Practice Lead

Job Description: AVP/VP – Practice Leader, Application Engineering (Digital / App Dev / Integration / Cloud)

Job Title

Associate Vice President / Vice President – Practice Leader, Application Engineering

Location

India / Delhi NCR | Hybrid (as applicable)

Function

Technology & Delivery – Application Engineering Practice

Reporting To

Global Head of Technology Services / Delivery Leadership / CTO Office

Role Summary

Xceedance is seeking an experienced AVP/VP-level Practice Leader to build and lead the Application Engineering Practice for Insurance SI services, spanning Digital Engineering, Application Development & Modernization, Integration Engineering, and Cloud-Native Engineering.

This leader will drive practice strategy, large program delivery excellence, capability building, and innovation, and will act as a client-facing technology leader across strategic insurance accounts.

This role requires:

• proven experience leading large-scale development programs/projects, and
• onshore client-facing experience working at client locations in US / UK / Australia (or similar markets).

Key Responsibilities

1) Practice Leadership & Strategy

• Own the vision, roadmap, and growth strategy for the Application Engineering practice across Digital / AD / Integration / Cloud.
• Build and scale the practice structure: leadership bench, competency frameworks, delivery playbooks, and engineering standards.
• Define practice-level governance covering delivery quality metrics, resourcing strategy, utilization, and margin optimization.
• Build capability to support insurance modernization programs through accelerators, reusable assets, and industry-aligned engineering patterns.

2) Large Program Engineering Delivery Ownership (Core Requirement)

• Lead and govern large engineering programs involving complex builds, modernization, and integration transformation across multiple lines of business.
• Own outcomes for large engagements:
• delivery predictability and release governance
• defect leakage reduction and quality metrics
• architecture-led delivery, scalability, performance, security and resiliency controls
• program risk mitigation across dependencies and multi-vendor ecosystems
• Drive standardized delivery approach using Agile/SAFe, DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, and SRE practices.
• Ensure high-quality technical decision-making and delivery governance across distributed teams and partners.

3) Technology & Architecture Leadership

• Provide technology leadership across:
• Digital engineering (web/mobile portals, omnichannel experiences)
• Application modernization (microservices, event-driven systems, refactoring legacy platforms)
• API & integration ecosystems (middleware, API mgmt., iPaaS, messaging platforms)
• Cloud-native engineering (migration, platform engineering, containerization, Kubernetes)
• Drive best practices for architecture patterns, NFRs, code quality, observability and performance engineering.

4) Client Advisory & Onshore Leadership

• Act as a trusted advisor to client senior leaders (VP/CXO levels) on application modernization, cloud transformation, and digital engineering strategy.
• Lead client steering committees, architecture review boards, and executive governance forums.
• Translate business objectives into engineering roadmaps with measurable outcomes.
• Bring proven onshore stakeholder management gained through working at client locations in US/UK/Australia (or similar) to build trust and strengthen strategic partnerships.

5) Solutioning, Pre-Sales & Revenue Enablement

• Lead solutioning for strategic pursuits: discovery, target architecture, delivery approach, costing and estimation.
• Support RFP responses, solution orals, and proactive transformation proposals.
• Build practice offerings aligned to Insurance SI needs and drive account expansion using scalable, reusable solutions.
• Collaborate with Sales and Account teams to shape opportunities, win deals, and position Xceedance as a strategic engineering partner.

6) Practice Capability Building & Innovation

• Build practice assets: reference architectures, reusable components, accelerators, templates, and engineering playbooks.
• Define engineering maturity and modernization models and apply them across accounts.
• Sponsor innovation in:
• platform engineering and cloud-native modernization
• API ecosystems, integration modernization, event-driven architectures
• GenAI-assisted SDLC productivity improvements
• Stay current on emerging technologies and incorporate relevant innovations into delivery and offerings.

7) Talent Development & Engineering Culture

• Build and mentor strong engineering leaders: architects, engineering managers, platform specialists.
• Define skill development paths, certifications, and leadership development plans.
• Drive a culture of engineering excellence: secure-by-design, automation-first delivery, continuous improvement and strong ownership.

Key Skills & Competencies

• Practice leadership: strategy, operating model, governance, utilization and margin levers
• Large-program delivery: execution excellence, risk management, multi-vendor dependency management, release governance
• Solutioning & consulting: discovery, target architecture, roadmap creation, proposals/RFPs, executive storytelling
• Modern engineering architecture: microservices, cloud-native, integration patterns, event-driven systems
• Cloud & platform engineering: AWS/Azure/GCP, containers, Kubernetes, IaC, platform modernization
• DevSecOps & automation: CI/CD, test automation, security-by-design, observability, SRE practices
• Client leadership: executive stakeholder management, onshore engagement exposure, influencing skills
• People leadership: talent building, coaching, succession planning, culture-building

Experience & Qualifications (Mandatory)

• 16–22+ years of experience in application engineering and delivery leadership, ideally in SI / Consulting / Product Engineering environments.
• 5+ years in leadership roles at AVP/VP level covering Delivery / Practice / Portfolio / Architecture leadership.
• Insurance domain knowledge (P&C/Life/Health/Reinsurance) and familiarity with insurance platforms (Guidewire/Duck Creek/Socotra/Origami).
• Demonstrated leadership in large development programs/projects, including:
• multi-year and multi-release initiatives
• distributed engineering teams across geographies
• modernization / rebuild / integration transformation programs
• complex dependency management and multi-vendor environments
• Mandatory onshore experience:
• worked at client locations and led delivery/solutioning engagements in US / UK / Australia (or similar international markets)
• strong executive stakeholder management experience gained from onsite engagements
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Engineering / Computer Science or equivalent.

Core Competencies & Skills

• Strong expertise across at least 2–3 of: Digital Engineering, Cloud Engineering, Integration Engineering, Application Modernization.
• Strong architecture and design capability (security, performance, resiliency, scalability, observability).
• Strong delivery governance using Agile/SAFe, DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, and release readiness practices.
• Excellent executive communication, client advisory, negotiation, and team leadership skills.
• Ability to scale teams, standardize engineering delivery, and build high-performance delivery culture.

Preferred / Good-to-Have

• Certifications: Cloud Solution Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP), TOGAF, SAFe, Kubernetes, Security certs.
• Experience establishing reusable accelerators and IP to improve time-to-market.