of Engineering to own the end-to-end engineering function for trading and real-time systems.

You will build secure, low-latency, scalable microservices, lead backend/frontend teams, and drive architectural decisions while maintaining high uptime and incident response readiness. This role emphasizes hands-on coding, design leadership, and crisis management.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering and technology leadership.
• Experience leading backend and frontend teams for real-time, low-latency platforms.
• Background in trading, stock broking, or fintech is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end engineering delivery across backend and frontend systems.
• Lead and scale multiple engineering teams and establish strong engineering culture.
• Drive high standards in design, security, and OWASP/API security.
• Oversee DevOps, observability, and reliability for high uptime.
• Drive AI enablement and automation across engineering workflows.

Skills

Core Java

Spring Boot

Distributed Systems

Performance Optimization

Kafka

Docker

Kubernetes

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK

Job description

Head of Engineering - Trading & Real-Time Systems

Role Overview

We are looking for a hands-on, high-impact Engineering Leader to own and drive our entire engineering function. This role demands a rare combination of deep technical expertise, architectural vision, and execution excellence.

You will be responsible for building secure, scalable, low-latency, real-time systems in a stock broking / trading domain, while leading teams and solving mission-critical production challenges.

This is not a managerial role - we need a builder, debugger, and decision-maker.

What You Will Do

1. Engineering Leadership & Ownership

• Own end-to-end engineering delivery across backend and frontend systems.
• Lead, mentor, and scale multiple engineering teams.
• Establish strong engineering culture, processes, and accountability.
• Drive high standards in:
• Design highly scalable, fault-tolerant microservices architectures.
• Ensure systems are:
• Highly available
• Low latency (real-time capable)
• Extensible and future-ready
• Standardize architecture across legacy and modern systems.
• Drive architectural decisions across the organization.
• Implement:
• Data protection & encryption strategies
• Ensure compliance with:
• OWASP standards
• API security best practices

4. Crisis Management & RCA

• Take ownership during production outages and incidents.
• Perform fast and accurate Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
• Drive:
• Build resilient systems to minimize downtime impact.
• Drive adoption of AI across engineering workflows:
• Automation
• Enable teams to leverage tools like:
• Code assistants
• Improve productivity and engineering velocity.
• Architect systems using:
• Kafka / Event Streaming
• Ensure:
• Fault tolerance
• Real-time processing reliability

7. DevOps & Reliability

• Oversee:
• Containerization (Docker)
• Observability (logs, metrics, tracing)
• Ensure:
• High uptime
• System resilience
• Performance optimization

Core Technical Expertise

• Strong hands-on expertise in Core Java + Spring Boot (preferred) or equivalent.
• Deep expertise in:
• Distributed Systems Design
• Performance Optimization

Databases

• Strong experience with:
• MongoDB / NoSQL
• Data Modeling
• Query Optimization

Messaging & Streaming

Must-Have

• Kafka

Security

Strong knowledge of:

• JWT, OAuth2
• API Security
• Encryption Practices

Experience building secure systems at scale.

DevOps

Hands-on with:

• Docker
• Monitoring Tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)

AI Enablement

Practical experience with AI coding tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot) and proven ability to drive AI adoption across engineering teams.

• Extreme ownership mindset
• Security-first thinking in every decision
• AI-first approach to productivity
• Hands-on leader who writes code and performs deep reviews
• Fast problem solver and crisis handler
• High discipline, punctuality, and accountability
• Strong product and business understandingProven ability to mentor and grow engineering teams

Ideal Candidate Profile

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering and technology leadership.
• Experience leading backend and frontend teams for high-scale, real-time, low-latency platforms.
• Background in trading, stock broking, or fintech ecosystems is highly preferred.
• Proven track record of managing production-critical environments and handling outages effectively.
• Ability to balance Speed, Stability, and Security.
• Strong cross-functional leadership across diverse technology stacks.

Success Metrics

• System uptime and reliability
• Incident response and RCA efficiency
• Scalability and architecture quality
• Engineering productivity and code quality
• AI adoption across teams
• Reduction in production issues

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with Kubernetes
• Exposure to distributed tracing systems
• Background in low-latency trading platforms
• Knowledge of building High-Frequency Trading (HFT) systems