ANSHUL AGARWAL
Bangalore
Summary
Strategic technology leader with 23+ years of experience driving large-scale solutions in financial services and payments. As VP & Head of Engineering at FirstHive, I lead the development of an AI-powered Customer Data Platform that enables personalized engagement and revenue growth for BFSI clients.
Proven track record in client relationship management, and building high-performing engineering teams. Expert in architecting scalable, secure distributed systems using microservices and cloud technologies.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
VP & Head of Product Engineering
FirstHive
04.2024 - Current
- Lead cross-functional teams including Product Engineering, Cloud Operations, Data Science, Security, and Testing.
- Manage senior leadership including Directors and Senior Managers across multiple departments.
- Drive product engineering modernization initiatives to improve architecture, performance, and scalability of existing products.
CTO & Co-Founder
Lemonpeak Payment Services Pvt Ltd
08.2022 - 03.2024
- Led the solution architecture for a comprehensive retail solution catering to diverse brands, including Levis and Campus
- Integrated AI/ML applications for forecast predictions and product optimization
- Introduced an automated reporting system, drastically reducing reporting time from multiple days to instantaneous execution with a single click
- Recommended and advocated for the implementation of voice-controlled data accessibility through Alexa integration to the client
- Implemented agile methodologies to streamline development processes, improve efficiency, and deliver high-quality software solutions on time
- Managed the entire project lifecycle, from proposal to successful delivery, for diverse clients, including Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies, DISPRZ, Levis, UDS, and numerous start-ups
- Oversaw all aspects of project execution, including requirements gathering, resource allocation, timeline management, and stakeholder communication.
CTO
Lemonpeak - (Product Payarc)
03.2014 - 08.2022
- Designed and architected a payment gateway from the ground up
- Spearheaded the successful implementation of third-party payment processor integrations, including TSYS, RSI, and Spreedly, among others
- Achieved 99.99% uptime by defining a clear technology vision, strategy , and roadmap, including development and operational standards, that created a robust technical environment
- Achieved a 50% reduction in project costs and timeline by conducting comprehensive research to identify, benchmark and finalize ready solutions
- Built from scratch and managed ahigh-performing team of Architects and engineers, QA and SRE
- Developed and implemented a PCI DSS compliance program
- Leading Innovation and research labs for new technologies and features
- Leading Cloud Architecture and Digital Transformation
- Lead the development of new products and services (Lead Management, Merchant On-boarding, Risk Management Reporting System, etc)
- Managing budgets and resources.
Program Manager
Dell EMC
11.2012 - 02.2014
- Developed software and hardware provisioning automation for the EMC self-service portal.
- Managed cross-functional teams for successful project completion within deadlines and budgets.
- Implemented agile methodologies into program management processes, increasing adaptability in dynamic environments.
- Ensured cost-effective and timely delivery of all projects within the program
- Negotiated contracts with vendors, securing favorable terms that supported budgetary constraints.
- Enhanced project visibility with regular status updates, leading to increased stakeholder engagement.
- Implemented risk management strategies to mitigate potential barriers to project success.
Manager
Capgemini
01.2011 - 11.2012
- Worked on a large project: The Global Sales Workbench (GSWB) is a program that has the specific goal of 'providing an integrated Web front-end that makes it easier for the dealers to do business with General Motors
- Successfully delivered multiple high-profile projects on time, ensuring client satisfaction and fostering long-term relationships
- Proactively initiated the implementation of code quality tools like Sonar, showing commitment to enhancing software development practices
- Introduced Test-Driven Development (TDD) methodology, resulting in a remarkable 60% reduction in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) defects
- Managing and directing efforts of project managers to ensure effective planning, coordination, and synergy between projects
- Create regular executive update presentations to demonstrate the status
- Identify program-level risks and issues.
Snr Project Manager
IGATE
12.2007 - 12.2010
- Held primary responsibility for managing relationships with multiple clients within the healthcare domain
- Accountable for client relationship management and ensuring successful project delivery, aligning with client expectations and organizational goals
- Actively contributed to the writing of proposals, providing expertise in solutioning, estimation, timelines, and negotiation with sales stakeholders
- Spearheaded the setup of a 24/7 application support team, overseeing recruitment and team formation
- Successfully achieved a 100% Service Level Agreement (SLA) for acknowledgment time and response time, ensuring prompt and efficient resolution of issues
- Proactively took the initiative to establish and lead the SharePoint Center of Excellence (COE)
- Responsible for providing guidance and mentorship to project managers and team leads, fostering their professional growth and development.
