---
title: "Sushanth Rao - Software Engineering Director & Site Lead India in Bengaluru | Tal"
description: "Meet Sushanth Rao, Software Engineering Director & Site Lead India @ Mobile Commons | Cloud, Distributed Systems & Scalable Architecture | Platform Modernization, Engineering Excellence & Digital Transformation based in Bengaluru. AI stack includes claude code and cursor."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/sushanth-rao/share-image"
---

# Sushanth Rao on Tal

## Headline

Software Engineering Director & Site Lead India @ Mobile Commons \| Cloud, Distributed Systems & Scalable Architecture \| Platform Modernization, Engineering Excellence & Digital Transformation

## About

I am an Engineering leader with deep experience building and scaling cloud\-native, distributed platforms and high\-performing global teams\. Currently serving as Software Engineering Director & Site Lead \(India\) at Mobile Commons, I lead multi\-squad engineering teams delivering mission\-critical, highly scalable systems used by large enterprises and global customers\.My core strength lies at the intersection of architecture, execution, and people leadership\. What I bring as an Engineering Director: Platform & Architecture Leadership \- Led large\-scale platform modernization initiatives, transitioning systems toward cloud\-native, microservices\-based and event\-driven architectures\. Designed for scalability, fault tolerance, and high availability\. Distributed Systems & Reliability \- Built and evolved systems handling high\-throughput messaging and integrations, with a strong focus on observability, SLO/SLA ownership, graceful degradation, and operational resilience\. Execution at Scale \- Own execution of complex, multi\-quarter initiatives across multiple squads—balancing roadmap commitments, technical debt reduction, and AI innovation\. People, Culture & Site Leadership \- As India Site Lead, I have scaled teams, hired and mentored engineering managers and senior ICs, and fostered a culture of accountability, ownership, and psychological safety\. Cross\-Functional Partnership \- Partner closely with Product, Business, Operations, and Executive leadership to align technology strategy with customer needs and business goals—translating complex technical work into clear business impact\. Areas of Expertise: Architecture & Systems \- Distributed systems design, microservices architecture, event\-driven systems \- High availability, fault tolerance, scalability, and performance engineering \- API design, integration platforms, asynchronous messaging Cloud & Infrastructure \- Cloud platforms \(AWS / GCP / Azure\) \- Containerization & orchestration \(Docker, Kubernetes\) DevOps & Platform Engineering \- CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, release management \- Platform engineering, developer productivity tooling \- Observability \(metrics, logs, tracing\), alerting, incident management Reliability & Operations \- SRE practices, SLIs/SLOs, capacity planning \- Security, compliance, and operational risk management Data & Messaging \- High\-throughput messaging systems, queues, and streaming platforms \- Relational & NoSQL data stores Languages & Technologies \- Java, JavaScript / TypeScript \- RESTful APIs

## Location

Bengaluru

## AI stack

claude code

cursor

## Work experience

Software Engineering Director & Site Lead India at Mobile Commons, Jul 2025 \- Present · 1 yr 3 mos, Bangalore, As a Software Engineering Director & Site Lead \(India\) at Mobile Commons, responsible for building and scaling high\-impact engineering teams while driving the delivery of reliable, secure, and scalable platforms used by global customers\. With deep experience across cloud\-native systems, distributed architectures, and large\-scale platforms, I focus on translating business vision into resilient technology solutions\. My role spans engineering leadership, site ownership, platform modernisation, and cross\-functional execution, ensuring engineering outcomes are tightly aligned with product and business goals\. As India Site Lead, I am accountable for growing and nurturing engineering talent, building a strong culture of ownership and excellence, and serving as a bridge between global leadership and local teams\. I take pride in creating environments where teams can do their best work while delivering predictable, high\-quality results\. What I Do: \- Lead and scale multi\-disciplinary engineering teams across backend, platform, and infrastructure \- Drive cloud and platform modernization initiatives to improve scalability, performance, and reliability \- Own architecture decisions for distributed systems handling high\-volume, mission\-critical workloads \- Establish engineering best practices around delivery, quality, security, and operational excellence \- Partner closely with Product, CSMs, Security, and Business leaders to deliver customer\-centric outcomes \- Build and grow the India engineering site, focusing on hiring, mentoring, and leadership development I emphasize: \- Pragmatic architecture over over\-engineering \- Continuous improvement in processes, systems, and people \- Empowered teams with clear ownership and decision\-making authority Areas of Expertise: \- Software Engineering Leadership & Site Management \- Cloud\-Native & Distributed Systems \- Scalable Architecture & APIs \- Engineering Excellence & Delivery Governance \- Talent Development & Team Building

