Vice President, Application Engineering

Job title: Vice President, Head of Application Engineering.

Location: Hyderabad

The Opportunity

SMC Squared is seeking a Vice President, Head of Application Engineering to lead our application engineering organization from our Hyderabad GCC. Reporting to the Head of Engineering, this executive will play a critical role in building and scaling a high-caliber, globally distributed engineering organization spanning India and the United States.

This role combines enterprise-scale engineering leadership with GCC build-out expertise—owning both the development of our application ecosystem and the establishment of Hyderabad as a world-class engineering hub.

You will lead teams delivering experiences for a diverse set of users—including financial advisors, investors, operations teams, and institutional partners—while shaping how work is executed across geographies. Success in this role requires deep experience leading US-based stakeholders and teams from India, building high-trust cross-border collaboration, and creating a unified engineering culture.

At SMC, Product and Engineering operate as one team. This role is a core partner to Product and Design leadership, helping define strategy, roadmap, and execution while ensuring we deliver scalable, elegant, and commercially impactful solutions.

Key Responsibilities

GCC Leadership & Build-Out

• Establish and scale SMC’s Hyderabad GCC as a strategic engineering hub
• Build a high-performing local leadership team and engineering organization from the ground up
• Define and embed operating models that enable seamless collaboration between India and US teams
• Champion a strong, inclusive culture in India that aligns with SMC’s global values while reflecting local strengths
• Create a compelling employee value proposition to attract, engage, and retain top engineering talent in the region

Global Team Leadership

• Lead and scale distributed engineering teams across India and the United States
• Demonstrate proven ability to manage US-based teams and stakeholders from India with high effectiveness and trust
• Drive alignment across time zones, ensuring clarity in priorities, communication, and execution
• Ability to regularly travel back and forth to the U.S. to build relationship and depth and drive a cohesive culture across geographies
• Build a cohesive “one team” culture across geographies

Application Engineering Vision & Strategy

• Define and execute the engineering vision for SMC’s application layer, including front-end systems and application services
• Partner with Product and Design to shape a cohesive, forward-looking roadmap
• Drive architectural decisions that balance rapid iteration with long-term scalability

Product & Commercial Partnership

• Act as a true partner to Product leadership in shaping product strategy and prioritization
• Bring strong commercial judgment to engineering decisions, aligning technology investments with business outcomes
• Engage deeply in product design, workflows, and user experience decisions

Engineering Excellence & Craft

• Champion engineering craftsmanship, quality, and continuous improvement across teams
• Establish best practices in application development, including architecture, testing, performance, and observability
• Build an environment where engineers can thrive and do their best work

Talent Development & Apprenticeship

• Recruit, develop, and retain exceptional engineering talent in India
• Build strong pipelines with a focus on early-career and emerging talent
• Foster an apprenticeship culture with clear growth paths for engineers and leaders
• Coach and develop leaders across both India and US teams

AI-Driven Engineering Transformation

• Lead adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the organization
• Implement modern tooling and workflows to improve productivity, quality, and velocity
• Champion AI-enabled engineering practices across global teams

Execution & Delivery

• Drive high-quality, predictable delivery across multiple teams and products
• Ensure strong alignment between roadmap, execution, and business outcomes
• Balance speed-to-market with architectural integrity

What We’re Looking For

• 15+ years of engineering leadership experience, including building and scaling large application engineering organizations
• Proven experience building or scaling an engineering team in a GCC environment in India, ideally from early stages
• Demonstrated success leading US-based teams and stakeholders from India, with strong cross-cultural leadership skills
• Strong track record in recruiting and developing top-tier engineering talent in India, including building local leadership benches
• Experience creating high-performance, globally distributed teams with aligned culture and operating models
• Deep expertise in modern application architecture and large-scale user-facing systems
• Strong partnership mindset with Product and Design, with the ability to influence strategy and roadmap
• Passion for talent development, mentorship, and building an apprenticeship culture
• Hands-on experience driving adoption of AI in the software development lifecycle at scale
• Experience in complex domains such as fintech, enterprise SaaS, or regulated industries
• Strong executive presence and ability to influence across global leadership teams

Leadership Capabilities

• Global Talent Builder: Proven ability to attract, develop, and retain top talent across geographies
• GCC Operator: Experience building and scaling India-based engineering centers with strong cultural foundations
• Cross-Cultural Leader: Skilled at leading and aligning distributed teams across India and the US
• Craft-Oriented Leader: Deep commitment to engineering excellence and continuous improvement
• Commercial Mindset: Connects engineering decisions to business outcomes
• Collaborative Partner: Thrives in close partnership with Product, Design, and Platform teams
• Strategic & Pragmatic: Balances long-term vision with execution

Why Join SMC?

• Build and lead a strategic GCC in Hyderabad from the ground up
• Play a pivotal role in shaping a globally distributed engineering organization
• Create meaningful impact by developing top-tier engineering talent in India
• Partner with world-class Product, Design, and Platform leaders
• Drive innovation in wealth management technology at scale
• Help define the future of engineering at SMC, including AI-driven development
• Be part of a mission-driven company focused on empowering financial advisors and their clients