UI Director, Development

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UI Director, Development

Company: Finastra

Location: Pune, India

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Engineering Management / UI Development Leadership

Date Posted: May 05, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ Years Senior Management

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and scale a global UI engineering organization, encompassing managers and senior individual contributors, to drive product development and technical delivery of UI data solutions.

• Own and evolve the end-to-end front-end architecture, including strategy for frameworks, design systems, tooling, performance budgets, accessibility (WCAG), and observability.

• Drive the modernization roadmap, planning and executing the incremental migration from legacy UIs to modern web stacks while ensuring business continuity and low-risk cutovers.

• Champion UI engineering best practices across security, performance, testing, internationalization, and maintainability, fostering consistency and reusability across product lines.

• Collaborate closely with Product, UX, and Customer Experience teams to ensure user-centric design principles and accessibility are integrated into all technical decisions and product development efforts.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior leadership opportunity within Finastra's engineering function, specifically focused on the User Interface (UI) and front-end development aspects of their financial software products. The emphasis on scaling the organization, owning architecture, and modernizing legacy systems indicates a strategic role with significant impact on product development velocity and quality. The mention of managing offshore resources and cross-time zone teams highlights a critical aspect of the role's operational complexity.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Manage and develop a high-performing UI engineering team, including managers and senior individual contributors, across multiple time zones, focusing on hiring standards, organizational structure, career path development, coaching, and performance management.

• Define and execute the technical vision and roadmap for UI modernization, aligning with overall product and platform strategic goals.

• Oversee the technical design, systems analysis, coding standards, automated unit testing, and integration strategies for UI product development.

• Lead the architecture and governance of the company's design system, ensuring consistency, reusability, and accelerated delivery of UI components across various product lines.

• Partner with Product Management, UX/UI Design, and Customer Experience teams to translate user needs and design specifications into robust, scalable, and accessible front-end solutions.

• Establish and enforce engineering best practices related to UI security, performance optimization, comprehensive testing strategies, internationalization (i18n), and overall code maintainability.

• Drive the planning and execution of incremental migrations from legacy UI technologies to modern web stacks, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations and continuity.

• Define, refine, and implement operational procedures, methodologies, and processes to accelerate delivery cycles and integrate testability early in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

• Ensure adherence to API design principles and integration patterns (e.g., REST, GraphQL), guiding teams in building efficient and secure front-end to back-end interfaces.

• Communicate architectural decisions, trade-offs, risks, and project progress effectively to executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

• Manage resource allocation, budgeting, and performance for the UI development teams, ensuring alignment with project timelines and financial objectives.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly delineate a blend of people leadership, technical architecture, strategic planning, and process improvement within the UI engineering domain. The emphasis on modernization, design systems, and cross-functional collaboration aligns with modern GTM and product development operations. The mention of "building testability into solutions" and infusing it early in the SDLC points to a proactive quality assurance and development approach.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 to 15 years of progressive software development experience in senior technical roles.

• At least 10 years of direct people management experience in a technology company, with a proven track record of managing distributed and offshore resources across multiple time zones.

• Extensive experience in enterprise software development, with a strong focus on SaaS and cloud-based application development.

Required Skills:

• UI Engineering Leadership: Proven ability to lead, scale, and mentor UI/front-end engineering teams, including second-line management experience.

• Front-end Architecture: Deep expertise in defining and owning end-to-end front-end architecture, including framework strategy, design-system governance, monorepo/tooling strategy, performance budgets, accessibility (WCAG), and observability.

• Agile Methodology: Extensive experience working within and leading teams using Agile development methodologies, with a focus on iterative delivery and continuous improvement.

• API Design & Integration: Strong understanding of API design principles and integration patterns (REST, GraphQL, API versioning, security, performance).

• Modern Web Technologies: Hands-on depth and architectural decision-making capabilities across modern web technologies and tooling.

• Team Development: Demonstrated track record of hiring, developing, coaching, and retaining exceptional engineering talent.

• Project Management: Ability to prioritize, manage work to critical project timelines, and deliver software releases on time, on budget, and with high quality.

• Process Improvement: Experience defining, refining, and implementing processes and methodologies to drive accelerated delivery and embed testability early in the SDLC.

Preferred Skills:

• UI Modernization: Proven success in modernizing large-scale enterprise UIs, including migrations from legacy stacks (e.g., JSP) to modern frameworks and consolidation onto design systems.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Experience working effectively with Solution/Application Architects, Operations, Infrastructure, Project Management, Business Analysts, and offshore outsourcing teams.

