As the
Vice President, Product Engineering, India & Site Leader
, you are a senior leader responsible for building and leading high-performing product engineering teams while serving as the senior-most leader at the StarRez India Office, combining: - Product engineering leadership (70%) - driving excellence in engineering, product, design, quality, delivery and team capability across StarRez s product ecosystem.
- India site leadership (30%) - leading the StarRez India Office as it scales rapidly, ensuring operational alignment, cultural integration, and global collaboration.
In this role, you are pivotal to StarRez s global growth and overall Product & Technology strategy. You will blend strategic foresight with operational execution, ensuring the StarRez India Office becomes a world-class, high-performing, and fully integrated part of StarRez s global organization.
Role Specifics
- Work Location: Hyderabad, Telangana - Hybrid 3-4 days in office
- Travel: ~10-15% (domestically and internationally - primarily to Australia / USA)
- Reporting Structure: Reports into Chief Technology and Product Officer
Key Responsibilities
Product Engineering Leadership (70%)
Build High-Performing Teams
- Hire, onboard, lead, mentor, and scale multiple Product Engineering teams across StarRez s SaaS platform.
- Shape the delivery culture by embedding engineering and product best practices, agile operating cadences, and a focus on continuous improvement.
- Balance speed-to-scale and rapid delivery with long-term sustainability and technical quality.
Deliver Product and Engineering Excellence
- Collaborate globally, partnering with Product, Design, and Technology leadership to ensure consistency in engineering and product standards and processes while aligning outcomes with business and customer value.
- Work transparently and collaboratively across regions, ensuring India is tightly integrated into StarRez rather than siloed.
- Oversee technical direction, and engineering standards to ensure the development of secure, scalable, and high-quality software.
- Foster a pragmatic, data-informed engineering culture that values experimentation and continuous learning.
Lead Strategy and Governance
- Define and execute a clear engineering strategy that accelerates delivery and innovation while maintaining product reliability and scalability.
- Establish robust product and delivery management practices, capacity planning, and outcome reporting frameworks.
- Identify and proactively mitigate risks related to delivery, scalability, and team performance.
Empower and Inspire Leaders
- Coach and develop the team, cultivate leadership capability, influence and accountability.
- Champion succession plans and clear career development frameworks for product, design and technical talent in India and contribute ideas back into global P&T frameworks.
- Create and foster an environment where collaboration, curiosity, and ownership drive performance and engagement.
StarRez India Office Leadership (30%)
Strategic Leadership and Alignment
- Define and execute the strategic vision for the StarRez India Office, aligned to global business, technology, and talent strategies.
- Translate global goals into India-based initiatives that deliver measurable impact and value.
- Ensure the India office operates as an integrated global hub, collaborating seamlessly with teams across the U.S., Australia, and the U.K.
- Identify capability expansion opportunities (e.g., AI, automation, cloud engineering) that enhance StarRez s product and technology ecosystem.
Organization Building and Scaling
- Lead the expansion of the India office from approximately 20 to 200+ team members over the next 2+ years, building organizational capacity across engineering, product, design, and supporting growth across Customer Operations, and Go-To-Market.
- Co-design and implement a sustainable reporting structure with clear spans of control, leadership layers, and career paths for team members.
- Develop local leadership programs, succession plans, and mentoring initiatives to foster a strong pipeline of mid- and senior-level leaders.
- Instill a performance-driven, high-accountability culture that emphasizes quality, innovation, and inclusion.
Talent Brand and Employee Experience
- Position the StarRez India Office as a top employer in Hyderabad s SaaS and technology community.
- Partner with People & Culture to design and execute a local talent brand and hiring strategy, including university partnerships and engagement in the local tech ecosystem.
- Ensure exceptional onboarding, learning, and career development experiences aligned with StarRez s values.
- Champion diversity and inclusion, ensuring balanced representation and equitable opportunities.
Operational Leadership and Governance
- Oversee site operations, including facilities, finance coordination, IT infrastructure, compliance, and local HR processes.
- Develop scalable governance structures for budgeting, procurement, and vendor management, aligned with global policies.
- Define and regularly report site-level KPIs covering operational performance, team member engagement, and overall site health.
- Partner with global Finance and People & Culture teams to ensure transparency, compliance, and accountability.
Cross-Functional and Global Collaboration
- Act as the primary interface between the India site and global leadership.
- Foster strong working relationships with P&T, Customer Operations and Go-To-Market peers across regions.
- Ensure effective cross-time-zone collaboration through structured operating rhythms, communication frameworks, and transparent reporting.
- Represent the India office in global forums, business reviews, and strategic planning sessions.
Culture and Engagement
- Build a cohesive StarRez India identity that reflects global values while celebrating local strengths.
- Lead engagement initiatives such as town halls, innovation days, and leadership connect sessions to strengthen community and inclusion.
- Maintain an accessible, visible leadership presence that builds trust and alignment.
External Partnerships and Ecosystem Engagement
- Represent StarRez India externally with universities, industry bodies, and technology partners to strengthen StarRez s visibility and employer brand.
- Foster partnerships that support innovation, early talent programs, and local technology leadership.
- Stay informed on regional trends in workforce dynamics, compliance, and technology innovation.
Change Leadership and Scale Readiness
- Anticipate and lead organizational changes as the site scales - managing transitions in structure, process, and culture.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the CTPO and executive leadership on India site strategy, performance, and scaling readiness.
- Ensure StarRez India remains agile, resilient, and aligned with the evolving needs of a global SaaS organization.
Qualifications & Experience
Required
- 10+ years of Engineering or Product leadership experience in a SaaS or enterprise-scale software Product company.
- Proven success building and scaling teams operating in a global environment.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex delivery across multiple product lines or technology domains.
- Outstanding communication, stakeholder management, and cross-cultural leadership skills.
- Experience managing through growth, ambiguity, and organizational change.
Preferred
- Prior experience establishing or scaling an India technology site for a global SaaS company.
- Background in higher education technology, property management, or mission-critical B2B platforms.
- Experience working internationally in an organization backed by private equity (Vista or similar).
- Deep knowledge of lean product practices, agile delivery, and modern product and engineering approaches (discovery, rapid prototyping, cloud-native, DevOps, automation).
- Track record of building inclusive, high-engagement cultures across regions.
Measures of Success
- The StarRez India Office scales effectively to 200+ employees with a sustainable organizational structure, strong leadership pipeline, and high engagement.
- Product Engineering demonstrates measurable improvements in velocity, quality, and customer value delivery over time.
- The India office is recognized as a trusted, integral part of the global organization - consistently contributing innovation and delivery excellence.
- Team member engagement and retention metrics meet or exceed global benchmarks.
- StarRez India builds a visible presence within the Hyderabad technology ecosystem.
Why Join StarRez
- Lead at Scale: Spearhead the growth of StarRez India from a 20-person office into a 200+ person strategic global hub over the next 24 months.
- Shape the Future: Drive engineering, product, and design excellence in a mission-critical B2B SaaS platform trusted by 1,400+ institutions across 25+ countries.
- Private Equity Backing: Operate in a high-impact environment backed by Vista Equity Partners - join a network of 18,000+ Vista professionals based in India.
- Strategic, Not Support: This is not a cost-arbitrage or back-office function. You ll lead product engineering for globally critical products, influencing roadmap, quality, and velocity.
- Return with Purpose: Ideal for Indian nationals with global experience returning to Hyderabad - contribute deep technical and cultural leadership where it counts most.
- Culture that Cares: Join a people-first company where transparency, autonomy, and inclusivity are the norm - not the aspiration.
