Head of Engineering (Backend & Platform)

About Univest

Univest is a fast-growing WealthTech platform building research-first, goal-linked investment solutions for Indian investors. We are scaling our engineering organization to support rapid growth, complex financial workflows, and high-availability systems.

Role Summary

We are looking for a Director of Engineering who will report directly to the CTO and own the end-to-end backend and platform engineering function. This role requires a rare mix of deep hands-on coding expertise and strong people leadership, managing 2030 engineers across multiple squads.

You will drive architecture, scalability, engineering excellence, and delivery, while remaining deeply involved in complex technical problem-solving.

Key Responsibilities

Technology & Architecture

• Own the backend and platform architecture built primarily on Java, Spring Boot, and GCP
• Design and scale high-performance, low-latency, highly available systems
• Lead decisions around system design, microservices, data flows, security, and reliability
• Solve hard technical problems related to scale, performance, fault tolerance, and cost optimization
• Be a hands-on coder when required (design reviews, critical fixes, POCs)

Engineering Leadership

• Lead and manage 2030 engineers (Backend, Platform, Infra)
• Mentor Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and Senior Engineers
• Set engineering standards for code quality, reviews, testing, documentation, and deployment
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, and engineering excellence

Delivery & Execution

• Drive execution across multiple teams with predictable delivery
• Partner closely with Product, Data, DevOps, and Security
• Balance speed vs stability in a fast-scaling startup environment
• Own roadmap execution, tech debt prioritization, and platform evolution

Org & Process

• Help scale the engineering org structure, hiring bar, and performance management
• Establish and improve engineering processes (Agile/Scrum, OKRs, metrics)
• Act as a thought partner to the CTO on long-term technology strategy

Must Have

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including people leadership
• Strong expertise in Java & Spring Boot (deep backend fundamentals)
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Proven experience building and scaling production systems at scale
• Experience managing large teams (20+ engineers) or multiple squads
• Strong system design skills (distributed systems, microservices, APIs)
• Ability to dive deep into code when needed, not just delegate