Pankaj Meena — CTO

Engineering leader with 18+ years of experience across startups, scale-ups, and enterprise environments, spanning CRM, Loyalty Tech, Fintech, EdTech, TravelTech, and social gaming. I currently serve as VP of Engineering at Capillary Technologies, reporting to the CTO and heading the CRM product suite, including Loyalty Platform, CDP, Engage, Insights, etc, leading a 150+ member engineering org across backend, frontend, platform, and data engineering.I specialise in building high-performing, scalable engineering teams, defining technology strategy, and driving platform reliability, security, and delivery maturity. In the last 1.5 years at Capillary, I’ve: • Scaled engineering from 80 to 150+, developing a strong leadership pipeline (3 Directors, 4 Sr. EMs, and multiple Architects). • Delivered 99.999% uptime across global platforms and reduced P0/P1 bugs by 75% through proactive quality initiatives. • Improved productivity by 25% via org-wide AI adoption and automation. • Successfully integrated Rewards+ from an acquired company with zero attrition or disruption. • Led PCI-DSS and HiTrust readiness, and drove major cost optimization and financial reporting improvements through tech OKRs. • Championed initiatives like the Guardian Program, Architect Guild, and structured RCA/On-call cadences to mature engineering culture and processes. • Partnered with CS to help improve client NPS by 50%, aligning engineering outcomes to customer success.Prior to Capillary, I was part of the core leadership team at Paytm Payments Bank, owning consumer-facing products like NetBanking, DMT, and the Paytm Bank app (handling 950M+ monthly transactions). I led major tech migrations, ensured 100% RBI/UIDAI compliance, and helped scale infra to handle 10k+ TPS with 99.99% uptime.At TravelTriangle, I spearheaded high-impact initiatives like chatbot-based lead generation, custom landing page engines, and in-house analytics to double organic traffic and increase conversion metrics. Earlier stints include Shiksha.com, NightStay (acquired by Paytm), and Minekey, a social startup incubated at IIT KGP.I enjoy solving complex platform and org-scale problems and thrive at the intersection of technology leadership, execution rigour, and business impact. Always open to collaborating with product, customer, and business stakeholders to unlock meaningful outcomes.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Fintech engineering leader with extensive experience in scaling teams and driving product reliability.

Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Experience: 18 yrs 8 mos

Skills

Engineering Management
Platform Reliability
Product Engineering
Compliance Management
System Architecture

Career Highlights

Scaled engineering team from 80 to 150+ members.
Achieved 99.999% uptime across global platforms.
Drove 50% improvement in client NPS.

Work Experience

Capillary Technologies

VP of Engineering (3 yrs 4 mos)

Paytm

AVP Engineering (7 mos)

Director of Engineering (1 yr 4 mos)

TravelTriangle

Associate Director Of Engineering (2 yrs 3 mos)

Engineering Manager (1 yr 1 mo)

NightStay

Engineering Manager (10 mos)

Naukri.com

Engineering Manager (5 yrs 3 mos)

Oxylabs Networks

Senior Developer / Team Lead (1 yr 4 mos)

iMo controller

Co-Founder (7 mos)

Minekey

Software Engineer (2 yrs)

Education

Btech at Indian Institute Of Information Technology Allahabad

Pankaj Meena

CTO

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India18 yrs 8 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchAI ML Practitioner

Key Highlights

Scaled engineering team from 80 to 150+ members.
Achieved 99.999% uptime across global platforms.
Drove 50% improvement in client NPS.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Fintech engineering leader with extensive experience in scaling teams and driving product reliability.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Engineering ManagementPlatform ReliabilityProduct EngineeringCompliance ManagementSystem Architecture

Other Skills

A/B TestingAI ImplementationAI adoptionAgile & Waterfall MethodologiesAgile MethodologiesAmazon Web Services (AWS)Apache KafkaBackend DevelopmentCassandraChange ManagementCross-functional Team LeadershipCultural DevelopmentDatabase DesignDecision-MakingDesign Patterns

About

Experience

Capillary technologies

VP of Engineering

Nov 2022 – Present · 3 yrs 4 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

As VP of Engineering at Capillary Technologies, I lead the technology strategy and delivery for the CRM portfolio, comprising 8 core products including Loyalty, CDP, Engage, and Insights. I manage a 150+ member engineering team across backend, frontend, data, and platform functions, reporting directly to the CTO.
Over the last year, I scaled the team from 80 to 150+ engineers while maintaining delivery consistency and strong leadership alignment. Mentored 3 Directors, 2 Principal Architects, 3 Senior Architects, and 4 Senior Engineering Managers, strengthening the leadership pipeline.
Drove AI-first development practices across the org, improving engineering productivity by 25% and reducing P0/P1 bugs by 75% in 1 year. Achieved 99.999% uptime for core loyalty platforms and scaled throughput 5x to support global enterprise clients.
Successfully integrated Rewards+ (from an acquired company) into the CRM stack with zero attrition and seamless business continuity. Launched engineering-wide initiatives like the Guardian Program and Architect Guild to enforce quality, architecture, and security standards.
Introduced structured operational cadences—RCA debriefs, on-call charters, monthly and quarterly reviews—to elevate engineering maturity. Partnered with Product and CS teams to drive a 50%+ increase in client NPS.
Led PCI-DSS and HiTrust readiness for regulated deployments, and optimized infra and resource planning to improve ROI. Also defined and executed tech OKRs across cross-functional PODs, supporting cost capitalization, tech debt reduction, and better financial visibility.