• SaaS/Cloud Architecture: Deep understanding of architectures for SaaS and cloud-based applications.

• Financial Services Industry: Familiarity with the financial technology (Fintech) sector and its specific development challenges.

• Change Management: Excellent adaptability to changes in a global delivery environment and experience managing distributed teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The qualifications emphasize a strong balance between deep technical expertise in front-end architecture and modern web development, and robust people leadership skills. The requirement for direct management of offshore resources and experience in UI modernization are key differentiators for this role, indicating a need for seasoned leaders who can navigate complex global team structures and drive significant technological evolution.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies of UI Modernization: Demonstrations of successful initiatives to migrate legacy UI systems to modern frameworks, highlighting the challenges, solutions implemented, and quantifiable improvements (e.g., performance gains, reduced technical debt, developer productivity).

• Design System Contributions: Examples of involvement in the development, governance, or implementation of design systems, showcasing how consistency and reusability were achieved across multiple products or teams.

• Architecture Design & Documentation: Portfolio pieces that illustrate the candidate's approach to defining and documenting front-end architecture, including technical choices, trade-offs, scalability considerations, and integration strategies.

• Process Improvement Initiatives: Evidence of defining, refining, or implementing development processes, methodologies, or operational procedures that led to accelerated delivery, improved quality, or enhanced testability within UI engineering.

• Team Leadership & Development Examples: While not a traditional "portfolio item," evidence in the form of testimonials, performance metrics, or project outcomes that showcase effective people management, talent development, and team scaling.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design and Optimization: Ability to document and optimize UI development workflows, from requirements gathering and technical design through to development, testing, and deployment, focusing on efficiency and clarity.

• Implementation and Automation Methods: Documentation of strategies and tools used for automating development processes, testing, and deployment pipelines (CI/CD) for UI applications.

• Measurement and Performance Analysis: Frameworks or examples of how UI performance, code quality, and team productivity are measured, analyzed, and reported on to drive continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role at this seniority level, a portfolio is crucial not just for showcasing technical skills but also for demonstrating strategic thinking, leadership impact, and process maturity. The emphasis should be on quantifiable results and the candidate's ability to articulate complex technical and organizational challenges and their solutions.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Benefits:

• Flexibility: Unlimited vacation policy, hybrid working arrangements, and paid time off for voting, bereavement, and sick leave.

• Well-being: Access to Confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for therapy, support from Wellbeing Champions and Gather Groups, and a calendar of monthly well-being events.

• Health & Protection: Comprehensive medical, life, and disability insurance; retirement plan.

• Sustainability: Paid time off for volunteering and donation matching programs.

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI): Active participation in multiple DEI groups (e.g., Count Me In, Culture@Finastra, Proud@Finastra, Disabilities@Finastra, Women@Finastra).

• Career Development: Access to online learning resources and accredited courses via the Skills & Career Navigator tool.

• Recognition: Participation in the global recognition program, Finastra Celebrates, and opportunities to influence company culture through employee surveys.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time work hours are expected, likely around 40 hours per week. However, given the global team management and the nature of development leadership, flexibility in working hours will be necessary to accommodate cross-time zone collaboration and project deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on publicly available data for senior engineering leadership roles in major Indian IT hubs like Pune, considering the specific demands of a global financial technology company. The benefits listed are directly from the provided text, highlighting Finastra's commitment to employee well-being, flexibility, and development.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Services Software / Fintech. Finastra is a significant player in providing mission-critical software solutions for lending, payments, and universal banking, serving a substantial portion of the world's top financial institutions. This context implies a need for high reliability, security, and compliance in all development efforts.

Company Size: Large enterprise (implied by global operations, 7000+ customers, and extensive product lines). This size suggests established processes, opportunities for career growth, and a matrixed organizational structure.

Founded: While the founding date isn't explicitly stated, Finastra is presented as a global leader, indicating a mature organization with a significant history and market presence.

Team Structure:

• UI Engineering Organization: The role directly manages managers and senior individual contributors focused on UI development, implying a multi-layered team structure designed for scalability.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: The UI Director will work closely with Product Owners, Architects, Program Managers, other software engineers/developers, UX/Customer Experience teams, Operations, Infrastructure, and Business Analysts. This highlights a collaborative environment where inter-departmental alignment is key.

• Global Distribution: The team will include both onshore and offshore resources across multiple time zones, requiring strong leadership in managing distributed teams and fostering cohesive collaboration.

Methodology:

• Agile Development: The team operates using Agile methodologies, emphasizing iterative development, continuous feedback, and adaptability.

