Tell us about your role as the APAC Head of Engineering 

I lead in expanding our presence across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region by building dynamic Product Engineering teams. Over the past seven years, my journey with Wise has taken me from focusing on South East and South Asia to overseeing the entire Asia Pacific expansion. Our teams have mastered the art of launching Wise's products in new countries, scaling technology to support regional growth, and navigating the payment ecosystem with direct connectivity.

Most recently, I relocated to Hyderabad, India, to spearhead the development of Wise’s newest full-stack hub, while continuing to lead and grow our teams in Singapore. In Hyderabad, we are committed to hiring across all functions to establish highly collaborative, cross-functional teams that will drive innovation and excellence in our operations. This new hub represents an exciting chapter in Wise's journey, and I’m excited to be at the forefront of this expansion!

What is the most exciting part of being the Lead for Hyderabad?

In addition to my regional responsibilities, I also serve as the Lead for Hyderabad – handling hiring, maintaining company culture, and connecting the new office to the rest of Wise. I am essentially the first person on the ground building everything from scratch, which is both exciting and challenging. The standout moment so far has been seeing the quality of talent here in Hyderabad. In three months, we've hired over 70 people, and the calibre has been impressive.

Our recent Wise Talks event in Hyderabad highlighted this, with great  attendance from talented candidates across all functions where we are hiring. The engagement and questions from prospective candidates honestly amazed me. From deep technical questions around how we build engineering solutions to our brand presence, we had very insightful discussions throughout. I'm excited for us to host more events like this in the future, as they provide a fantastic opportunity to connect with the local community and showcase what Wise has to offer.

What has been your experience growing with the company as it’s scaled globally?

I was one of the early hires in Singapore, joining a small engineering team as we began establishing our presence in the Asia Pacific region. Over the past seven years, I've witnessed the Singapore hub grow to over 600 Wisers, leading to our recent move to a new, larger space in PLQ 3 earlier this year. 

The scale of change has been remarkable. We now serve many more customers across APAC, hold multiple licenses, offer a broader product suite to our customers, and operate from numerous offices throughout the region. The technical complexity of our systems has grown tremendously, and we've evolved into a globally recognized brand.

What excites me most is how our core mission and values have remained despite this growth, and that’s no accident. Whether you’re talking to a customer service agent, an engineer, or recruiter, you see the same customer-focused, mission-driven approach that has defined us from day one. Witnessing this consistency as we scale globally has been inspiring and is what has kept me here for seven years!

What’s been your favourite part of moving to India?

On a personal level, it's a homecoming after 16 years - the food, the people, everything feels like home again. 

As an Engineer in the financial tech sector, the digital transformation in India, especially in payments, is incredibly exciting. The speed of domestic payments and the seamless customer onboarding enabled by Aadhaar have revolutionized KYC (Know Your Customer) processes. I am eager to bring this level of innovation to the cross-border space in India, making international transactions as easy and convenient as domestic ones. We've already made significant strides with Wise's ADII license (Authorized Dealers Category II license) and our In-Principle approval for the Cross Border - Payment Aggregator (Exports) License. There's still much to build in India, and it’s exciting to see it all first hand.

And lastly, for someone considering joining Wise in Hyderabad, what can they look forward to?

For those joining us, this is a unique chance to scale our India products with local expertise and build teams that serve customers globally. What truly excites me is seeing our teams develop India-specific offerings right here in India, allowing us to tailor our products to the unique needs of the Indian market. Being immersed in India's dynamic fintech ecosystem means gaining invaluable experience in launching products directly in the market. It's an exciting time to be part of Wise, where you'll be solving meaningful problems and contributing to our global mission.