Solution Architect - Lending Platform

SarvaGram Fincare Private Limited; Pune District; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 6,800,000; Full time

Job summary

SarvaGram is building India’s first data-driven FinTech platform for rural households. We seek a Lending Platform Architect to set technical direction for three squads—Nexus, Vanguard, and Vertex—and ensure a shared, scalable domain model across LOS, LMS, and collections.

You design API contracts, event-driven patterns, RBI-compliant security, and AI-enabled decisioning, while mentoring senior engineers and shaping ADRs with Claude as a core tool.

Qualifications

• 12–14 years in software engineering with at least 4 years in an architect or principal engineer role; NBFC or lending fintech experience preferred.
• Ownership of lending system architecture (LOS/LMS/collections) from ground up.
• Deep API contract design experience across multiple teams using OpenAPI.
• Experience with domain-driven design in a financial domain; RBI regulatory awareness.
• Active use of AI tools (Claude/LLMs) in architecture and model integration.

Responsibilities

• Own lending domain model across LOS, LMS, collections and digital channels.
• Design API contract standards and review processes for all business APIs.
• Define event-driven patterns and data ownership across squads.
• Maintain ADRs and architecture documentation; mentor senior engineers.
• Architect AI-enabled underwriting, collections workflows, and agentic AI integration.

Skills

AI tool usage: Claude / LLMs

Domain-driven design

System design at scale

Regulatory/compliance RBI

Leadership / mentorship

Tools

Java / Spring Boot

OpenAPI

API design

WhatsApp Business API

Drools (rules engine)

Job description

SarvaGram is building India’s first household centric, data led ‘high-tech high-touch’ FinTech platform to meet the growing aspirations of rural India, with a bouquet of financial and productivity enhancing offerings.

We achieve this by offering a suite of customized financial and capacity-building products designed to meet the unique requirements of rural households.

From loans and insurance solutions to innovative services like Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS), we equip rural communities with the tools they need to prosper.

Job Description

About the role

SarvaGram lends to rural India - and the systems that power this mission are among the most complex in the fintech landscape. Loan origination, underwriting, EMI management, collections, digital customer journeys, and AI-powered early warning systems all run on interconnected domain services that must be correct, compliant, and resilient.

The Lending Platform Architect is SarvaGram's domain authority for the full lending technology stack. You set the technical direction for three squads - Nexus (Digital Channel, Customer App, WhatsApp), Vanguard (Lending Operations, EMI engine, Collections), and Vertex (Underwriting, Credit Decisioning, Farm Mechanisation) ensuring their systems are well-designed, interoperable, and built on a shared domain model that scales as the business grows.

This is a strategic role. You design systems, write ADRs, set API standards, review domain models, and mentor senior engineers. You use Claude and AI tools as a core part of how you work. You are not in the code every day, but every significant technical decision in the Business POD goes through you.

Key responsibilities

• Own the lending domain model - define bounded contexts, aggregate boundaries, and domain event taxonomy across LOS, LMS, collections, and digital channel systems; ensure all three squads build against a shared, coherent domain language
• Design and own the API contract standards for all business-facing APIs - OpenAPI specifications, versioning strategy, backward compatibility guarantees, and the API review process that all squad Senior Engineers follow before shipping
• Define event-driven architecture patterns for lending workflows - which domain events flow between which services, event schema standards, and the choreography vs orchestration decisions for complex multi-step processes like loan origination and collections escalation
• Establish data ownership boundaries across squads - which service owns which data, how cross-domain queries are resolved, and how the lending domain model is kept consistent as the codebase grows
• Produce and maintain the lending domain Architecture Decision Records library - every significant design decision documented with context, options considered, and rationale; the living technical memory of SarvaGram's lending platform

AI-Native Architecture - Design with Intelligence Built In

• Design the integration architecture between the Analytics squad's ML models (EWS, credit scoring, collection propensity) and the business squads' operational systems - clean API contracts, model versioning strategy, fallback handling, and explainability output design
• Architect the collection strategy intelligence layer - how EWS model outputs translate into actionable collection workflows in Vanguard; the design that connects data science outputs to field officer actions
• Design the AI-assisted underwriting architecture in Vertex - how thin-file credit scoring models integrate into the LOS decisioning flow, with RBI-compliant reason codes and audit trail requirements built into the design from the start
• Pioneer the use of agentic AI platforms in lending operations - explore and design how autonomous AI agents can assist with loan processing, collections communication, and customer support workflows
• Use Claude as a core architectural tool - generate ADR drafts, explore system design trade-offs, produce API specification first drafts, and accelerate architecture documentation