• Data-Driven Decisions: While not explicitly detailed for this role, Finastra's position in financial services suggests a strong reliance on data for product development, performance monitoring, and strategic planning.

• Process Optimization: A core aspect of the role involves defining, refining, and implementing processes to drive accelerated delivery and improve efficiency, particularly in the SDLC.

Company Website: https://www.finastra.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Finastra's focus on financial services software suggests a culture that values precision, reliability, and innovation within a regulated environment. The leadership role in UI development will be critical in balancing cutting-edge user experience with the stringent requirements of the financial sector. The emphasis on global teams and Agile methodologies points to a dynamic and collaborative work environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This position represents a senior leadership role within the engineering function, specifically at the Director level. It involves strategic oversight of a significant aspect of product development (UI/front-end), direct management of multiple teams (including managers), and accountability for architectural direction and organizational scaling. It is a critical step for individuals looking to move into VP-level or broader Head of Engineering roles.

Reporting Structure: The role reports to Gregory Guy, indicating a clear line of management within the engineering hierarchy. The Director will, in turn, manage managers and senior individual contributors, forming a substantial team under their purview. This structure allows for focused expertise in UI development while being integrated into the broader engineering organization.

Operations Impact: The UI Director's impact is significant, influencing the user experience of Finastra's core financial software products. Success in this role directly translates to:

• Enhanced customer satisfaction and adoption rates through intuitive and performant UIs.

• Increased development velocity and reduced time-to-market for new features and products due to efficient processes and reusable components.

• Improved system reliability and maintainability through robust architecture and best practices.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to progress into an Executive role, such as VP of Engineering or Head of Product Engineering, with broader responsibilities across multiple engineering domains.

• Strategic Initiatives: Opportunity to lead major architectural transformations, drive adoption of new technologies, and shape the long-term technical strategy for Finastra's product portfolio.

• Organizational Scaling: Experience in scaling engineering teams globally, which is a highly valued skill for senior leadership roles in large, international technology companies.

• Mentorship & Development: Continuous learning and development through managing and mentoring a team of experienced engineers and leaders, fostering a culture of growth within the department.

• Industry Influence: Contributing to industry best practices in UI engineering, design systems, and Agile development within the fintech sector.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a significant leadership opportunity within Finastra, offering a clear path for career progression in engineering management. The emphasis on scaling teams and driving modernization provides valuable experience for future executive roles. The impact on customer experience and product delivery highlights the strategic importance of this position.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The job posting indicates a hybrid working arrangement. This suggests that Finastra offers a blend of in-office collaboration and remote work flexibility. The specific implementation of hybrid work will likely involve a combination of dedicated office days for team meetings, brainstorming, and in-person collaboration, alongside remote days for focused individual work.

Office Location(s): The primary location is Pune, India. Finastra is a global company, so while this role is based in Pune, it will be interacting with teams and stakeholders across various international locations. The Pune office likely serves as a key hub for engineering talent and operations.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and the need for cross-functional interaction suggest a workspace that facilitates both focused individual work and dynamic team collaboration. This may include open-plan areas, meeting rooms equipped with collaboration tools, and quiet zones.

• Operations Tools and Technology: As a software development leader, the candidate will have access to and be expected to leverage a range of modern development tools, project management software, communication platforms, and potentially specialized hardware for development and testing.

• Team Interaction: The role requires regular interaction with direct reports (managers, senior engineers), peers (Product, UX, Architects, PMs), and senior leadership, fostering a dynamic and communicative work atmosphere.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is typical, the hybrid nature and global team management imply a need for flexibility. Employees may have some control over their daily schedules, with core hours designated for team availability and collaboration across different time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "hybrid" work arrangement is a key aspect of the work environment, suggesting a modern approach to employee flexibility. The Pune location will likely be a significant engineering center for Finastra, offering opportunities to work with a large talent pool and contribute to global product development.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening (HR/Recruiter): Assessment of basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion with Gregory Guy to evaluate leadership style, strategic thinking, experience with team scaling, and technical vision for UI development.

• Technical/Architectural Deep Dive: Interviews with senior engineers, architects, or peer directors to assess expertise in front-end architecture, modern web technologies, design systems, and problem-solving skills. This may involve whiteboarding sessions or deep dives into past projects.

• Panel Interview / Cross-Functional Stakeholder Interviews: Meetings with representatives from Product Management, UX/Design, and potentially other engineering leadership to gauge collaboration skills, communication effectiveness, and alignment with product goals.

• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session where the candidate presents their portfolio, showcasing key achievements, case studies of modernization, design system contributions, and leadership impact. This is a critical stage for demonstrating tangible results.

