Headline

CTO | Global Engineering Executive · 🧩 Agentic AI · AI Governance · 💳 Commerce, Payments & FinTech · 🖥 Multi-tenant SaaS · 🌍 Open Source & Standards

About

Technology changes faster than organizations do. I've helped companies adapt when the way they build technology no longer matches the scale, complexity, or ambition of the business. My experience spans global commerce, regulated financial services, public digital infrastructure, and open technologies where commercial ambition, resilience, and public trust all matter. Over the years I've worked with open source, open standards, platform architectures, payments, AI-native engineering, agentic systems, and AI governance. The technologies have changed. The challenge has stayed the same. I've repeatedly worked at the leading edge of technology shifts, from Indian language computing and open education to digital finance, hyperlocal commerce, and AI-native engineering. The value was never in being early. It was in recognizing enduring shifts, building the capability to capitalize on them, and helping organizations adopt them with the reliability, governance, and operational discipline enterprise systems expect. I've led global engineering organizations across India, the UK, Europe, Australia, and North America, scaled multi-tenant SaaS platforms, modernized enterprise architectures, built payment ecosystems, and supported companies through growth, acquisitions, international expansion, and platform transformation. My work has largely been in environments where technology decisions are scrutinized by customers, boards, regulators, and executive teams. I believe engineering leadership is about judgment. Knowing what to build, what to simplify, what to standardize, and what to challenge. It's the instinct to identify failure modes before they become business problems. Technical judgment weakens when it isn't exercised, which is why I still review architecture, read code, challenge assumptions, and stay close to the systems being built. Beyond my operating roles, I've contributed to technologies and standards including ECMAScript, Unicode, IDNA, ICANN Label Generation Rules, and BIS IS 16333 (Part 3). I've also contributed to digital public infrastructure, language technology, internet governance, and open ecosystems. The problems I enjoy most are rarely just technology problems. They're about helping organizations change without losing what already works by bringing engineering, product, commercial strategy, and organizational design together. My work is helping organizations recognize important technology shifts early and adopt them with the stability, governance, and disciplined execution that enterprise systems depend on.

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

antigravity

codex

cursor

Work experience

Global Head of Engineering at Foodhub, Jun 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 3 mos, Partnered with the CEO to help evolve Foodhub from a UK restaurant technology company into a global multi-tenant commerce and operations platform for restaurant brands, QSRs, and enterprise hospitality, supporting international expansion and commercial growth. • Led a global engineering organization of 250+ engineers across ordering, marketplace, payments, billing, loyalty, gift cards, restaurant operations, kitchen workflows, inventory, driver platforms, POS, white-label SaaS, and partner ecosystems. • Improved platform stability, operational resilience, and engineering execution, transforming a platform with frequent critical incidents into one known for predictable operations, reliable delivery, and customer confidence. • Modernized the platform through architectural evolution, API and mobile performance improvements, observability, cloud optimization, platform simplification, and developer experience, strengthening scalability without disrupting operations. • Expanded payment capabilities through Apple Pay, Google Pay, Tap to Pay, payment orchestration, billing, taxation, ISO and reseller ecosystems, enabling new merchant capabilities and commercial growth. • Partnered with product, sales, operations, enterprise customers, restaurant brands, merchants, resellers, and market teams across multiple countries, translating operational challenges into product strategy, platform capabilities, and commercial outcomes. • Led technical due diligence, acquisition integration, and strategic technology partnerships, simplifying the platform landscape while preserving customer experience and accelerating business value. • Transformed software delivery through an AI-native engineering operating model built on organizational knowledge, code intelligence, agentic workflows, governance, and intelligent automation. • Built engineering leaders while remaining hands-on with architecture, technical reviews, production operations, and critical customer engagements.

Contributor & Fellow at ICANN, Aug 2016 - Present · 10 yrs 1 mo, • Contributed to global internet governance through multistakeholder participation as an ICANN Fellow (ICANN57, ICANN60). • Collaborated with the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) and Neo-Brahmi Generation Panel on domain name localization and script standards. • Engaged as an independent participant, previously representing Swathanthra Malayalam Computing, in key global policy forums (APRALO, NCUC, NPOC).

Advisory Board at Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC.in), Mar 2016 - Present · 10 yrs 6 mos

Senior Vice President, Engineering at Kinara Capital, Apr 2022 - May 2024 · 2 yrs 2 mos, Bengaluru, • Reported directly to the CEO, leading engineering, enterprise architecture, and technology strategy for an RBI-regulated financial institution during a period of rapid business growth and technology transformation. • Built the in-house engineering organization from the ground up, transitioning from vendor-dependent systems to enterprise platforms owned and operated internally while scaling engineering capability and delivery. • Led the design and delivery of API-first platforms spanning digital onboarding, KYC, loan origination, loan management, collections, underwriting, credit decisioning, Account Aggregator, bank statement analysis, Lending-as-a-Service, co-lending, ESG-aligned lending, enterprise data platforms, partner integrations, and regulatory reporting. • Established modern engineering practices, cloud-native platforms, security posture, enterprise risk management, fraud prevention, AML monitoring, observability, and resilient operations, strengthening reliability and regulatory readiness. • Partnered with product, business, operations, risk, compliance, audit, and executive leadership to align technology strategy with commercial objectives while remaining hands-on with architecture, technical leadership, and critical engineering decisions.

Engineering Head at Kinara Capital, Dec 2021 - May 2024 · 2 yrs 6 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Founder & CTO at Bootstrapped Startup(private), Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 · 1 yr, • Pioneered a FinTech infrastructure venture, designing a B2B KYC solution leveraging Hyperledger Fabric for verifiable business identity. • Architected a permissioned ledger system enabling secure, multi-party validation and credential exchange within regulated ecosystems. • Gained deep insights into compliance-centric architecture and trust frameworks by navigating complex technical feasibility against evolving policy landscapes for decentralized identity.

Education

Cochin University of Science and Technology