HI, I'M SHAIK

Chief Technology Officer

Chief Technology Officer with 25+ years of experience leading technology strategy, digital transformation, innovation, and business growth across Banking, FinTech, Digital Payments, Mobile Money, Insurance, and Financial Services. Proven track record of building and scaling digital banking platforms, mobile wallets, payment gateways, super apps, lending platforms, and enterprise technology ecosystems serving millions of customers across multiple countries.

Trusted advisor to Boards, CEOs, Regulators, Auditors, and Executive Leadership Teams, with deep expertise in enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, cloud transformation, AI-driven innovation, governance, operational resilience, and regulatory compliance. Recognized for leading large-scale transformation programs, technology modernization initiatives, platform stabilization efforts, and high-performing technology organizations that accelerate growth, strengthen customer trust, improve operational efficiency, and create sustainable business value.

Shaik Mahaboob Subhani

CTO

Currently: CTO @ AzamPesa, Tanzania

+91 9490959786

Technology executive driving financial innovation

25+ YEARS OF LEADERSHIP

🇺🇸 New Jersey, USA 🇬🇧 London, UK 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 🇦🇪 Dubai, UAE 🇸🇬 Singapore 🇩🇪 Nuremberg, Germany 🇲🇿 Maputo, Mozambique 🇹🇿 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Chief Technology Officer and Technology Executive with 25+ years of experience driving technology strategy, digital transformation, innovation, and enterprise modernization across Banking, FinTech, Digital Payments, Mobile Money, Insurance, and Financial Services. Throughout my career, I have successfully transformed technology organizations into strategic business enablers by aligning innovation, operations, cybersecurity, governance, and digital capabilities with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and long-term growth strategies.

My experience spans Digital Banking Platforms, Mobile Money Wallets, Payment Gateways, Merchant Ecosystems, Super Apps, Lending Platforms, Insurance Systems, Enterprise Integration Platforms, Open Banking APIs, Cloud Transformation, Cybersecurity, Data Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and large-scale financial technology ecosystems. I have led the development, modernization, stabilization, and scaling of mission-critical platforms serving millions of customers, agents, merchants, and enterprise users across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

As a Board-facing technology leader, I work closely with Boards, CEOs, Regulators, Auditors, Investors, and Executive Leadership Teams to define technology vision, enterprise architecture, governance frameworks, cybersecurity strategies, digital transformation roadmaps, investment priorities, risk management approaches, and innovation agendas. I have successfully led multi-million-dollar technology portfolios, enterprise-wide modernization programs, operational turnaround initiatives, platform stabilization efforts, and strategic vendor partnerships that delivered measurable business outcomes, accelerated digital adoption, strengthened regulatory compliance, enhanced operational resilience, and enabled sustainable business growth.

My leadership experience includes driving the transformation of digital payment ecosystems, mobile money platforms, digital banking solutions, insurance technology platforms, and financial inclusion initiatives. I have successfully led the design and implementation of Digital Banking Platforms, Mobile Wallets, Payment Gateways, Merchant Acquiring Solutions, Agency Banking, Cross-Border Payments, Lending Platforms, Insurance Systems, Digital KYC, Video KYC, AI-powered Credit Engines, Decision Engines, Enterprise Data Platforms, Customer Self-Service Ecosystems, and API-driven digital platforms.

I possess extensive expertise in Enterprise Architecture, Cloud & Infrastructure Strategy, Cybersecurity, DevSecOps, Software Engineering, Technology Operations, NOC & SOC Management, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Technology Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management, Vendor Management, and Large-Scale Transformation Program Delivery. I have built and led high-performing technology organizations comprising software engineering, infrastructure, cybersecurity, architecture, DevOps, QA, product delivery, and operations teams while managing multi-million-dollar budgets and complex technology ecosystems.

I have successfully led organizations through governance, quality, security, and compliance initiatives aligned with ISO standards, audit and regulatory frameworks, cybersecurity assessments, operational resilience programs, and CMMI maturity practices. My experience includes establishing governance structures, strengthening internal controls, improving audit readiness, standardizing delivery processes, implementing risk management frameworks, and driving continuous improvement initiatives that enhanced operational excellence and organizational maturity.

