Sushma Ramachandra
Engineering Leader, Amazon
Bangalore
Summary
With 22+ years in software, I specialize in tech vision, strategy, Agile product management, and leadership. Over 9 years at Amazon, including 4 years in the USA, I led global teams in developing payment, monitoring, and compliance solutions. My expertise spans software delivery, risk and budget management, process improvements and vendor management. Passionate about innovation, I have driven research-based product development and hold a Nokia patent. I have expertise in launching products across regions, collaborating with product, UX, legal, business intelligence, compliance, research, sales, and marketing teams to drive successful market entry and adoption. As a people leader, I have managed and mentored teams of 35+, driving high-performance.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
9
9
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Software Development Manager
Amazon
Bengaluru
02.2016 - Current
- Led multiple innovative, customer focused and compliance initiatives in the payments’ domain which serves high traffic, driving business value, regulatory adherence, operational efficiency, and cost savings.
- Built a high performing team of 35+ starting from 3 members in US. Scaled IN team from 15 to 34.
- Led High volume Cards payment transaction processing for entire IN region, by building innovative and scalable features like 3DS 2.0 Authentication, Native OTP, CVV-less transactions, Error handling that resulted in 500 bps success rate improvements, 12s latency reduction 21% increase in OTP reader coverage.
- Spearheaded strategic partnerships within payments ecosystem, evaluating use cases and technologies to identify synergies across partners. Eliminated reliance on payment processors by enabling direct integration with acquirer-side TSPs that significantly reduced cost of payments.
- Instrumentation: Optimized system resiliency by migrating legacy data to cold storage, resulting in $200K annual cost savings, zero downtime, and a 50% reduction in latency.
- Operational Enhancements & Automation: Improved system reliability and team efficiency by reducing high-severity incidents by 30% by integrating with AI tools, transitioning partner alarms to BizOps, automation, and lowering ticket volume by 21%, saving 2 SDE bandwidth annually.
- Streamlined yearly and quarterly roadmap planning reducing churn by 50%. Managed risk assessments during project planning phases, proactively mitigating potential issues before they arose during execution stages.
Bus. Proc. and Strat. Mng Cnslt
NTT Data
Bengaluru
07.2014 - 02.2016
- Headed the innovative product to manage requirements for Service catalog for an enterprise that provides a central, self-service portal of software services for an enterprise.
- Established efficient process for Product research, market study, requirements gathering, prioritization, roadmap, goal setting.
- Launched a product that reduced service set up time from 2 days to 15 min.
Engineering Manager
Cisco Video Technologies (NDS)
Bengaluru
05.2012 - 07.2014
- Led initiative to analyze Electronic Program Guide for set top box in various countries, understand customer demographics to launch product that reduced load time by 3s and improved customer satisfaction.
- Initiated modular architecture that reduced country specific feature launch timelines by 30%.
- Improved engineering processes by streamlining workflows and implementing efficient project management techniques.
Product Owner, Software Development Engineer
Nokia (7 Months Accenture)
Bengaluru
10.2004 - 05.2012
- Exhibited strong leadership and technical acumen during my tenure at Nokia, advancing from a Software Engineer to a strategic leadership role responsible for deploying multimodal input solutions across multiple regions. Spearheaded a high-performing team, leading the development and rollout of cutting-edge features such as predictive text and auto-completion on various Symbian devices.
- Collaborated with cross functional teams across India, USA, Finland, Germany, UK, Vietnam encompassing Web & Mobile App Development (BE & FE), R&D, Product Management, , QA, DevOps etc.
- In the early stages of my career, I played a crucial role in enabling video playback on the revolutionary N95, the first mobile device to support YouTube videos, by successfully porting Adobe Flash Player to the Symbian platform.
Software Development Engineer
MphasiS
Bengaluru
01.2003 - 10.2004
- Software Development Engineer (Kshema technologies taken over by MphasiS)
Education
MS - Software System
Bits Pilani
01.1998 - 09.2002
BE - Computer Science
VTU
Bengaluru 01.1998 - 01.2002
Skills
Leadership & Management:
A genuine and empathetic leader with a clear, direct communication style, fostering trust and transparency across teams Skilled in collaborating with global teams across the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Canada, Finland, Vietnam, Mexico, and the Middle East, adept at navigating diverse cultural perspectives and communication dynamics to drive alignment and shared success Strong organizational acumen, excelling in innovation, strategic planning, prioritization, delegation, and cross-functional collaboration
Technical Expertise:
Deep expertise in software development and architecture design, with hands-on experience in web and mobile applications using technologies such as Java, JavaScript, Angular, React, AWS Flink, AWS Redshift, AWS Lambda, Docker, S3 and various SQL/NoSQL databases A strong proponent of Agile and DevOps, adept at implementing CI/CD pipelines and leveraging automation to enhance software delivery efficiency Well-versed in resiliency, scalability and integrating Amazon systems with payment partners like Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, CyberSource, Cardinal, Billdesk, PayU, Juspay, and major banks (ICICI, HDFC, Axis) for seamless payment processing Possess working knowledge of big data management, analytics and AI/ML
Product & Project Management:
Demonstrated success in overseeing end-to-end product lifecycle management, from concept to execution Skilled in crafting product vision and strategy, conducting market research, and developing comprehensive roadmaps Focused on driving innovation, optimizing processes, and (GTM) strategies to accelerate business growth Proficient in stakeholder engagement, risk evaluation, change management, and vendor/partner collaborations Expertise in Agile frameworks, including Scrum and Kanban, with a data-driven approach that leverages analytics, A/B testing, and customer insights to refine product strategies and measure impact effectively Proficient in reducing operational maintenance of launched products
HOBBIES:
Passionate about creative learning techniques, including flashcards, storytelling, role-playing, gamification, and mind mapping to make complex topics fun and easy to understand for students
Timeline
Software Development Manager
Amazon
02.2016 - Current
Bus. Proc. and Strat. Mng Cnslt
NTT Data
07.2014 - 02.2016
Engineering Manager
Cisco Video Technologies (NDS)
05.2012 - 07.2014
Product Owner, Software Development Engineer
Nokia (7 Months Accenture)
10.2004 - 05.2012
Software Development Engineer
MphasiS
01.2003 - 10.2004
MS - Software System
Bits Pilani
01.1998 - 09.2002
BE - Computer Science
VTU
01.1998 - 01.2002