Job Description & Person Specification
Role: VP – Technology
Location: Bangalore, India (Work from Office)
Reporting to: CTO / Leadership Team
Employment Type: Full-Time
Experience: 12–18 Years
About 21K School
21K School is Asia's leading online school, delivering world-class education to students across multiple geographies through a flexible and technology-driven learning model. Our mission is to make high-quality schooling accessible to learners regardless of location while ensuring academic excellence and meaningful parent engagement.
Technology is at the core of our learning experience, enabling seamless delivery, scalability, and innovation across geographies.
About The Role
The VP – Technology will be responsible for driving the overall technology vision, strategy, and execution for 21K School.
This is a leadership role focused on building scalable, reliable, and high-performing technology systems that support online learning, student engagement, and business growth. The role requires strong strategic thinking, team leadership, and the ability to align technology initiatives with business objectives.
The ideal candidate will operate at a
CTO mindset, driving technology direction and execution, while leading teams and systems rather than being involved in hands-on development.
Key Responsibilities
- Technology Strategy & Vision
- Define and drive the overall technology roadmap aligned with the organization's growth and product vision.
- Build scalable, secure, and future-ready technology architecture to support a global online learning platform.
- Identify and implement emerging technologies to enhance learning experience, platform capability, and operational efficiency.
- Platform Ownership & Product Enablement
- Provide oversight on core platforms including LMS, student systems, and internal tools
- Ensure platform scalability, performance, and reliability without being involved in day-to-day execution
- Partner with Product and Academic teams to shape technology-driven learning experiences
- Guide innovation across engagement tools, analytics, and platform capabilities
- Engineering Leadership & Team Management
- Build, lead, and scale high-performing engineering and technology teams.
- Drive a culture of ownership, accountability, and execution excellence.
- Provide leadership to engineering managers and senior technical stakeholders.
- Enable team capability building, hiring, and succession planning.
- Execution & Delivery Excellence
- Ensure timely and high-quality delivery of technology initiatives and product releases.
- Establish strong engineering processes, development frameworks, and delivery governance.
- Drive efficiency in execution through agile methodologies and best practices.
- Balance speed, quality, and scalability in all technology initiatives.
- Technology Operations & Infrastructure
- Oversee infrastructure, cloud architecture, and system reliability.
- Ensure strong data security, compliance, and system integrity across platforms.
- Manage uptime, performance monitoring, and incident response mechanisms.
- Drive cost optimization across infrastructure and technology operations.
- Data Integrations & Systems Architecture
- Define data architecture strategy to support analytics, reporting, and decision-making
- Oversee integrations across platforms including CRM, LMS tools, and third-party systems
- Ensure seamless and scalable data flow across academic, student, and business systems
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with product, academic, marketing, and operations teams to align technology with business needs.
- Act as a bridge between business and technology, translating requirements into scalable solutions.
- Support leadership in strategic decision-making related to technology investments and priorities.
- Governance & Stakeholder Management
- Establish strong governance frameworks for technology execution and performance tracking.
- Provide regular updates to leadership on progress, risks, and strategic initiatives.
- Manage vendor relationships, external partners, and technology stakeholders.
Selection Criteria
- Education
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
- MBA or leadership qualification (preferred)
- Experience
- 12–18 years of experience in technology leadership roles.
- Proven experience in leading large engineering teams and delivering scalable technology platforms.
- Experience in EdTech, SaaS, or consumer internet platforms is highly preferred.
- Prior experience working in high-growth or scaling organizations.
- Experience operating at a strategic leadership level (CTO / VP Tech / Head of Engineering).
- Skills & Expertise
- Strong understanding of system architecture, scalability, and cloud infrastructure.
- Ability to drive technology strategy and execution without being hands-on in coding.
- Experience in building and managing large-scale platforms and distributed systems.
- Strong understanding of product development lifecycle and agile methodologies.
- Familiarity with LMS platforms, digital learning ecosystems, or similar environments is preferred.
- Professional Attributes
- Strong leadership and team-building capabilities.
- Strategic thinker with a business-first approach to technology.
- High ownership and accountability for outcomes.
- Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Platform uptime, performance, and reliability
- Timely delivery of technology initiatives and product releases
- Scalability and system performance under growth
- Technology cost efficiency and optimization
- Team performance, retention, and capability development
- Successful execution of technology roadmap
