Role Overview

NPCI is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Android Developer to lead the design, development, and enhancement of Android-based SDKs and security-focused mobile platform capabilities within its R&D; function. This role will be responsible for building robust, scalable, secure, and developer-friendly Android SDK components that support next-generation digital payment, authentication, and mobile ecosystem initiatives.

The position requires strong expertise in Android platform internals, SDK architecture, mobile security, cryptographic integrations, secure transaction flows, and enterprise-grade software engineering practices. As a Team Leader, the role also includes technical leadership, mentoring, architecture governance, cross-functional coordination, and ownership of delivery quality across SDK and security workstreams.

Key Responsibilities

1) SDK Architecture, Design, and Development

- Lead the end-to-end design and development of Android SDKs, reusable libraries, APIs, and framework components for payment, authentication, device interaction, and mobile service enablement.
- Define clean, modular, scalable, and backward-compatible SDK architectures suitable for integration by internal teams, partner banks, fintechs, merchants, OEMs, or ecosystem participants as applicable.
- Develop developer-friendly SDK interfaces, abstraction layers, and integration models that simplify adoption while maintaining strict performance and security standards.
- Ensure SDKs are robust across multiple Android OS versions, device types, OEM customizations, and deployment environments.
- Establish standards for SDK versioning, dependency management, release control, and long-term maintainability.

2) Security Engineering and Secure Mobile Development

- Drive implementation of security-first mobile application and SDK design practices across all Android development work.
- Design and develop security-sensitive components involving:
- secure key handling
- device binding
- tokenization support
- encryption/decryption workflows
- secure storage
- certificate handling
- tamper detection
- runtime integrity checks
- app hardening techniques
- secure communication and API protection

- Integrate Android security capabilities such as:

- Android Keystore
- hardware-backed security where available
- biometric authentication
- secure device authentication
- attestation mechanisms
- permission and sandboxing controls

- Conduct secure code reviews and enforce remediation of vulnerabilities identified through internal testing or external assessments.
- Support design and implementation of controls aligned to payment-grade and regulated ecosystem requirements.

3) Research & Development Responsibilities

- Work within the NPCI R&D; function to prototype and evaluate emerging mobile technologies relevant to secure payments, digital identity, authentication, embedded financial services, and future Android platform capabilities.
- Assess new Android OS features, APIs, security models, NFC interactions, device capabilities, and OEM variations for potential use in strategic product or infrastructure initiatives.
- Translate exploratory concepts into production-ready engineering artifacts, reusable SDK modules, and architectural recommendations.
- Contribute to technical innovation in areas such as:
- contactless and NFC-based ecosystems
- secure mobile transaction flows
- SDK-based ecosystem enablement
- trusted execution and integrity validation
- future-ready authentication and device-side controls

4) Team Leadership and Technical Governance

- Lead a team of Android developers within the R&D; setup,



providing hands-on technical guidance and delivery oversight.
- Break down product and research goals into technical work packages, development plans, milestones, and sprint deliverables.
- Mentor team members on Android architecture, secure development lifecycle practices, coding standards, testing frameworks, and debugging approaches.
- Review designs, code quality, architecture decisions, and implementation patterns to ensure consistency, security, and maintainability.
- Drive engineering discipline across documentation, reusable assets, issue tracking, release governance, and technical risk management.
- Collaborate with product, architecture, backend, security, compliance, QA, and partner teams to align engineering execution with business and ecosystem goals.

5) Integration, Performance, and Reliability

- Ensure developed SDKs and applications meet high standards of:
- performance
- memory efficiency
- startup latency
- battery optimization
- reliability under varied network/device conditions

- Troubleshoot complex production and integration issues across Android devices, OS versions, and partner application environments.
- Build instrumentation, logging, diagnostics, and observability support into SDKs to facilitate integration and support.
- Optimize compatibility with enterprise distribution requirements and controlled deployment environments.

