Ina Kathale

Core Competencies

Agile Delivery | SAFe Framework | Scrum Master | Cloud Migration | Google Cloud Platform (GCP) | Microservices Architecture | SDLC Management | PI Planning | Backlog Management | Stakeholder Engagement | DevOps | CI/CD | Risk Management | Delivery Governance | KPI Tracking | Enterprise Transformation | Cross-Functional Leadership

Professional Experience Highlights

• Led enterprise-scale migration from legacy on-premise monolithic architecture to Google Cloud Platform (GCP), developing and executing a phased transformation roadmap aligned to business objectives.
• Product Lead driving ISO 20022 / CBPR+ migration, optimizing Agile delivery metrics (Lead & Cycle Time), and streamlining cross-border payment workflows for operational excellence.
• Collaborated with Solution Architects, Product Owners, Engineering Leads, and Project Managers to translate architectural vision into executable PI objectives, sprint goals, and technical deliverables.
• Facilitated SAFe Agile ceremonies including PI Planning, Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Iteration Reviews, Retrospectives, and ART syncs, ensuring alignment across cross-functional teams.
• Collaborate with product owners and other technical teams involved in the product development process and utilise their knowledge of the bank’s technologies to enact the vision defined in the product roadmap.
• Served as Scrum Master within a SAFe framework, driving Agile adoption, team maturity, and continuous improvement practices across multiple squads.
• Authored and refined user stories with clear acceptance criteria, ensuring backlog readiness and alignment to business value and technical strategy.
• Managed and prioritized product backlogs using value-based frameworks, capacity planning, and dependency mapping to improve delivery predictability.
• Oversaw end-to-end SDLC lifecycle management including requirement analysis, design coordination, development tracking, testing governance, release planning, and post-production stabilization.
• Identified and mitigated delivery risks, managed cross-team dependencies, and removed impediments to ensure on-time and quality releases.
• Led stakeholder workshops, requirement walkthroughs, implementation sessions, and executive status reviews to maintain transparency and governance.
• Established and monitored critical delivery KPIs including velocity, sprint predictability, cycle time, defect leakage, deployment frequency, and business value realization.
• Enabled transition toward microservices architecture, cloud-native practices, and DevOps-driven CI/CD pipelines to improve scalability, resilience, and operational efficiency.
• Acted as a servant leader and Agile coach, mentoring teams on Lean-Agile principles, collaboration models, and performance optimization.
• Own and manage requirement related aspects of the change delivery life cycle from inception, solution design through to implementation and post implementation support.
• Provision of subject matter expertise to support the collaboration between the product owner and the technical side of product development.
• Work in-line with overall organizational and platform strategy across Technology delivery and Business operations change.
• Identify, quantify, plan and control all business design and analysis related activity on change projects.
• Identify, analyze, manage and monitor relationships with and between stakeholders.
• Manage multiple work streams of project activity.
• Requirements elicitation and documentation, using User Stories, including responsibilities of similar deliverables of fellow BA team members.
• End-to-end requirements management and traceability, both functional and non-functional.

• Seasoned SAFe Scrum Master and Agile Delivery Leader with extensive experience driving end-to-end Agile transformation and business analysis excellence across financial services and enterprise platforms. Proven expertise in streamlining business analysis processes, fostering stakeholder collaboration, and enabling full-cycle Agile adoption for high-performing delivery teams.
• Own and manage requirement related aspects of the change delivery life cycle from inception, solution design through to implementation and post implementation support.
• Provision of subject matter expertise to support the collaboration between the product owner and the technical side of product development.
• Work in-line with overall Organizational strategy across Technology delivery and Business operations change.
• Identify, quantify, plan and control all business design and analysis related activity on change projects.
• Identify, analyze, manage and monitor relationships with and between stakeholders.
• Manage multiple work streams of project activity.
• Requirements elicitation and documentation, using User Stories, including responsibilities of similar deliverables of fellow BA team members.
• End-to-end requirements management and traceability, both functional and non-functional.
• Led Sprint Planning, backlog definition, and execution governance for Data Direct application teams, ensuring clarity between product vision and sprint-level deliverables. Managed Scrum ceremonies, delivery tracking, and reporting using JIRA and Confluence, driving transparency, predictability, and continuous improvement.
• Strong domain expertise in Investment & Wealth Management products, having defined and translated complex functional requirements for Northern Trust and other global clients including Westpac, Cargill, and Microsoft.
• Led Agile Scrum ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Backlog Grooming, Sprint Reviews, Retrospectives) for payment platform initiatives ensuring timely delivery of payment processing enhancements.
• Collaborated with Product Owners, Payment Architects, and Compliance teams to translate business requirements into epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria aligned with payment processing workflows.
• Managed delivery of projects across payment rails including RTGS, NEFT, SWIFT, SEPA, ACH and card payment processing.
• Facilitated priject roadmap implementation of ISO 20022 payment messaging standards ensuring regulatory and cross-border payment compliance.
• Coordinated with technology teams on payment gateway integrations, payment authorization flows, clearing and settlement processes.
• Acted as a bridge between business stakeholders and engineering teams to ensure seamless understanding of end-to-end payment lifecycle (initiation → authorization → clearing → settlement → reconciliation).
• Managed backlog prioritization for high-volume transaction processing systems supporting digital payments, merchant payments, and real-time payment solutions.
• Led Agile transformation initiatives improving delivery efficiency, sprint velocity, and backlog transparency across payment technology teams.

Senior Business Analysis & Product Leadership Experience:

• Led and mentored a team of Business Analysts, driving high-quality requirement delivery, fostering analytical rigor, and ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and governance frameworks.
• Established and enforced Business Analysis best practices, conducting detailed reviews of BRDs, FRDs, user stories, and functional artifacts to ensure clarity, completeness, and traceability.
• Served as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Wealth Management and Loan Against Securities (LAS) products, providing strategic input on product enhancements, regulatory alignment, and system capabilities.
• Directed end-to-end requirement lifecycle management for new Wealth Management products, including:
• Comprehensive AS-IS and TO-BE analysis
• Detailed gap analysis and impact assessment
• Customization and configuration planning
• Stakeholder workshops and solution walkthroughs
• Authored detailed functional specifications for Loan Against Securities (LAS) products, translating complex business needs into scalable system solutions while ensuring compliance and operational feasibility.
• Designed and reviewed test strategies and test cases, partnering closely with QA teams to ensure requirement traceability and defect resolution efficiency.
• Led and facilitated User Acceptance Testing (UAT) sessions with business stakeholders, ensuring timely sign-offs, risk mitigation, and successful production rollouts.
• Developed and maintained product documentation, including user manuals, implementation guides, and operational playbooks to support seamless product adoption.
• Conducted end-user training programs and knowledge transfer sessions, enabling effective utilization of new product features and driving change adoption.
• Executed ETL processes using MSBI (SSIS) and SQL Server, managing data extraction, transformation, and loading workflows to support reporting, migration, and product implementation initiatives.