Why Business Problems Should Drive Every Roadmap
— Mudassir Ali, Northwestern Mutual

Mudassir Ali has spent 20 years in financial services, working across investment banks including Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, smaller mutual fund businesses, and now the insurance and financial planning space at Northwestern Mutual, where he leads the computation platform as Director of Financial Algorithms Development. He began his career as a software engineer drawn to complex technical problems, before realising that developing people and enabling teams created a far greater impact than solving problems alone. That shift, from individual contributor to team builder, now defines his approach: assess the skills a problem requires, close the gaps through upskilling or targeted hiring, and keep every team anchored to the business outcome rather than the technology of the moment.

How did moving from writing code to leading teams change your definition of impact?

Mudassir traces his shift into leadership to the realisation that enabling others creates a multiplicative effect on an organisation.

“When you get your education in computer science, naturally you’re focused on complex problems, and writing code really excites you. But what really changed my focus and my philosophy is the impact that you can have. In a leadership position, you have much more leverage in terms of how you can impact an organisation — there’s a multiplicative effect. If you can enable other people and coach them to a level where they’re able to solve really complex problems and write complex software, then your impact on the company’s bottom line is going to be much higher.”

How do you build the right team for high-stakes, business-critical systems?

Drawing on his experience building an enterprise risk management platform at Credit Suisse, Mudassir outlines a repeatable method for closing skills gaps.

“Whenever I come across a big initiative, my first approach is to assess what kind of skills we need to solve that problem — whether it’s technical skills, communication skills, or product expertise. Once you have that, you do an assessment of your current team and figure out where the gaps are. Do we need to upskill those engineers, which is most of the time possible if you have a curious, hungry team? Or, if there isn’t time to upskill, hiring externally is also an option. But the main thing is figuring out what you need to solve the problem.”

What is the biggest misconception about innovation in financial services?

Mudassir argues that most failed technology adoption stems from leading with the tool rather than the problem.

“Most problems related to innovation start because people tend to focus a lot on technology. If you see something shiny, there’s a tendency to just go out and grab it and do something with it — we’re seeing a lot of that with AI today. Leaders know they have to use AI; it’s inevitable. But how you use it, I haven’t seen being answered very effectively. My approach is to focus on the business problem first, then bring in technology. It’s not technology first and business problem after; it’s the other way around.”

Where do organisations most underestimate the complexity of modernising financial systems?

Scalability and deployment, Mudassir explains, are too often treated as an afterthought rather than a core design requirement.

“A lot of problems that get buried, especially in distributed applications, are around how you deploy and scale the application. That’s a very critical part of the project that often gets ignored — it’s more of an afterthought. Your solution should be scalable both for volume and for time, so you’re able to constantly modify the stack as business needs evolve. Understanding how the application behaves under stress and under different market conditions is what’s required for those complex problems.”

What role is AI playing in financial services, and what skills will leaders need next?

AI is becoming a collaborator rather than an assistant, but Mudassir expects financial services to adopt it more cautiously than other industries, placing renewed weight on communication skills.

“AI is changing its role from being an assistant to more of a collaborator, where you can give it more complex tasks like design, architecture and test strategy. I don’t think AI will be replacing engineers; I think it will become a strong enabler that helps engineers solve complex problems. Because of the sensitivity of financial data, financial services will lag other industries in AI adoption, and for good reason. At the same time, now you need stronger communication and presentation skills, because you’re working with multiple stakeholders and need to explain your concepts clearly.”

Join the Conversation: The Ortus Club’s Executive Network

As Mudassir’s experience shows, the discipline of putting business problems ahead of technology, and people ahead of process, is what separates resilient engineering organisations from those chasing hype. His emphasis on culture, adaptability and the “greenfield test” reflects a broader truth: leaders rarely refine these instincts in isolation.

At The Ortus Club, we host curated executive roundtables that bring senior technology leaders together to pressure-test exactly these questions. Join our network to exchange perspectives on building high-performing teams, navigating AI adoption, and leading complex financial systems with confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why should business problems come before technology selection?

A: Leading with technology risks chasing trends that don’t fit the organisation’s actual needs. Defining the business problem first ensures that any tool, including AI, is adopted because it solves a real requirement, not because it is new.

Q: How does a leader identify skills gaps before starting a project?

A: By assessing the technical, communication and product expertise a problem requires, then comparing that against the current team’s capabilities to decide whether to upskill existing staff or hire externally.

Q: Why is scalability often overlooked in financial systems?

A: Teams frequently focus on building an application’s core functionality and treat deployment and scaling as an afterthought, rather than designing from the outset for growth in both user volume and time.

Q: Will AI replace engineers in financial services?

A: No. AI is expected to take on a growing role as a collaborator on tasks like design, architecture and testing, freeing engineers to focus on complex, judgement-driven problems rather than replacing them.

Q: What is the “greenfield test” for technology leaders?

A: It is the practice of regularly asking, “If I were building this system from scratch today, would I build it the same way?” The exercise surfaces legacy constraints and outdated assumptions that accumulate in mature organisations.