6) Quality, Compliance, and Documentation

- Own technical documentation for SDK architecture, public APIs, integration guides, sample applications, security controls, release notes, and troubleshooting references.
- Ensure adherence to secure SDLC, coding standards, release validation, and quality assurance processes.
- Partner with internal security and compliance stakeholders to support reviews, audits, certifications, and control validation where required.
- Define and maintain automated testing approaches including unit tests, instrumentation tests, integration tests, and regression frameworks.

Required Qualifications

Education

- Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics, or related discipline from a recognized institution.

Experience

- 10+ years of overall software development experience with significant hands-on expertise in Android development.
- Proven experience in Android SDK/library development, not only application-level development.
- Demonstrated experience in security-focused Android engineering, preferably in regulated, payment, fintech, banking, telecom, identity, or large-scale platform environments.
- Prior experience leading engineering teams or acting as technical lead/team leader is strongly preferred.

Required Technical Skills

Android Development Expertise

- Strong proficiency in Java and Kotlin
- Deep understanding of:
- Android SDK
- Android framework components
- services, broadcast receivers, content providers
- app lifecycle and background execution models
- AIDL/Binder/IPC concepts where relevant
- multi-module Android architecture

- Experience building and publishing reusable Android SDKs/AARs/libraries
- Strong knowledge of Android build systems including Gradle
- Experience with Android debugging, profiling, and performance tuning tools

Security and Cryptography





- Strong understanding of secure mobile application design principles
- Experience with:
- Android Keystore
- key management practices
- encryption standards and secure data handling
- secure API communication
- certificate pinning
- authentication/authorization integration
- app obfuscation and anti-tamper approaches
- root/jailbreak detection concepts where applicable

- Familiarity with mobile threat models, vulnerability classes, and mitigation techniques
- Knowledge of cryptographic concepts and practical implementation considerations in Android environments

SDK and Platform Engineering

- Experience designing public-facing APIs and integration workflows for third-party developers
- Ability to define SDK architecture for extensibility, maintainability, observability, and backward compatibility
- Experience with semantic versioning, dependency control, and release packaging for SDK consumption
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for Android libraries and controlled releases

Testing and Quality

- Experience with unit testing, integration testing, and automation frameworks for Android
- Experience with secure code review practices and static/dynamic analysis tools
- Familiarity with defect triage, reliability engineering, and issue root-cause analysis

Preferred Skills / Desirable Experience

- Experience in payments, digital transactions, mobile banking, cardless/payments acceptance, authentication, or regulated transaction ecosystems
- Exposure to NFC, secure contactless interactions, tokenized transactions, or device-based payment enablement
- Familiarity with backend/API integration patterns in secure mobile ecosystems
- Awareness of OEM customizations, device compatibility concerns, and enterprise mobility constraints
- Experience working in R&D;, innovation labs, standards-driven environments, or platform engineering teams
- Understanding of compliance-oriented development expectations in high-trust transaction systems
- Exposure to white-box cryptography, attestation, HCE, secure elements, or trusted hardware concepts would be an advantage

Leadership Competencies

- Robust technical leadership and ownership mindset
- Ability to lead by example through hands-on engineering contribution
- Clear decision-making on architecture, trade-offs, and delivery prioritization
- Ability to mentor and develop high-performing engineering teams
- Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills
- High attention to detail, especially in security, quality, and regulatory sensitivity
- Strong written and verbal communication skills

Key Deliverables

- Secure, scalable, and maintainable Android SDKs for strategic NPCI initiatives
- Security-hardened Android components aligned with payment ecosystem expectations
- Technical architecture and implementation guidance for R&D; mobile initiatives
- High-quality documentation and integration artifacts for internal/external developers
- Well-governed engineering execution across design, coding, testing, and release cycles
- A technically strong and well-mentored Android development team

Success Measures

- Timely delivery of SDK and security engineering milestones
- SDK stability, integration ease, and compatibility across target Android environments
- Reduction in security vulnerabilities and improved security posture of mobile components
- Code quality, test coverage, and maintainability of delivered components
- Effectiveness of technical leadership, team productivity, and engineering maturity
- Adoption readiness of SDKs for internal and ecosystem integration use cases

📌 Senior Android Developer SDK Development (Hyderabad)
🏢 National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI)
📍 Hyderabad