I am passionate about leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, Machine Learning, Intelligent Automation, Data Analytics, and Emerging Technologies to improve customer experience, strengthen fraud prevention, optimize risk management, automate operations, accelerate innovation, and unlock new business opportunities. My focus is on transforming technology into a strategic growth engine that enables financial inclusion, operational excellence, customer trust, regulatory compliance, and long-term enterprise value creation.

My mission is to build secure, scalable, resilient, AI-powered, and future-ready technology organizations that drive business growth, support digital economies, accelerate innovation, strengthen governance, and create lasting impact through visionary leadership, execution excellence, and continuous transformation.

End-to-End Technology Value Chain

My expertise spans the entire technology lifecycle—from establishing board-level IT strategy and enterprise architecture to overseeing rigorous software engineering, managing complex infrastructure operations, and ensuring uncompromising cybersecurity and regulatory compliance across global markets.

Core domain expertise

Digital Banking Platforms

Architecting and scaling comprehensive core banking replacements and modern digital-first banking solutions.

Mobile Money Wallets

Designing closed and open-loop mobile wallet ecosystems for financial inclusion and seamless peer-to-peer transfers.

Payment Gateways

Building high-throughput, low-latency payment processing engines with multi-currency and cross-border capabilities.

Major Ecosystems

Successfully delivered and scaled flagship regional FinTech platforms including AzamPesa, AzamPay, and AnnapurnaPay.

Cybersecurity & Compliance

End-to-end security governance: VAPT, PCI-DSS, SOC2, AML/KYC, AWS GuardDuty/WAF. Reduced incidents by 30%.

Agency Banking & Interoperability

Building agent network platforms, merchant acquiring, QR payments, and cross-system interoperability frameworks.

Insurance Technology

Architecting InsurTech platforms covering digital policy issuance, claims automation, and embedded insurance within FinTech ecosystems.

Financial Services & NBFC

Leading end-to-end technology for NBFCs, MFIs, and financial services firms including lending platforms, credit engines, and regulatory reporting.

Business Impact Highlights

Delivering measurable, quantifiable results at the intersection of technology, finance, and innovation.

10x

Transaction Scale

Engineered high-throughput payment platforms scaling to 1000+ TPS, handling explosive transaction growth across multiple markets without performance degradation or downtime.

99.99%

Platform Uptime

Maintained continuous availability for mission-critical digital banking, payment, and mobile money services through active-active DR architecture, Blue-Green deployments, and 24x7 NOC operations.

Regulatory Audits Passed

Successfully led organizations through Big 4 audits achieving full compliance with PCI-DSS, SOC2, AML/KYC, GDPR, and Central Bank regulatory frameworks — establishing strong governance, internal controls, and audit-ready technology operations.

40%

Faster Deployments via AI & DevOps

Accelerated engineering delivery by 40% through CI/CD pipelines, test automation, container orchestration, and DevSecOps practices — augmented by AI tools including GitHub Copilot, Postman AI, New Relic AI, and Appknox to improve code quality, API testing, observability, and security scanning.

1000+

TPS Platform Capacity

Architected and delivered high-throughput payment platforms targeting 1000+ transactions per second with zero-downtime via Blue-Green deployments, active-active DR architecture, Kafka, RabbitMQ, and HAProxy — ensuring resilience, fault tolerance, and scalability across multi-country operations.

$M+

Technology Budgets Managed

Successfully presented and secured multi-million-dollar technology infrastructure and cybersecurity investment strategies at Board level — aligning technology investments directly with business growth objectives and market expansion priorities.