• Final Executive Interview (Optional): A meeting with a more senior executive to finalize the decision and discuss broader company strategy.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Showcase quantifiable achievements. For modernization projects, highlight metrics like performance improvements (e.g., load times, responsiveness), reduction in bugs, developer productivity gains, or successful user adoption rates.

• Structure for Clarity: Organize your portfolio around key themes: Leadership & Team Building, Architectural Vision & Execution, Process Innovation, and Specific Project Successes (e.g., Modernization, Design Systems).

• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your proposed solution (including technical and leadership aspects), the execution process, and the measurable outcomes.

• Demonstrate Technical Depth: Be prepared to discuss the architectural decisions, trade-offs made, and the specific technologies and tools used. For design systems, explain the governance model and how consistency was maintained.

• Highlight Collaboration: Provide examples of how you collaborated with Product, UX, and other stakeholders to achieve common goals.

Challenge Preparation:

• Scenario-Based Questions: Be ready to discuss hypothetical situations related to managing a global team, prioritizing competing demands, resolving technical disagreements, or driving adoption of new technologies.

• Strategic Thinking: Prepare to articulate your vision for scaling a UI engineering organization, modernizing a tech stack, or building a world-class design system.

• Process & Methodology: Be able to explain how you would implement Agile practices, improve SDLC processes, or embed quality and testability early in development.

• Leadership Philosophy: Reflect on your leadership style, how you develop talent, and how you foster a positive and productive team culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to assess not only technical proficiency but also the candidate's strategic leadership, ability to manage complex global teams, and capacity to drive significant technological change. A well-prepared portfolio is essential for demonstrating these capabilities.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UI Frameworks: Experience with modern JavaScript frameworks such as React, Angular, or Vue.js is essential, as the role involves leading teams working with these technologies.

• Design Systems Tools: Proficiency with tools and methodologies for building, maintaining, and scaling design systems (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight, internal component libraries).

• Version Control: Git (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) for source code management and collaborative development workflows.

• CI/CD Tools: Experience with continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps, CircleCI) for automating build, test, and deployment processes.

• Project Management & Collaboration: Tools like Jira, Confluence, Asana, or Trello for Agile project management, task tracking, and documentation.

• Communication Platforms: Slack, Microsoft Teams, or similar for real-time team communication and collaboration.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Performance Monitoring: Tools for tracking front-end performance and user experience (e.g., Google Analytics, Datadog, New Relic, Lighthouse).

• Testing Frameworks: Deep understanding of various testing methodologies and tools for front-end testing, including unit testing (e.g., Jest, Mocha), integration testing, and end-to-end testing (e.g., Cypress, Selenium).

• Dashboarding Tools: Experience with creating and interpreting dashboards for monitoring key metrics (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Grafana) to track team performance, product health, and project progress.

CRM & Automation:

• While this role is primarily focused on UI development leadership, an understanding of how front-end applications integrate with backend systems, APIs, and potentially CRM data is beneficial. Experience with API gateways and integration platforms would be a plus.

• Cloud Platforms: Familiarity with cloud environments like AWS, Azure, or GCP, as modern SaaS applications are typically deployed on these platforms.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes modern front-end development practices and tools essential for building scalable, high-performance, and maintainable user interfaces in a cloud-native environment. The ability to manage and leverage these tools effectively, and to guide teams in their adoption, is critical.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Excellence & Quality: A commitment to delivering high-quality, reliable, and performant software solutions that meet stringent industry standards. This translates to a focus on robust engineering practices, thorough testing, and continuous improvement.

• Collaboration & Teamwork: An emphasis on working effectively across teams and geographies to achieve shared goals. This includes open communication, mutual respect, and a willingness to support colleagues.

• Innovation & Adaptability: A drive to embrace new technologies, explore novel solutions, and adapt to evolving market demands and user needs. This fosters a culture of continuous learning and proactive change.

• Customer Focus: A dedication to understanding and meeting customer needs through user-centric design and development, ensuring that products deliver exceptional value and user experience.

• Efficiency & Productivity: A focus on optimizing development processes, leveraging automation, and ensuring efficient use of resources to accelerate delivery and maximize output.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: The role requires a highly collaborative approach, working seamlessly with Product, UX, Architects, and other engineering disciplines to ensure alignment and deliver integrated solutions.

• Process Review Culture: An environment that encourages open feedback on processes and methodologies, with a focus on continuous refinement and shared ownership of improvement initiatives.

• Knowledge Sharing: Practices that promote the sharing of technical expertise, best practices, and lessons learned across teams and geographies, fostering a collective growth mindset.