Manager - Web Projects
Raymond Limited
01.2006 - 01.2007
- Raymond Portal - Built on SAP Enterprise Portal and SharePoint server to provide quick, easy, role-specific access to critical business information and expertise for better decisions and rigorous execution
- Other features of the portal were aimed at boosting employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities
- Collaborate with directors, vice presidents of various departments, and business units for requirement understanding
- Performed requirement gathering, and wrote a detailed functional specification document
- Project Planning, scoping, estimation, and scheduling
- Reviews all aspects of project life-cycle with executive and senior management
- Risk Management for both Vendor and the Delivery Team
- Collaborate with third-party implementation partners to review the deliverables, anddefine and enforce standards.
Snr. Consultant
Capgemini
07.2001 - 09.2006
- A web-based solution using IBM WebSphere Commerce Server for selling used cars through different channels
- This is a highly configurable product that meets the needs of multiple car brands like Ford, Mercedes, etc
- Overall architecture and design of the product
- Designed and developed SOA-based framework using Spring, Hibernate, and Struts for Mannheim, which is used by current and upcoming projects throughout the organization
- Prepared design document and system architecture document
- Evaluatingandcomparing new technologiesandsolutions
- Prepared low-level design and code reviews
- Streamline the design,development, anddeployment process by implementing Maven, Ant, and Cruise Control-based automated deployment solutions with continuous integration
- Preparing technical papers.
Software Engr
Birla Technologies Ltd
01.2000 - 01.2002
- Discuss business requirements with clients
- Build clean and efficient code based on user needs
- Test software and debug for any issues
- Collaborate with other developers, managers, and UX designers in building software
- Identify and deploy software tools, systems, and components
- Monitor and upgrade existing systems
- Implement quality assurance standards.
Education
B.E: Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering -
Doctor Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University
AMPFFB - Programme in FinTech And Financial Blockchain
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
01.2021
Skills
- Technology Strategy and Roadmap
- Digital transformation and Cloud Architecture
- Solution architecture
- Product Development
- Program Management
- Compliance Management (PCI Compliance)
- Vulnerability Assessment
- Vendor management and client relationships
- Technology and process integration
- SRE Team Management
- Cost Management
- Risk Assessment
- Change Management
- Technology integration
Accomplishments
- Reduced cloud infrastructure costs by ~26% through architectural optimizations, resource right-sizing, and cost-monitoring initiatives.
- Led product reengineering efforts to significantly improve system performance, reliability, and scalability, aligning technology with long-term growth goals.
- Recognized by the CEO for identifying and resolving a critical security vulnerability, preventing potential financial and reputational damage to the organization.
- Pioneered the design and architecture of Payarc, a next-generation payment gateway built from the ground up, empowering over 10,000 merchants and processing over $1B USD in monthly GMV, demonstrating its scalability and robustness.
- Achieved PCI compliance in just 120 days as an individual contributor, earning a prestigious CEO award and setting security benchmarks that laid the foundation for long-term scalability and compliance readiness.
- Engineered a commercial antivirus product with consistent monthly revenue generation, demonstrating strong market acceptance and solid business impact.
Technologies Used
- Architectures: Monolithic Architecture, Microservices Architecture, Distributed Architecture, Event-Driven Architecture, and Serverless Architecture
- Databases: Aurora RDS, MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, Redis, DynamoDB,
- Programming Languages and Frameworks: JAVA, Servlets, JSP, JDBC, Spring, JSF, Restful Web Service, Angular JS, VUE JS, C#, PHP Laravel,
- Struts, JavaScript, Node JS,
- AWS: EC2, VPC, IAM, SNS, Code Pipeline, Code Deploy, Kinesis, Lambda, S3, Aurora, AWS WAF, AWS Well Architected Tool, CloudWatch, CloudFront, and CloudFormation
- Other Tools: New Relic, Papertrail, PagerDuty, Site 24*7, TrendMicro, Cloudflare
Certification
- Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java 2EE (SCEA) - Sun Microsystems
- AI in Fintech Essential Training - LinkedIn
- Algorithmic Trading and Stocks Essential Training - LinkedIn
Timeline
VP & Head of Product Engineering
FirstHive
04.2024 - Current
CTO & Co-Founder
Lemonpeak Payment Services Pvt Ltd
08.2022 - 03.2024
CTO
Lemonpeak - (Product Payarc)
03.2014 - 08.2022
Program Manager
Dell EMC
11.2012 - 02.2014
Manager
Capgemini
01.2011 - 11.2012
Snr Project Manager
IGATE
12.2007 - 12.2010
Manager - Web Projects
Raymond Limited
01.2006 - 01.2007
Snr. Consultant
Capgemini
07.2001 - 09.2006
Software Engr
Birla Technologies Ltd
01.2000 - 01.2002
AMPFFB - Programme in FinTech And Financial Blockchain
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
B.E: Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering -
Doctor Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University