Scarce compliance talent
Few leaders have run compliance under RBI's digital lending and payment aggregator rules and the DPDP Act.
Fintech recruitment · India
Fintech Recruitment Agency in India
Savanna HR hires engineering, product, risk, compliance, growth and leadership talent for payments, lending, insurtech and wealth companies. We hire across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, with a first shortlist in 5–7 hours and a 90-day replacement guarantee.
3,500+Roles closed
5–7 hrsTo first shortlist
92%Offer-to-join rate
90 daysReplacement guarantee
Where we hire
Which cities do we hire fintech talent in?
India's fintech talent sits in seven metros, each with its own strengths. We hire across all of them, and often move candidates between them.
| City | Fintech strengths | Roles we hire most |
|---|---|---|
| Mumbai | Banks, NBFCs, payments, wealth and broking head offices | Risk, compliance, credit, wealth and leadership |
| Bengaluru | Scaling fintech startups and product-led companies | Engineering, product, data and design |
| Gurugram and Delhi NCR | Lending, insurtech, payments and consumer fintech | Core teams, growth, sales and CXOs |
| Hyderabad | Global banks' and fintechs' capability centres | Engineering, data, risk technology |
| Pune | Lending operations, engineering centres | Engineering, operations, collections |
| Chennai | BFSI operations and technology hubs | Technology, operations and back-office leadership |
Who hires here
Why is fintech hiring in India so competitive?
India runs the world's busiest real-time payments system. UPI handled a record 24.51 billion transactions in August 2026, worth ₹29.82 lakh crore, up 22% in volume from a year earlier.
Behind that growth, payments companies, lenders, insurtechs and banks all compete for the same engineers, risk heads and compliance officers, while RBI's tightening rules on digital lending and payment aggregators make experienced compliance talent even scarcer.
24.51 bnUPI transactions in August 2026
+22%Volume growth, year on year
Hiring challenges
What makes fintech hiring difficult?
Startups vs banks vs big tech
Fintechs compete for engineers with banks, global capability centres and product companies paying top salaries.
Counter-offers
Strong candidates hold several offers and get counter-offers, so back-outs are common without close follow-up.
Post-funding hiring sprints
A new funding round often means building a whole team in weeks, across tech, product, sales and compliance at once.
Long notice periods
Senior BFSI talent often serves 60 to 90 days' notice, so pipelines have to stay warm until joining.
Confidential searches
Replacing a risk or compliance head usually has to happen quietly, without signals to the market or the team.
Role by role
What do fintechs ask for in each leadership role?
What clients typically ask us to screen for, and how deep the talent pool is. For pay, see our fintech salary benchmarks 2026.
| Role | What clients ask for | Talent pool |
|---|---|---|
| CTO / VP Engineering | Scaled payment or lending systems, security, uptime and audit readiness | Good, but heavily contested by product companies |
| Head of Compliance / Principal Officer | RBI digital lending and PA rules, KYC and AML, DPDP Act, regulator interface | Scarce; most sit in banks and large NBFCs |
| Chief Risk Officer / Credit Risk Head | Credit models, portfolio quality, fraud controls, collections strategy | Moderate; strongest in Mumbai |
| Head of Product | Payments, cards or lending products shipped at scale, regulatory awareness | Good in Bengaluru and NCR |
| Collections Head | Digital and field collections, agency management, fair-practice compliance | Good across NBFCs |
| Growth / Performance Marketing Head | CAC and LTV discipline, app growth, partnerships | Strong, mostly Bengaluru-based |
| CFO | Fundraising, regulatory reporting, unit economics, audit | Good; fintech-specific experience is the filter |
| Business Head / Partnerships | Bank and NBFC partnerships, co-lending, merchant and B2B sales | Good across payments and lending |
Roles in demand
Fintech jobs we hire for
Core teams for newly funded startups and leadership hires for scaling fintechs and NBFCs.
Technology
CTO, VP Engineering, backend, full-stack and mobile engineers, DevOps and SRE, security engineers.
Data and AI
Data engineers, data scientists, ML engineers for credit scoring, fraud detection and personalisation.
Product and design
Heads of Product, product managers for payments, lending and cards, UX designers.
Risk and compliance
Chief Risk Officer, Head of Compliance, Principal Officer, credit risk, fraud and AML analysts.
Credit and collections
Credit policy heads, underwriting managers, collections heads and agency managers.
Operations and CX
Operations heads, KYC and onboarding, customer experience and support leaders.
Growth and revenue
Business Heads, growth and performance marketing, partnerships and alliances, B2B sales leaders.
Finance and legal
CFO, financial controllers, legal counsel, company secretary.
Leadership and people
CEO, COO, Chief of Staff, CHRO and HR heads.
Segments
Fintech segments we hire for
From early-stage startups to listed fintechs and the banks and NBFCs they partner with.
Payments and payment aggregatorsDigital lending and NBFCsInsurtechWealth-tech and brokingB2B and SME fintechCross-border paymentsBanking-as-a-serviceCards and credit linesCo-lending and embedded financeBanks and fintech GCCs
Our process
How does a fintech search run?
The same five steps for every mandate, run in parallel from day one. For fintech roles we add competitor mapping and a regulatory-experience check.
- 01
Brief the business, not just the JD
Stage, funding, licences, team gaps and the regulator the role answers to.
- 02
Map competitors
A named list of relevant talent at direct competitors, banks and NBFCs.
- 03
Screen for intent first
A red-flag screen filters out offer shoppers and counter-offer risks early.
- 04
Shortlist with evidence
Written evaluations: scale handled, regulatory exposure, CTC and notice period.
- 05
Close and hold
Offer, counter-offer and notice-period management until joining day, with a backup pipeline.
Proof
Recent fintech hiring
We keep client names confidential.
1 back-outAcross all offers, backfilled in 2 weeks
Full core team for a newly funded Gurugram fintech
Engineering, UX, marketing, sales, compliance and analysts. Read the case study →
2026Salary benchmarksFintech pay by role, stage, experience and city
Engineering, product, risk, compliance and CXO pay. Read →
GuideCompliance hiringHiring a compliance officer for a fintech startup
Regulation, salary bands and interview rubrics. Read →
FAQs
Fintech recruitment: FAQs
Which is the best fintech recruitment agency in India?
Savanna HR is a fintech recruitment agency that hires engineering, product, risk, compliance and leadership talent for payments, lending, insurtech and wealth companies across India's metros, with a first shortlist in 5–7 hours and a 90-day replacement guarantee.
Do you hire fintech talent in Mumbai and Bengaluru?
Yes. We hire in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai. We also run a Bengaluru fintech hiring page for AI, engineering, product and growth roles.
Can you hire compliance and risk heads for RBI-regulated fintechs?
Yes. We hire Heads of Compliance, Principal Officers, Chief Risk Officers and credit risk teams, screened against current RBI and DPDP Act requirements.
How fast can you share profiles?
The first shortlist usually arrives in 5–7 hours, and roles take 15–20 days to fill on average.
Do you hire full core teams for funded startups?
Yes. We have built a newly funded fintech's full core team in Gurugram, from engineers to compliance, with only one back-out across all offers.
Can you run a confidential replacement search?
Yes. We approach candidates discreetly without naming the client until there is mutual interest, which is standard for risk, compliance and leadership replacements.
How do you reduce offer back-outs?
We screen for intent before skill, track every candidate's other offers, stay in touch through the notice period and keep a backup pipeline warm for each role.
How do your fees work?
There is no retainer. You pay a one-time fee after the candidate joins, and every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee.
What if a hire leaves early?
If the candidate resigns within 90 days of joining, we find a replacement at no extra fee.
