Murlikrishnan Iyer

Technical Architect with 19+ years defining enterprise-scale technical architecture and modernization strategy across Banking, Financial Services, Telecom, Manufacturing, and Retail sectors. Specializes in microservices architecture, event-driven design (Apache Kafka), and container orchestration strategy (Kubernetes/Docker), translating business requirements into scalable technical solutions for global clients including American Express, USAA Bank, Verizon, Lehman Brothers, VFS Holdings, GE Power Systems, and Chrysler. Trusted technical decision-maker and primary architecture point of contact for stakeholders and enterprise clients, with a consistent record of 96%+ SLA attainment and successful modernization program delivery.

Brings a governance-first approach to technology strategy — defining design standards, driving architecture roadmaps, and mentoring engineering teams — Leveraged GenAI tools (Claude, GitHub Copilot) for accelerated design documentation and coding, improving development velocity and documentation quality. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate.

Technical Lead – SAVE (Transaction Rules & Business Process) - American Express (Amex India Pvt Ltd)

(2025-03)

• Architected and implemented Drools business rules engine and BPMN2 workflow automation governing transaction validation across multiple card portfolios, directly reducing manual rule-management effort by 40%.
• Built JUnit and BDD automated testing frameworks that increased regression test coverage from ad-hoc testing to a structured suite, improving release quality and reducing post-deployment defect rates.
• Automated Couchbase NoSQL database deployment scripts within Docker containerized environments, cutting environment provisioning time by 60% and eliminating manual configuration errors.
• Performed production monitoring, real-time log analysis, and incident resolution via Kibana ELK Stack dashboards, maintaining high service availability and SLA compliance.
• Adopted GenAI tools — Claude and GitHub Copilot — into the team's daily workflow for code generation, code review, debugging, and technical documentation, improving development velocity and code consistency across sprints.
• Led branch-cut, pre-production validation, and release management activities across Agile sprints; mentored team members on code quality, testing best practices, and design patterns.

Technical Architect – VFS Holdings - Mphasis Ltd.

(2019-03 - 2025-03)

• Owned end-to-end architecture and modernization roadmap for migrating monolithic enterprise applications to Spring Boot Microservices, successfully guiding 15+ services over 4 years and enabling independent, high-frequency service releases.
• Authored Modernization roadmaps by creating POCs, HLDs/C4 diagrams, ADRs, API contracts, and Governance Guidelines; served as primary technical point of contact for stakeholders and enterprise clients.
• Defined the event-driven architecture and Kafka messaging design (topics, partitions, clustering strategy) enabling reliable asynchronous processing and decoupled microservices communication.
• Standardized the Docker/Kubernetes deployment architecture and CI/CD pipeline design, reducing environment inconsistencies by 50%.
• Defined the observability architecture using Prometheus and Grafana, establishing monitoring standards that significantly reduced Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR) production issues.
• Managed and mentored an 8-engineer cross-functional team, providing architectural guidance and technical direction across modernization, feature enhancements, and 24/7 production support; maintained consistent team velocity and sprint predictability throughout.

Team Lead – Minestar (Mining Operations Management Platform) - Caterpillar India Pvt Ltd

(2015-07 - 2018-10)

Delivered feature enhancements and production maintenance for an enterprise-grade mining operations management platform serving global mining sites across multiple geographies.

• Conducted server-side performance optimization and peer code reviews that improved application response time by 25% and reduced defect recurrence.
• Managed JIRA-based defect triaging and multi-release deployment coordination; provided technical escalation support for critical production issues.
• Mentored junior engineers and led technical knowledge-sharing sessions to upskill the team on Spring Framework and Hibernate ORM best practices.

Technical Lead – Rebill (Billing Automation) - Intuit India Pvt Ltd (Contract)

(2015-04 - 2015-07)

Led module design, development, and release management for a billing-automation initiative, delivering all milestones within a compressed 3-month contract timeline.

• Collaborated directly with business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical specifications; coordinated automated deployment scripts and release documentation.

Technical Lead – Connect 360 (Carrefour France) - Sonata Software Pvt Ltd

(2014-09 - 2014-12)

Developed a digital customer experience and online shopping platform for Carrefour France, integrating Single Sign-On (SSO) and ERP system connectivity.

• Implemented exception handling framework, application-level caching, and template engine integrations that improved platform stability and page load performance.

Technical Lead – WHVdirect Refresh (Warner Bros Home Entertainment) - Capgemini India Pvt Ltd

(2010-07 - 2013-05)

Delivered feature development and enhancements for Warner Bros Home Entertainment's digital platform serving millions of global customers, including digital previews, downloads, and personalized recommendations.

• Developed RESTful API integrations with Apache Solr search and optimized application performance; participated in architecture reviews and release planning using Agile methodology.

Technical Lead – Vinimaya (SmartSearch Catalog Integration) - Ascendum Solutions

(2009-12 - 2010-06)

Built a SmartSearch catalog integration solution enabling real-time supplier catalog access and procurement workflow automation across a multi-supplier network.

Team Leader – GE Energy Systems | Verizon, USAA Bank, Lehman Brothers, GE Power Systems, Chrysler - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

(2003-01 - 2008-02)

Designed SLA health-check reporting dashboards and root cause analysis (RCA) tooling for GE Energy Systems; achieved 96% SLA compliance through systematic operational improvements and process automation.

• Delivered onsite client engagements in the USA (nearly 2 years) supporting mission-critical enterprise systems for Verizon, USAA Bank, and Lehman Brothers, consistently recognized for delivery quality.
• Received company award for successful implementation of a critical Chrysler Group enterprise pro