Career Journey

Work Experience

Chief Technology OfficerAug 2025 – Present

AzamPesa / AzamPay — Bakhresa Group · Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Driving evolution of AzamPesa into a One-Stop Digital Super App — wallet, merchant ecosystem, payment gateway, interoperability & digital financial services across Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda & Uganda.
Defined platform scalability roadmap targeting 1000+ TPS with zero-downtime via Blue-Green deployment and active-active DR architecture aligned with Central Bank requirements.
Established enterprise-wide technology strategy covering infrastructure, network, cybersecurity, software engineering, QA, and 24x7 NOC operations for a regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI).
Strengthened infrastructure: VM clusters, Kafka, RabbitMQ, HAProxy; asynchronous microservices architecture improving platform performance and fault tolerance.
Implemented DevSecOps model integrating security scanning, code review & compliance validation within CI/CD; introduced QA automation and production release quality gates.
Designed third-tier Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity framework; automated reconciliation, settlement, transaction monitoring & fraud management.
Presented multi-million-dollar infrastructure & cybersecurity investment strategy to Board — secured full approval.
Led end-to-end architecture: Mobile Wallet, Payment Gateway, Merchant Payments, Agent Banking, Super App, Agent App & Enterprise Payment Gateway.
Managed multi-million-dollar technology budget and vendor ecosystem across multi-country operations.
Built and led cross-functional teams across infrastructure, network, cybersecurity, development, QA & NOC — Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda & Uganda.
Established engineering governance: coding standards, QA practices, release management, and production deployment controls.
Designed centralized monitoring across infrastructure, applications, network, and security layers using ELK, Grafana & Prometheus.
Implemented settlement automation, real-time fraud detection, and daily reconciliation pipelines reducing financial discrepancies.

Head Software R&D / CTOMay 2025 – Jul 2025

Maximo Group · Maputo, Mozambique

Led bank technology modernization aligned with Central Bank policies — eKYC, open banking APIs, real-time payments, digital identity.
Established in-house software development function for digital banking products and mobile onboarding systems.
Oversaw hybrid infrastructure: on-premises data center + secure cloud for data sovereignty & regulatory compliance.
Rolled out enterprise DevOps, CI/CD, container orchestration; enhanced IAM, SIEM & endpoint protection posture.
Led integration with banks, MNOs, payment switches, TIPS, card networks; established observability with New Relic.

FinTech Head IT — AVPDec 2020 – Apr 2025

Annapurna Finance

Built AnnapurnaPay (UPI Super App) — live on Play Store, driving 54% of total customer collections for lending & payments.
Led UPI, BBPS, eNACH, eMandate, Digital KYC, CKYC, TPAP/UPI Plug-In with NPCI & NSDL e-stamping, ensuring RBI compliance.
Designed digital lending platform (STP/Customer Self Journey) — automated loan application, approval & disbursement for MSME & MFI including Digital JIT Product.
Implemented AI/ML credit engine & decision engine; built AFPLOne internal staff super app for loan processing, payments & HR.
End-to-end AWS cloud: EC2, S3, IAM, Network Firewall, Container Security, Security Hub, Inspector, GuardDuty & WAF.
Led WhatsApp AI bots for automated loan processing, payment transactions & customer support.
Passed Big 4 audits: PCI-DSS, SOC2, AML/KYC, and GDPR compliance.
Implemented Bank Statement Analysis, e-Sign, e-Stamping, eNach, eMandate/UPI Mandate, NEFT, RTGS & CKYC integrations.
Led TPAP & UPI Plug-In with NPCI; collaborated with NSDL for secure e-stamping solutions.
Developed Group Lending Model (GLM) digital workflow automating field-officer disbursements for 500k+ MFI customers.
Managed cross-functional teams of 100+ across engineering, QA, DevOps, compliance, and product for all digital initiatives.
Implemented Digital JIT Product for MFI customers and STP/Customer Self-Journey for MSME loan automation end-to-end.

Senior Project Manager – Head ITJun 2015 – Sep 2020

Jayam Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Delivered ERP (LOS, LMS, Digital Payments) for 23+ banking, fintech, NBFC & MFI clients.
Managed 60+ cross-functional teams through full SDLC; improved time-to-market by 25% via Agile.

Senior PM – IT Head Offshore DeliveryApr 2013 – May 2015

GfK

Led 150+ engineers across UK, US, Malaysia, Czech Republic & Germany; delivered GfK.com, GfKConnect & C3PO.
Cleared CMMI Level audits with Big 4 firms; led CRM, Datamart & SAP integration using BizTalk.

Project Manager – SW/ITJun 2004 – Mar 2013

Kantar ITP – TNS · Growth: Team Lead (2004–07) → PM (2008–13)

Led CRM Web portal development; managed production servers through full deployment lifecycle.

Software EngineerJun 2003 – Mar 2004

ING – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Software DeveloperDec 1999 – Mar 2000

Jayam Solutions – Hyderabad, India