Application Architect

About the Role 

We are looking for an experienced Application Architect to design and evolve the large-scale, asynchronous, microservice-driven applications powering the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). At ONDC, we have built multiple nationwide applications across different sectors including consumer goods, F&B, mobility, financial services. This role demands a builder who understands how massive distributed systems communicate, scale, recover, and self-heal. 

Key Responsibilities 

Architect & Build High-Performance REST APIs 

• Design scalable, stateless APIs with asynchronous and event-driven patterns to support high-volume, low-latency interactions between diverse network participants. 

Microservices & Application-to-Application Communication 

• Design and implement asynchronous, decoupled services communicating through message queues, event buses, or streaming backbones (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pulsar). 

System Design for Scale 

• Architect for massive concurrency, large payload handling, pagination, and version-safe message passing using Protobuf, Avro, or JSON serialization. Ensure predictable throughput even at hundreds of thousands of RPS. 

Orchestration & Infrastructure Integration 

• Deploy and operate services on Kubernetes or ECS, with containerization best practices using Docker. Apply CI/CD automation, observability, and autoscaling strategies. 

Storage & Caching Architecture 

• Deep understanding of OLTP databases (PostgreSQL, Aurora, MySQL), distributed caches (Redis, Memcached), and key-value stores (RocksDB, DynamoDB). Ability to select storage strategies for latency, durability, and cost trade-offs. 

Programming & Scripting Mastery 

• Hands-on expertise with Go or Rust for compiled microservices and Python for orchestration, cron automation, and glue code. 
• Strong grounding in functional programming and immutability patterns used for event-driven, idempotent systems. 

Benchmarking & Performance Optimization 

• Design benchmarking frameworks using Locust, k6, or JMeter to simulate concurrent load. Analyze heap and memory dumps; use profilers to optimize GC, I/O, and CPU utilization. 

Software Design Patterns & Principles 

• Build systems that are resilient, observable, and self-scaling. 

Testing & Validation Frameworks 

• Establish unit, integration, and black-box test frameworks with automated validation of asynchronous flows, schema conformance, and payload correctness. 

Versioning & Contract Management 

• Define strategies for API evolution, backward compatibility, and schema versioning for 50 MB+ payloads. Enforce pagination, partial updates, and modular validation strategies. 

Required Skills & Experience 

• 8+ years of experience designing and delivering distributed, asynchronous systems. 
• Deep expertise in REST, gRPC, message-driven, and event-driven architectures. ● Proven experience with Go / Rust / Python and microservice deployment on Kubernetes / ECS. 
• Strong hands-on with PostgreSQL / Aurora, Redis, DynamoDB, and other low-latency storage systems. 
• Familiar with Locust / k6 / JMeter for benchmarking and Prometheus / Grafana / OpenTelemetry for observability. 
• Strong knowledge of DevOps, CI/CD, Docker, and Terraform / IaC.
• Excellent understanding of functional, reactive, and concurrent programming paradigms. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience architecting asynchronous public network systems or federated APIs (commerce, finance, logistics). 
• Prior exposure to ONDC protocol layers or similar open data ecosystems.
• Contributions to open-source frameworks in distributed systems or API orchestration. 
• Familiarity with resilience design patterns and back-pressure management at scale. 

Why Join Us

• Build the application backbone for one of the world’s largest digital commerce networks. 
• Work on core applications across different sectors. 
• Shape the future of asynchronous microservices, open protocols, and AI-driven orchestration.