Cross-Squad Technical Governance

• Own the architecture review process for all significant system designs across Nexus, Vanguard, and Vertex - review proposals from Senior Engineers and PMs, provide structured feedback, and sign off before implementation begins
• Define and enforce cross-squad engineering standards for the Business POD - error handling conventions, API pagination patterns, financial calculation standards, audit logging requirements, and domain event schema governance
• Identify and eliminate duplication across squads - where Nexus, Vanguard, and Vertex are solving the same problem independently, the Architect proposes a shared solution and drives adoption
• Resolve technical conflicts between squad Senior Engineers - when two squads have incompatible design decisions that affect shared systems, the Architect is the tiebreaker with documented reasoning

Regulatory Architecture & Compliance Design

• Ensure every lending system design is RBI-compliant by construction - audit trail requirements, data localisation constraints, and regulatory reporting needs are architecture inputs, not post-launch additions
• Design the audit logging architecture for lending operations - loan state transitions, credit decisions, collection actions, and data access events must all be logged with sufficient detail to satisfy RBI examination requirements
• Work with the CISO on application-level security architecture for lending systems - data encryption at rest and in transit for PAN, Aadhaar, and credit bureau data
• Design financial calculation standards - interest accrual, EMI rounding, penal charge computation, and prepayment adjustment algorithms that are mathematically precise, consistently implemented across squads, and auditable to the rupee

Technical Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor Senior Backend Engineers across Nexus, Vanguard, and Vertex - structured architecture reviews, domain knowledge transfer, and deliberate growth toward Staff Engineer level
• Lead the Backend Guild for the Business POD - fortnightly sessions on domain-driven design, lending system patterns, AI integration architecture, and API contract design
• Collaborate with the Cloud-Native Platform Architect on shared concerns - API gateway configuration, observability standards, and infrastructure decisions that affect lending services; consult the Platform Architect for infra needs rather than owning infrastructure decisions
• Engage directly with PMs and BAs during feature design - review BRDs for technical feasibility, surface hidden complexity early, and ensure architecture implications are understood before sprint planning

Requirements

Professional Experience

• 12 to 14 years in software engineering with at least 4 years in an architect or principal engineer role - mandatory prior experience at an NBFC, bank, or lending-focused fintech
• Demonstrable ownership of lending system architecture - has designed LOS, LMS, or collections systems from the ground up, not just contributed features to an existing platform
• Deep API contract design experience - has owned an OpenAPI standard across multiple teams, managed versioning over time, and dealt with the real-world consequences of breaking changes
• Experience with domain-driven design in a complex financial domain - bounded contexts, aggregate design, and domain event modelling in a system where business rules are the primary complexity driver
• Active AI tool user - uses Claude, ChatGPT, or equivalent tools in their architecture work today; not interested in learning about AI, but already doing it
• Exposure to ML model integration in lending - has either built or reviewed the integration of credit scoring models, EWS outputs, or behavioural analytics into operational lending systems

Mindset & Soft Skills

• Domain authority: Domain authority: the lending domain is the primary lens - every architecture decision starts with 'what does the business need' before 'what does the technology allow'
• Strategic thinker: Strategic thinker: sees 12 months ahead - designs systems that accommodate the next five features, not just the current sprint
• AI Native by practice: AI Native by practice: reaches for Claude before opening a blank document - architecture documentation, design trade-off analysis, and API spec drafts are all AI-assisted
• Agentic AI curiosity: Agentic AI curiosity: genuinely excited about where autonomous AI agents intersect with lending operations - brings ideas to the table, not just scepticism
• Regulatory maturity: Regulatory maturity: treats compliance as a design input - never surprises the CISO or Risk team with a system that needs retrofitting for audit readiness
• Cross-squad collaborator: Cross-squad collaborator: earns trust from PMs, BAs, and Senior Engineers through quality of reasoning - not by authority alone

Technical Skills

Lending Domain - Mandatory

RBI regulatory architecture & Financial calculation standards

Java / Spring Boot & System design at scale

AI Native - Core Expectation

Agentic AI platform design & AI-assisted architecture practice Claude / LLM API design patterns & ML model integration architecture Explainability architecture (SHAP / reason codes)

Added advantage

CERSAI / regulatory reporting Rural NBFC or lending & Rule engine design (Drools) Event sourcing / CQRS & WhatsApp Business API architecture

SarvaGram is on a mission to revolutionize financial services for millions in rural India. We're building the nation's first data-driven platform that combines cutting-edge technology with a human touch to unlock financial possibilities for underserved households.

This is your chance to be at the forefront of innovation. Join us and:

• Shape the future of FinTech: We're not just building a product, we're creating a new category. Be a part of defining the future of financial inclusion for rural India.
• Embrace a high-growth, high-impact environment: This is a non-linear growth opportunity. Build a platform used by millions and witness the network effect drive massive scale.
• Tackle real-world challenges: Apply your skills to solve critical problems and directly empower rural communities.
• Craft solutions that touch lives: Develop innovative products used by diverse household members, each with unique needs