Engineering ManagementAI adoptionPlatform reliabilityTeam scalingTech OKRsPlatform Reliability

Paytm

2 roles

AVP Engineering

Promoted

Apr 2022 – Nov 2022 · 7 mos

Reported to the CTO and was part of the bank's core leadership team, owning six major product lines, including Net Banking, Direct Money Transfer, and the Paytm Payments Bank app.
Scale & Impact:
Oversaw platforms serving 60M+ accounts, 950M+ monthly transactions, and 10k-15k TPS daily.
Key achievements at Paytm Payments Bank:
Maintained the lowest UPI fail rate (0.03%) and helped the bank remain the largest UPI beneficiary bank (450M+ monthly transactions).
Built an annual tech roadmap for frontend (React) and backend teams, aligned with business and product goals.
Migrated 80% of the native Paytm Bank app to React, reducing cost and turnaround time.
Led 100% migration of Net Banking and Money Transfer from VueJS/AngularJS to React.
Achieved 100% compliance with RBI and UIDAI mandates on data, security, and UX (50+ requirements).
Instituted rigorous code and peer review processes, resulting in zero security observations during third-party (SISA) audits.
Delivered 99.99% uptime for Net Banking and Paytm Bank app.
Successfully represented platforms in RBI IT audit, PCI-DSS certification, and UIDAI audits.
Scaled the team from 15 to 75 engineers with 90%+ retention.

Product EngineeringCompliance ManagementTeam ScalingTech Roadmap

Director of Engineering

Nov 2020 – Mar 2022 · 1 yr 4 mos

Traveltriangle

2 roles

Associate Director Of Engineering

Promoted

Aug 2018 – Nov 2020 · 2 yrs 3 mos

Owned end-to-end delivery for traveller-facing platforms including mobile apps, web frontend, and blog across the full user journey (pre- and post-lead).
Key achievements at TravelTriangle:
Led migration from monolith to microservices, improving system resilience and achieving 99.9X% uptime.
Re-architected frontend for A/B experimentation, enabling 3x more tests and improving V2L conversion from 10% to 15%.
Built dynamic backend for custom SEO landing pages, resulting in 100%+ YoY growth in user sessions.
Developed in-house analytics platform (Segment alternative), saving $18K annually.
Designed a behavioral user profiling engine, sustaining strong lead-to-conversion rates amid growth.
Unified React and native app teams to reduce TAT, increase delivery efficiency, and optimize costs.
Negotiated vendor contracts (Google Places, VWO, ImageKit), saving over $10K yearly.
Delivered a chatbot that captured 70K+ additional leads per month.
Led frontend performance revamp, achieving 90+ Google PageSpeed and 8+ Apdex scores.

MicroservicesA/B TestingSEO OptimizationProduct EngineeringSystem Architecture

Engineering Manager

Jul 2017 – Aug 2018 · 1 yr 1 mo

Nightstay

Engineering Manager

Sep 2016 – Jul 2017 · 10 mos

Held complete ownership of the NightStay tech vertical, driving end-to-end architecture, development, and team management. Continued leadership through the acquisition by Paytm, ensuring seamless tech integration and product continuity.

Naukri.com

Engineering Manager

May 2011 – Aug 2016 · 5 yrs 3 mos · Noida, India

Owned and led development for Shiksha’s core Listings module (courses and institutes), along with associated features like rankings and category pages. Additionally, managed the entire search vertical, ensuring high-performance discovery and relevance across the platform.

Oxylabs networks

Senior Developer / Team Lead

Jan 2010 – May 2011 · 1 yr 4 mos · Gurgaon, India

Managed the tech team for Mafia Resurrection, a social game that ranked among the top 5 on Myspace and Hyves (Netherlands’ leading social network at the time).

Imo controller

Co-Founder

Jun 2009 – Jan 2010 · 7 mos · Gurgaon, India

Built iMo Controller, an iPhone app that turned smartphones into video game joysticks. Selected as a TechCrunch50 finalist in 2009 for innovation in mobile gaming interfaces.

Minekey

Software Engineer

Jun 2007 – Jun 2009 · 2 yrs · Gurgaon, India

Built a mobile-first social platform at Minekey, a startup incubated in IIT Kharagpur, focused on enabling users to share and engage with public opinions on trending topics. Designed to support lightweight, real-time discussions within trusted networks.