Senior Software Architect / Engineering Lead

Company DescriptionHonda Motor Co., Ltd., Japan has established a new Digital Innovation entity in India to accelerate growth through customer intelligence, digital platforms, connected experiences, and next-generation mobility solutions.Headquartered in Bengaluru, this organization will combine Honda’s global scale with India’s technology ecosystem to build capabilities that directly influence product strategy, customer growth, and new business creation across India and other high-growth markets.Role DescriptionWe are looking for a Senior Software Architect / Engineering Lead to define the technical direction for Honda’s core digital platforms, including the MyHonda App, Honda Connect App, and other customer-facing web and mobile products.This is a leadership and architecture role for someone who has earned deep technical credibility through years of hands-on engineering, and now wants to apply that expertise to system design, technical governance, and team leadership rather than day-to-day coding. You will lead a small in-house engineering team while acting as the primary technical counterpart to our engineering vendor - setting architecture, reviewing design decisions, holding the line on engineering quality, and ensuring the vendor team delivers reliable, high-performance digital experiences to millions of Honda customers.Key ResponsibilitiesOwn the end-to-end technical architecture for Honda’s digital platforms across web and mobile, and define standards for scalability, security, and performanceLead and mentor a small in-house engineering team, while acting as the primary technical interface to the external engineering vendorOwn code quality across the entire engineering org (in-house + vendor): personally conduct code reviews for critical/high-risk changes, and establish a rigorous, scalable code review process (standards, checklists, tooling, approval gates) for all other changes across both teamsDefine and enforce coding best practices — style guides, design patterns, testing standards, documentation norms — and audit adherence across the vendor’s delivery on an ongoing basis, not just at review timeReview and approve the vendor’s system designs, API contracts, and architectural decisions; push back and course-correct where neededSet and enforce engineering best practices, code quality standards, and technical governance across both in-house and vendor teamsTranslate product and business requirements into clear technical specifications and architectural roadmaps for the vendor to execute againstEvaluate technical trade-offs, identify architectural risks, performance bottlenecks, and technical debt across the stack, and hold teams accountable for resolving themDrive technical design reviews, sprint/release planning, and architecture governance forums involving both internal and vendor stakeholdersPartner closely with product, design, QA, and platform teams to ensure technical solutions align with business goalsContinuously evaluate and advocate for better tools, patterns, and engineering practices across the extended engineering organizationStay hands-on enough (through code/design reviews, prototyping, or spot-checks) to maintain real technical credibility with both the in-house team and the vendor — this is not a purely managerial roleQualifications Required8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, including significant time in frontend and backend development, with a demonstrated transition into architecture and/or technical leadershipProven experience designing systems at scale — strong, well-formed opinions on architecture, API design, data flows, and engineering best practicesPrior experience leading or mentoring engineering teams, and/or managing/overseeing external vendors or outsourced engineering teamsDemonstrated experience defining and running code review processes/standards for a team or organization, not just participating in themDeep familiarity with modern frontend frameworks (React.js or equivalent) and mobile frameworks (React Native or equivalent), sufficient to review and challenge vendor architecture and implementation choicesStrong backend architecture experience: Node.js, Java, Python, or equivalent — able to design and evaluate APIs, microservices, and data pipelinesSolid grounding in system design, data structures, algorithms, and software architecture principlesExperience with RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and third-party service integrationsStrong understanding of relational and non-relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, or equivalent) and how to architect for them at scaleExperience with CI/CD pipelines, Git-based workflows, and agile delivery models, including in distributed/vendor-based team setupsA track record of shipping and owning complex features or platforms in high-traffic production environmentsPreferredExperience specifically managing or partnering with outsourced/contracted engineering vendors, including defining SOWs, technical KPIs, or delivery governanceExperience building consumer-grade mobile apps at scale (React Native, Swift, or Kotlin)Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)Exposure to connected vehicle platforms, telematics, or IoT ecosystemsExperience with observability tooling: logging, monitoring, alerting, and crash analytics (Firebase, Datadog, Sentry, or equivalent)Background in mobility, automotive, fintech, or high-scale B2C product environmentsWhy joinShape the technical architecture for products used daily by millions of Honda customers across IndiaOwn high-leverage architectural decisions across frontend, backend, APIs, and platform services without being buried in day-to-day ticket workBuild and lead a lean, high-trust in-house team while directing a larger extended engineering organizationWork at the intersection of mobility, connected vehicles, and digital platformsStrong long-term growth opportunity within Honda’s global digital ecosystem