Technical practice
How would you turn a BFSI client's business requirements into an enterprise-aligned solution roadmap?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Explain how you would clarify business outcomes, constraints and existing architecture with the client's enterprise architecture team. Show how you would sequence decisions and check the roadmap against enterprise standards and strategic objectives.
How would you modernize a legacy core system while maintaining integration with surrounding services?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Compare phased modernization with a larger replacement, including continuity and integration trade-offs. Explain how you would identify dependencies and reduce migration risk.
How would you architect digital onboarding and customer experience across channels?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Describe the end-to-end journey and the systems that must exchange information. Address scalability, security and how you would evaluate whether the design meets the stated business requirements.
What architectural trade-offs would you examine for a payments transformation?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Discuss integration with existing systems, reliability, scalability and security without assuming a particular payment platform. Explain how business and technical requirements would determine your priorities.
How would you design a solution spanning claims or underwriting workflows?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Map the chosen workflow to its data, system and decision points before proposing components. Explain how you would accommodate process variation and applicable controls rather than treating either workflow as a generic application.
How would you choose a cloud approach for a complex BFSI solution?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Compare relevant capabilities and constraints across AWS, Azure and GCP without presuming one is preferred. Address integration, scalability, security, compliance and fit with the client's enterprise standards.
How would you decide where AI or ML adds value in a BFSI solution?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Start with a defined business decision or process, then explain how you would assess data suitability, measurable value and model performance. Include how you would detect poor results and manage risks before integrating the capability into a broader architecture.
How would you apply microservices and DevOps practices without compromising technical integrity?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Discuss service boundaries, dependencies, release practices and operational visibility as architectural trade-offs. Describe how you would diagnose a failing cross-service workflow and decide whether the service split remains appropriate.
How would you assess regulatory and security risks in a proposed BFSI architecture?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Explain how you would determine which RBI, IRDAI and GDPR obligations actually apply to the client's solution, alongside relevant security standards. Show how identified obligations would affect design decisions, risk mitigation and review with the appropriate client teams.
How would you develop and defend the technical estimate in an RFP response?
What to coverSuggested preparation: Break the solution into scoped components, dependencies, assumptions and risks, then explain how uncertainty affects the estimate. Connect the proposed architecture and trade-offs to a clear client presentation rather than presenting a number without its basis.
Behavioural practice
Tell me about a time you and a client enterprise architecture team disagreed on a design direction.
What to coverSuggested practice: Use a real situation, the standards or objectives at issue, and the actions you took to resolve the disagreement. State the resulting decision and its effect on the solution or working relationship.
Describe a time you had to lead technical solutioning under proposal or bid deadlines.
What to coverSuggested practice: Explain the situation, your responsibility and how you handled incomplete requirements or estimation uncertainty with sales and technical teams. Give the result without presenting an estimate as more certain than it was.
Give an example of explaining a complex architectural trade-off to senior non-technical stakeholders.
What to coverSuggested practice: Set out the audience's decision, how you adapted your explanation and what questions you addressed. Describe the decision or other observable result, without assuming that agreement alone proved the design was sound.
Tell me about coordinating client and internal teams on a complex BFSI solution.
What to coverSuggested practice: Describe the situation, the teams' differing responsibilities and the actions you took to align requirements and technical decisions. Explain the outcome and how you verified that important dependencies were understood.
Describe a time you identified a delivery, security or compliance risk in a proposed solution.
What to coverSuggested practice: Give the situation, how you surfaced and assessed the risk, and what mitigation or escalation you led. State the result, including any remaining trade-off, rather than implying that all risk was eliminated.