Senior Android Developer SDK Development

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

• Strong 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