Senior Software Engineer - India

Job Description

Your Role:

As a Senior Software Engineer at Alpaca India, you will be a key technical contributor and leader within our engineering organization. Your primary responsibility will be to design, develop, and maintain robust, scalable software systems that power Alpaca's financial infrastructure. You will demonstrate advanced technical competency across multiple areas, including design, architecture, and performance optimization, while actively mentoring team members and influencing team practices and project direction.

In addition to software development, you will also handle infrastructure-related management tasks for our on-premise data center operations in GIFT City. While the actual infrastructure work is performed by our DevOps team and vendors, you will coordinate infrastructure provisioning activities, manage vendor relationships, and ensure alignment between software requirements and infrastructure capabilities. Occasional on-site work at GIFT City data centers may be required for technical reviews, vendor coordination, and ensuring infrastructure meets operational standards.

You will independently lead complex software projects, resolve systemic issues, and maintain high-quality standards through robust testing and efficient design. Your influence extends beyond your own work to team practices, project direction, and cross-team collaborations, playing a significant role in setting processes and standards while shaping long-term project strategies.

This role requires strong problem-solving abilities, a commitment to continuous learning, and genuine care for team dynamics and user impact. You will serve as a go-to expert on challenging technical issues and demonstrate leadership within functional discussions, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and quality improvement.

Things You Get To Do:

Software Development and Technical Implementation

• Design and develop robust, scalable backend systems using Go or similar languages
• Implement event-driven architectures, message queues, and asynchronous processing patterns
• Build and maintain APIs, services, and integrations that power Alpaca's financial infrastructure
• Optimize system performance, identifying bottlenecks and implementing efficient solutions
• Ensure systems meet reliability, scalability, and regulatory compliance requirements
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code that follows best practices and coding standards
• Design and implement scalable, maintainable, and performant systems that meet business requirements

Technical Leadership and Expertise

• Demonstrate advanced technical competency across multiple areas, including design, architecture, and performance optimization
• Lead complex projects from conception to delivery, ensuring robust testing and efficient design solutions
• Resolve systemic issues that impact multiple systems or teams, applying deep technical knowledge and problem-solving skills
• Serve as a go-to expert on challenging technical issues, providing guidance and solutions to team members
• Maintain a high standard for quality, ensuring robust testing, code review, and efficient design solutions
• Evaluate and recommend technical solutions, considering trade-offs between performance, maintainability, and business needs

Infrastructure Coordination and Management

• Coordinate infrastructure provisioning activities with DevOps team and vendors for on-premise data center deployments in GIFT City
• Work with DevOps team and vendors to ensure infrastructure meets software requirements and operational standards
• Manage vendor relationships for infrastructure services, ensuring service level agreements (SLAs) are met
• Coordinate with data center vendors, hardware vendors, and managed service providers for infrastructure-related activities
• Communicate technical requirements and coordinate activities between software development needs and infrastructure capabilities
• Participate in vendor meetings and technical discussions to ensure alignment between software and infrastructure
• Travel to GIFT City occasionally to conduct technical reviews and coordinate with vendors and DevOps team on-site
• Demonstrate advanced technical competency across multiple areas, including design, architecture, and performance optimization
• Lead complex projects from conception to delivery, ensuring robust testing and efficient design solutions
• Resolve systemic issues that impact multiple systems or teams, applying deep technical knowledge and problem-solving skills
• Serve as a go-to expert on challenging technical issues, providing guidance and solutions to team members
• Maintain a high standard for quality, ensuring robust testing, code review, and efficient design solutions
• Design and implement scalable, maintainable, and performant systems that meet business requirements
• Evaluate and recommend technical solutions, considering trade-offs between performance, maintainability, and business needs

Mentoring and Knowledge Sharing

• Actively mentor junior and intermediate employees, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous improvement
• Provide technical guidance and code review feedback that helps team members grow their skills
• Share knowledge through documentation, technical talks, and informal discussions
• Create learning opportunities for team members through pair programming, design reviews, and technical workshops
• Help establish best practices and coding standards that improve team productivity and code quality

