Accelerating FinTech Platform Scalability with AWS-Powered DevOps for SalaryHero
Summary
SalaryHero previously relied on legacy on-premises infrastructure supported by manual provisioning workflows, fragmented monitoring, and limited automation. As the financial wellness platform expanded across enterprise customers, the environment began to restrict scalability, release velocity, operational transparency, and infrastructure reliability. The platform also required stronger security controls and availability guarantees to support sensitive financial workloads and growing transaction volumes.
To address these challenges, SalaryHero partnered with Matellio to implement a cloud-native DevOps transformation powered by AWS. Leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automated CI/CD pipelines, and centralized observability through Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail, the team migrated to a modern architecture utilizing AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Amazon EC2, Aurora, and Application Load Balancer.
This transformation enabled automated scaling during payroll cycles, near-100% uptime, reduced deployment timelines from hours to minutes, and delivered a 33% reduction in operational overhead. Now operating on a secure, scalable, and fully managed AWS environment, SalaryHero has the agility and resilience needed to support fintech innovation and enterprise growth—with AWS at the core of its platform modernization.
Goal
The primary objective was to establish a secure, scalable, and automated infrastructure capable of supporting sensitive financial workloads while improving transaction performance, ensuring high availability, and accelerating release cycles. The initiative aimed to eliminate manual infrastructure processes, strengthen security posture, enhance observability, and support long-term platform growth through operational excellence.
Solution Implementation
To modernize SalaryHero’s platform infrastructure, Matellio designed and implemented a comprehensive AWS-based architecture:
Compute & Application Platform
- Migration to AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Amazon EC2: Core application workloads were migrated to managed AWS compute services, simplifying infrastructure management while improving deployment consistency and operational stability.
- High Availability and Auto-Scaling: Auto-scaling configurations ensured that compute capacity dynamically adjusted to payroll spikes and transaction surges, maintaining uninterrupted platform performance. performance during varying loads.
Database & Storage
- Adoption of Amazon Aurora: SalaryHero transitioned to Amazon Aurora to obtain a highly available, managed relational database capable of supporting high transaction throughput. Query optimization and indexing strategies further improved processing performance.
- Utilization of Amazon S3: Amazon S3 was implemented for secure and durable storage of application artifacts, static assets, and backup data.
CI/CD & Deployment Automation
- Implementation of AWS CodePipeline: Automated CI/CD workflows were established to standardize build and deployment processes across environments.
- Accelerated Release Cycles: Automation reduced release timelines from hours to minutes while improving deployment reliability and rollback capabilities.
Security & Network Architecture
- Secure VPC-Based Network Isolation: A segmented Amazon VPC architecture was implemented to isolate sensitive fintech workloads and minimize exposure risk.
- Least-Privilege Access Controls: Fine-grained IAM roles and policies enforced secure operational access across services and teams.
Networking & Load Balancing
- Deployment of Application Load Balancer: Application Load Balancer enabled intelligent traffic routing, improved availability, and provided a secure entry point for application workloads.
Observability & Compliance
- Monitoring with Amazon CloudWatch: Centralized monitoring, metrics collection, and log aggregation improved operational visibility and proactive issue detection.
- Audit Logging with AWS CloudTrail: CloudTrail enabled comprehensive audit tracking of API activity to support security governance and compliance requirements.
Security
- Segmented workloads within a secure Amazon VPC architecture to protect sensitive financial services components
- Enforced least-privilege IAM policies across compute, database, and deployment pipelines
- Enabled centralized monitoring and audit logging for compliance visibility and governance
- Adopted managed AWS services to inherit built-in security, availability, and reliability capabilities
The solution operates on AWS to ensure secure transaction processing, resilient infrastructure, and elastic scalability. Compute, database, storage, and deployment workflows are automated and managed, while monitoring, traffic routing, and audit capabilities maintain platform stability and regulatory readiness.
AWS Services Used
| AWS Elastic Beanstalk | Simplified application deployment and lifecycle management |
|---|---|
| Amazon EC2 | Provided scalable compute infrastructure |
| Application Load Balancer | Enabled traffic distribution and high availability |
| Amazon Aurora | Delivered managed relational database performance and scalability |
| Amazon S3 | Provided durable storage for application data and backups |
| AWS CodePipeline | Automated build and deployment workflows |
| Amazon CloudWatch | Enabled monitoring, logging, and operational insights |
| AWS CloudTrail | Delivered audit visibility for API activity |
| Amazon VPC | Ensured secure network isolation and workload segmentation |
Business Impact
The AWS-powered transformation delivered by Matellio significantly enhanced SalaryHero’s operational and technical capabilities. Key outcomes included:- Near-100% Platform Uptime: High-availability architecture eliminated downtime-related business impact
- Release Velocity Improvement: CI/CD automation reduced deployment cycles from hours to minutes
- Operational Efficiency: Achieved a 33% reduction in operational overhead through automation and managed services
- Performance Optimization: Database tuning and managed infrastructure improved transaction stability
- Elastic Scalability: Automatic scaling supported peak payroll and transaction demand periods
- Cost Optimization: Reduced tooling costs by 12% and delivered a 65% reduction in total cost of ownership
- Faster Onboarding: Standardized environments reduced ramp-up costs by 33%
Conclusion
By migrating from legacy on-premises infrastructure to an AWS-native cloud environment, SalaryHero has established a secure, scalable, and automated fintech platform. This transformation optimized operational workflows, strengthened platform resilience, and improved deployment consistency—positioning AWS as a foundational component of SalaryHero’s digital growth strategy.SalaryHero achieved near-100% platform uptime, accelerated release cycles from hours to minutes, and improved transaction processing performance following modernization. The shift from manual provisioning and fragmented monitoring to automated infrastructure and centralized observability significantly reduced operational overhead while enhancing reliability and decision-making speed.
SalaryHero is a leading financial wellness platform in the APAC region, providing real-time earned wage access and digital financial services to enterprises and their employees. The platform enables organizations to modernize payroll experiences by offering flexible salary access, responsible financial products, and financial education through a secure and scalable technology foundation.
With a strong focus on security, compliance readiness, and high-availability transaction processing, SalaryHero supports enterprises across industries in improving workforce financial wellbeing while delivering reliable and scalable fintech innovation.