Software Engineering Manager at Upland Software, Jun 2022 \- Jun 2025 · 3 yrs 1 mo, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Worked as a Software Engineering Manager at Upland Software, where I led cross\-functional engineering teams responsible for delivering and scaling enterprise SaaS products\. The role focused on driving execution of business\-critical initiatives, translating product and customer requirements into reliable, high\-quality software solutions\. Worked closely with Product Management, Architecture, and business stakeholders to align engineering delivery with strategic goals, while continuously improving development practices, system performance, and team effectiveness\. Played a key role in fostering a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring teams delivered predictable outcomes without compromising on quality or long\-term maintainability\. Key Responsibilities & Contributions \- Led and mentored engineering teams, supporting growth, performance, and engagement \- Translated business and product requirements into clear technical plans and execution roadmaps \- Supported design and delivery of scalable, cloud\-based systems and enterprise integrations \- Drove end\-to\-end SDLC execution, including planning, development, testing, and releases \- Improved engineering processes to enhance delivery predictability and software quality \- Managed priorities, risks, and escalations to ensure alignment with business commitments \- Collaborated across functions to deliver customer\-focused, enterprise\-ready solutions Core Strengths: \- Engineering Leadership & People Management \- SaaS Product Development \- Agile Execution & Delivery Management \- Process Optimization & Quality Engineering \- Cross\-Functional Stakeholder Collaboration

Engineering Manager at DealerSocket, Nov 2020 \- Jun 2022 · 1 yr 8 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Spent around 2 years leading engineering initiatives at DealerSocket \(A Solera Company\), managing three cross\-functional squads delivering different streams of a large\-scale program\. Provided direct leadership to a team of approximately 20 engineers, driving execution excellence and consistent delivery against business priorities\. Held primary responsibility for translating business problems into scalable technical solutions, while also introducing innovative and optimized approaches to improve efficiency, quality, and time\-to\-market\. DealerFire is a comprehensive platform serving Automotive Dealers and OEMs, comprising multiple modules including Engine6 website solutions for lead generation, customer offers, CRM integrations, and mobile applications enabling a wide range of dealer\-facing and customer\-facing functionalities\. Key Contributions & Responsibilities: Partnered closely with business stakeholders to understand requirements and convert them into actionable technical roadmaps in collaboration with Architects and Tech Leads Designed and reviewed large\-scale application architectures aligned with business and technical specifications Led multiple Proof of Concepts \(POCs\) across projects to validate architectural choices and new technologies Designed and guided the development of frameworks and shared platforms tailored to business needs Defined and executed development and testing strategies to ensure quality, scalability, and reliability Built, mentored, and scaled high\-performing engineering teams, owning the end\-to\-end SDLC Planned project deliverables, tracked execution, and ensured clear stakeholder communication Acted as the primary point of contact for business\-level escalations, risks, and delivery commitments Leadership & Delivery: Team Management, Execution Leadership, Planning, Escalation Management, Process Implementation, Continuous Optimization Technology: PHP, Python, Yii, Symfony, Vue\.js, React, Ember\.js, AWS, Microservices Architecture

IT Tech Lead at Fastenal Company, Jun 2019 \- Oct 2020 · 1 yr 5 mos, Greater Bengaluru Area, I worked here for slightly over a year as a Technical Lead\. My core responsibilities here were to look into the Architecture and design and develop the solutions\. It was a loosely coupled microservice architecture with multiple integrations\. This gave me a good platform to elevate my technical skills\. I developed the skill of paying attention to details\. My main role was to lay solutions to business problem and implement it\. This was a more of Individual contributor role which helped me get more exposure to microservices and Azure platform\. Product Description: FASTCrib 2\.0 is an internet application for Fastenal customers\. It provides integrated enterprise\-wide visibility of customer inventory and stocking locations, asset status and locations along with customer maintenance planning cycle with records\. Key skills Soft skills: Action Functional SME, Solutioning business problems with architecture and Flow diagrams Tech skills: PHP, Apache, MySQL, Linux, Yii framework, Slim framework Responsibilities: Design and develop micro services Create architecture diagrams, flowcharts, data flow diagrams, ER diagrams Analyze the integration of FASTCrib with other 3rd party applications Project Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing Have been a member in the scrums to closely monitor the scrum activities, daily stand\-ups, grooming, etc Working with PHP team in defining the architecture and user stories Reviews of unit test records and code review Develop and deliver progress reports, requirements documentation, and presentations

Senior Technology Manager at iQuanti, Inc\., Mar 2014 \- Jun 2019 · 5 yrs 4 mos, Greater Bengaluru Area, This is the place where I climbed up the ladder\. I had joined as a Project Lead and then got promoted to Technology Manager and Senior Technology Manager within a span of 4 years\. I have got immense exposure to various streams like development, team handling, escalation management, client interactions and client management\. Project Description: Key project was insurance product websites and lead generation for American Express which is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in New York City\. Amex is best known for its charge card, credit card, insurance and traveler's cheque businesses Key skills Soft skills: Project Planning,Team management, Planning, Escalation management, Implement processes, look for optimizations Tech skills: LAMP, WordPress, MVC, jQuery Responsibilities: Project Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing Interact with onshore counterparts Have been a member in the scrums to closely monitor the scrum activities Working with Drupal team in defining the architecture and user stories Metric collections for various testing phases Reviews of unit test records and code review Effectively communicate project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion\. Develop and deliver progress reports, requirements documentation, and presentations Identify and manage project dependencies and critical path

## Education

Bachelor of Engineering \- BE, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Nmam Institute of Technology

Pursuing 'Google Project Management Certificate", Information Technology Project Management, Google project management certificate

[View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/sushanth-rao)

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