📝 Enhancement Note: Finastra's values, as inferred from the job description and industry context, point towards a culture that balances innovation with stability, global collaboration with individual accountability, and a strong focus on delivering value to financial institutions. The UI Director will be instrumental in embodying and promoting these values within their teams.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Managing Global, Distributed Teams: Effectively leading and motivating teams across different time zones, cultures, and work environments requires strong communication, empathy, and strategic delegation.

• Modernizing Legacy Systems: Orchestrating a large-scale migration from older UI technologies to modern stacks presents technical complexity, requires careful planning to avoid disruption, and demands buy-in from various stakeholders.

• Balancing Innovation with Stability: In the fintech industry, there's a constant need to innovate and adopt new technologies while maintaining the highest levels of security, reliability, and compliance.

• Driving Consistency Across Products: Ensuring a unified and consistent user experience across a diverse portfolio of financial software products, each with its own development history and roadmap.

• Technical Debt Management: Addressing and mitigating existing technical debt while continuing to deliver new features and maintain current systems.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Leadership Training: Opportunities to hone executive leadership, strategic planning, and organizational scaling skills through internal programs or external courses.

• Fintech Industry Expertise: Deepening understanding of the financial services industry, its regulatory landscape, and the unique challenges and opportunities within fintech.

• Architectural Strategy: Engaging in high-level architectural discussions and decision-making that shape the future of Finastra's technology platform.

• Mentorship Programs: Opportunity to mentor emerging leaders and technical talent within the organization, contributing to the development pipeline.

• Industry Conferences and Certifications: Potential to attend leading industry conferences or pursue certifications relevant to software architecture, agile leadership, or cloud technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are typical for a senior leadership role in a large, established, and evolving technology company, especially in a regulated industry like fintech. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a clear path for career advancement and skill enhancement.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to scaling a UI engineering organization from X to Y engineers across multiple continents. What are the key challenges and how would you mitigate them?" (Focus on hiring, structure, process, and culture.)

• "How would you define and govern a design system to ensure consistency and reusability across Finastra's diverse product lines? What are the critical success factors?" (Focus on governance, adoption, and impact.)

• "Outline your strategy for migrating a large enterprise application from a legacy UI framework (e.g., JSP) to a modern stack like React or Angular. What are the key phases, risks, and how would you ensure business continuity?" (Focus on phased approach, risk management, and stakeholder communication.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Finastra and the fintech industry, what do you see as the biggest UI/UX challenges and opportunities for our products?" (Demonstrate research and industry insight.)

• "How would you foster a collaborative and innovative culture within a globally distributed UI engineering team, ensuring effective communication and knowledge sharing?" (Focus on leadership style and team-building strategies.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Logically: Begin with an overview of your leadership philosophy and experience, then dive into 2-3 key case studies that best represent your impact (e.g., a major modernization effort, a significant design system implementation, or a team scaling initiative).

• Quantify Everything: For each project, clearly state the business problem, your role and responsibilities, the technical solutions implemented, and the measurable business outcomes (e.g., % improvement in performance, reduction in bugs, faster time-to-market, increased user adoption).

• Emphasize Leadership & Process: Beyond the technical details, highlight your role in team building, process improvement, stakeholder management, and driving consensus.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions on technical details, architectural trade-offs, challenges faced, and lessons learned. Have supporting documentation or visual aids ready if needed.

• Tailor to Finastra: Briefly touch upon how your experience and approach align with Finastra's mission and the specific challenges of the fintech industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, deep technical expertise in UI architecture and modernization, and proven ability to manage and scale global teams. The portfolio presentation is a critical component for showcasing tangible impact.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this UI Director, Development position:

• Submit Your Application: Navigate to the provided Workday job posting link and complete the online application form.

• Tailor Your Resume: Ensure your resume clearly highlights your experience in UI engineering leadership, managing global/offshore teams, front-end architecture, UI modernization projects, and Agile methodologies. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate a selection of your strongest work, focusing on case studies that demonstrate impact in areas like UI modernization, design system development, team scaling, and process improvement. Quantify your achievements whenever possible.

• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse presenting your portfolio, focusing on storytelling, clarity, and demonstrating quantifiable results. Be prepared to discuss your leadership approach and strategic vision.

• Research Finastra: Understand Finastra's products, its position in the fintech market, and its company culture. This will help you tailor your responses and demonstrate genuine interest during interviews.

• Prepare for Technical & Behavioral Questions: Review common interview questions for senior engineering leadership roles, focusing on strategy, leadership, problem-solving, and your experience with modern web technologies and development processes.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.