Influence and Collaboration

• Influence not only your own work but also team practices, project direction, and cross-team collaborations
• Play a significant role in setting processes and standards, shaping long-term project strategies
• Demonstrate leadership within functional discussions, contributing to architectural decisions and technical roadmaps
• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, including product, design, and business stakeholders
• Bridge technical and business perspectives, translating requirements into technical solutions
• Contribute to cross-team initiatives, sharing expertise and aligning on shared technical goals

Project Execution

• Own the outcome of projects, ensuring they meet quality standards, timelines, and business objectives
• Break down complex problems into manageable tasks and coordinate execution with team members
• Proactively identify and mitigate risks, ensuring smooth project delivery
• Balance multiple priorities and projects, effectively managing time and resources
• Communicate project status, technical challenges, and solutions clearly to stakeholders at all levels

Problem Solving and Quality

• Exhibit strong problem-solving abilities and consistently push for quality improvements
• Debug complex issues across multiple systems, applying systematic troubleshooting approaches
• Identify root causes of problems and implement long-term solutions, not just quick fixes
• Contribute to improving development processes, tooling, and infrastructure
• Advocate for quality improvements, including better testing, monitoring, and observability

Who You Are (Must-Haves):

Technical Excellence

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience with a proven track record of building complex, production systems
• Advanced technical competency across multiple areas, including design, architecture, and performance optimization
• Deep expertise in Go or similar backend languages, with strong system design and architecture skills
• Experience building scalable, high-availability applications that handle complex business logic and high transaction volumes
• Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, and system design principles
• Experience with event-driven architectures, message queues, pub/sub systems, and asynchronous processing patterns
• Proven ability to independently lead complex projects and resolve systemic issues
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to debug complex issues across multiple systems
• Experience with testing methodologies, including unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (GCP, AWS, Azure) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)

Leadership and Influence

• Demonstrated leadership within functional discussions and ability to serve as a go-to expert on challenging issues
• Proven ability to influence team practices, project direction, and cross-team collaborations
• Experience playing a significant role in setting processes and standards, shaping long-term project strategies
• Strong mentorship capabilities with experience actively mentoring junior and intermediate employees
• Ability to foster a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous improvement
• Track record of consistently owning project outcomes and providing guidance to others

Problem-Solving and Quality

• Exhibits strong problem-solving abilities and consistently pushes for quality improvements
• Obsession with performant, defect-free, maintainable code and systems
• Ability to identify root causes and implement long-term solutions, not just quick fixes
• Maintains a high standard for quality, ensuring robust testing and efficient design solutions
• Proactive mindset with the ability to foresee problems before they occur

Communication and Collaboration

• Strong communication skills to collaborate effectively with team members, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience working in a collaborative environment, contributing to team discussions and decisions
• Ability to balance multiple priorities and work effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Willingness and ability to travel to GIFT City occasionally for on-site work and vendor coordination

Learning and Growth

• Continues to drive learning and experimentation, often exploring cutting-edge technologies
• Stays current with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies
• Actively seeks out new knowledge and applies innovative solutions to problems
• Willingness to learn and adapt to new technologies, tools, and methodologies

Domain Knowledge (Preferred)

• Experience working with financial systems, APIs, or fintech applications
• Understanding of financial transaction processing, accounting principles, or regulatory compliance
• Familiarity with domain-driven design and event-driven design patterns
• Experience with distributed systems, microservices, and service-oriented architectures

Who You Might Be (Nice-To-Haves)

• Experience coordinating infrastructure provisioning activities or working with on-premise data center environments
• Experience managing vendor relationships for infrastructure services, including data center providers and hardware vendors
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code (IaC) tools like Terraform and GitOps practices
• Understanding of Kubernetes orchestration, networking concepts, and infrastructure monitoring tools
• Experience with infrastructure deployment in regulated environments or data residency requirements
• Experience in the financial services or fintech industry
• Experience working with Indian financial markets or GIFT City operations
• Experience with regulatory compliance requirements in financial markets (IFSCA, ISO 27001, SOC 2)
• Experience working with global teams across multiple time zones
• Knowledge of emerging technologies and their application to financial services
• Experience with observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, distributed tracing)
• Contributions to open-source projects or technical communities
• Experience with database design and optimization (PostgreSQL, Redis, etc.)
• Certifications in cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure) or infrastructure management (Kubernetes, Terraform)
• Familiarity with the Indian fintech ecosystem and market dynamics