Practice Lead

Xceedance; India; Hybrid; INR 3,500,000 - 5,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Xceedance is seeking an experienced AVP/VP Practice Leader to build and lead the Application Engineering Practice for Insurance SI services. This role involves driving strategy and delivery excellence across Digital Engineering, Application Development, Integration, and Cloud-Native Engineering. The ideal candidate will have over 16 years of experience in application engineering, including significant onshore client engagement experience, and will be responsible for leading large engineering programs and building high-performing teams. The position offers a hybrid work model in Delhi.

Qualifications

• 16–22+ years of experience in application engineering and delivery leadership.
• 5+ years in leadership roles at AVP/VP level covering Delivery / Practice / Portfolio leadership.
• Insurance domain knowledge and familiarity with insurance platforms.

Responsibilities

• Own the vision, roadmap, and growth strategy for the Application Engineering practice.
• Lead large engineering programs involving complex builds and integration.
• Provide technology leadership across digital engineering, API, and cloud-native engineering.

Skills

Practice leadership

Large-program delivery

Solutioning & consulting

Modern engineering architecture

Cloud & platform engineering

DevSecOps & automation

Client leadership

People leadership

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Engineering / Computer Science

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Kubernetes

Containers

Job description

About the job

Job Description: AVP/VP – Practice Leader, Application Engineering (Digital / App Dev / Integration / Cloud)

Job Title: Associate Vice President / Vice President – Practice Leader, Application Engineering

Location: India / Delhi NCR | Hybrid (as applicable)

Function: Technology & Delivery – Application Engineering Practice

Reporting To: Global Head of Technology Services / Delivery Leadership / CTO Office

Role Summary

Xceedance is seeking an experienced AVP/VP-level Practice Leader to build and lead the Application Engineering Practice for Insurance SI services, spanning Digital Engineering, Application Development & Modernization, Integration Engineering, and Cloud-Native Engineering.

This leader will drive practice strategy, large program delivery excellence, capability building, and innovation, and will act as a client-facing technology leader across strategic insurance accounts.

This role requires:

Proven experience leading large-scale development programs/projects, and onshore client-facing experience working at client locations in the US / UK / Australia (or similar markets).

Key Responsibilities

1. Practice Leadership & Strategy
   • Own the vision, roadmap, and growth strategy for the Application Engineering practice across Digital / AD / Integration / Cloud.
   • Build and scale the practice structure: leadership bench, competency frameworks, delivery playbooks, and engineering standards.
   • Define practice-level governance covering delivery quality metrics, resourcing strategy, utilization, and margin optimization.
   • Build capability to support insurance modernization programs through accelerators, reusable assets, and industry-aligned engineering patterns.
2. Large Program Engineering Delivery Ownership (Core Requirement)
   • Lead and govern large engineering programs involving complex builds, modernization, and integration transformation across multiple lines of business.
   • Own outcomes for large engagements: Delivery predictability and release governance, defect leakage reduction and quality metrics, architecture-led delivery, scalability, performance, security, and resiliency controls, program risk mitigation across dependencies and multi-vendor ecosystems.
   • Drive standardized delivery approach using Agile/SAFe, DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, and SRE practices.
   • Ensure high-quality technical decision-making and delivery governance across distributed teams and partners.
3. Technology & Architecture Leadership
   • Provide technology leadership across:
   • Digital engineering (web/mobile portals, omnichannel experiences)
   • Application modernization (microservices, event-driven systems, refactoring legacy platforms)
   • API & integration ecosystems (middleware, API mgmt., iPaaS, messaging platforms)
   • Cloud-native engineering (migration, platform engineering, containerization, Kubernetes)
   • Drive best practices for architecture patterns, NFRs, code quality, observability and performance engineering.
4. Client Advisory & Onshore Leadership
   • Act as a trusted advisor to client senior leaders (VP/CXO levels) on application modernization, cloud transformation, and digital engineering strategy.
   • Lead client steering committees, architecture review boards, and executive governance forums.
   • Translate business objectives into engineering roadmaps with measurable outcomes.
   • Bring proven onshore stakeholder management gained through working at client locations in US/UK/Australia (or similar) to build trust and strengthen strategic partnerships.
5. Solutioning, Pre-Sales & Revenue Enablement
   • Lead solutioning for strategic pursuits: discovery, target architecture, delivery approach, costing and estimation.
   • Support RFP responses, solution orals, and proactive transformation proposals.
   • Build practice offerings aligned to Insurance SI needs and drive account expansion using scalable, reusable solutions.
   • Collaborate with Sales and Account teams to shape opportunities, win deals, and position Xceedance as a strategic engineering partner.
6. Practice Capability Building & Innovation
   • Build practice assets: reference architectures, reusable components, accelerators, templates, and engineering playbooks.
   • Define engineering maturity and modernization models and apply them across accounts.
   • Sponsor innovation in: platform engineering and cloud-native modernization
   • API ecosystems, integration modernization, event-driven architectures
   • GenAI-assisted SDLC productivity improvements
   • Stay current on emerging technologies and incorporate relevant innovations into delivery and offerings.
7. Talent Development & Engineering Culture
   • Build and mentor strong engineering leaders: architects, engineering managers, platform specialists.
   • Define skill development paths, certifications, and leadership development plans.
   • Drive a culture of engineering excellence: secure-by-design, automation-first delivery, continuous improvement, and strong ownership.

Key Skills & Competencies

• Practice leadership: strategy, operating model, governance, utilization, and margin levers
• Large-program delivery: execution excellence, risk management, multi-vendor dependency management, release governance
• Solutioning & consulting: discovery, target architecture, roadmap creation, proposals/RFPs, executive storytelling
• Modern engineering architecture: microservices, cloud-native, integration patterns, event-driven systems
• Cloud & platform engineering: AWS/Azure/GCP, containers, Kubernetes, IaC, platform modernization
• DevSecOps & automation: CI/CD, test automation, security-by-design, observability, SRE practices
• Client leadership: executive stakeholder management, onshore engagement exposure, and influencing skills
• People leadership: talent building, coaching, succession planning, culture-building

Experience & Qualifications (Mandatory)

• 16–22+ years of experience in application engineering and delivery leadership, ideally in SI / Consulting / Product Engineering environments.
• 5+ years in leadership roles at AVP/VP level covering Delivery / Practice / Portfolio / Architecture leadership.
• Insurance domain knowledge (P&C/Life/Health/Reinsurance) and familiarity with insurance platforms (Guidewire/Duck Creek/Socotra/Origami).
• Demonstrated leadership in large development programs/projects, including: Multi-year and multi-release initiatives, distributed engineering teams across geographies, modernization/rebuild/integration transformation programs, complex dependency management, and multi-vendor environments.

Mandatory onshore experience:

• Worked at client locations and led delivery/solutioning engagements in the US / UK / Australia (or similar international markets).
• Strong executive stakeholder management experience gained from onsite engagements.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Engineering / Computer Science or equivalent.

Core Competencies & Skills

• Strong expertise across at least 2–3 of: Digital Engineering, Cloud Engineering, Integration Engineering, Application Modernization.
• Strong architecture and design capability (security, performance, resiliency, scalability, observability).
• Strong delivery governance using Agile/SAFe, DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, and release readiness practices.
• Excellent executive communication, client advisory, negotiation, and team leadership skills.
• Ability to scale teams, standardize engineering delivery, and build a high-performance delivery culture.

Preferred / Good-to-Have

• Certifications: Cloud Solution Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP), TOGAF, SAFe, Kubernetes, Security certs.
• Experience establishing reusable accelerators and IP to improve time-to-market.