Lead Java and Apache Spark Developer - Vice President

We are looking for a Lead/Principal Java Spark Developer to spearhead the architectural vision and technical strategy for the transformation and modernization of Citi’s next-generation data processing platforms. This role is for a thought leader who is passionate about architecting and building highly scalable, resilient, and performant systems that solve complex business problems.

This leadership role is ideal for a seasoned expert who thrives on technical challenges, enjoys setting the technical direction, and is motivated to establish and evangelize engineering best practices across teams. While this is a strategic leadership position, it requires a significant hands-on contribution to coding, design, and implementation. You will be a key driver of innovation, responsible for architecting and delivering mission-critical, production-grade solutions, while mentoring teams to elevate the platform's performance, reliability, and development standards.

Responsibilities:

• Architectural Design: Define and drive the architectural vision and strategy for large-scale data processing platforms, ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Technical Leadership: Guide and mentor a team of developers, setting high standards for code quality and engineering excellence while fostering a culture of innovation.
• Hands-on Development: Actively participate in the coding, implementation, and peer review of complex modules and core framework components to lead by example.
• Strategic Solutioning: Translate complex business requirements into robust, secure, and efficient technical solutions, setting the standard for the engineering organization.
• Code Excellence: Champion and enforce best practices for writing modular, testable, and maintainable code, rooted in expert knowledge of OOP principles and design patterns.
• System Optimization: Lead efforts to continuously refactor and optimize applications for performance, scalability, and maintainability at an enterprise scale.
• High-Level Collaboration: Collaborate with senior stakeholders, product owners, and other technology leaders to define roadmaps and ensure high-quality delivery.
• Innovation: Drive the evaluation and adoption of new technologies and methodologies to keep the platform at the cutting edge.
• Influence and Leadership: Provide thought leadership and influence technical design and decisions across the organization.

Recommended Qualifications:

• 10+ years of hands-on experience in Big Data development, with expert-level proficiency in Java and Apache Spark.
• Domain Knowledge: Strong understanding of Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) processes and financial systems is required.
• Expert-level knowledge of object-oriented programming, advanced design patterns, and clean coding practices.
• Proven track record of architecting, building, and optimizing large-scale, mission-critical distributed data processing systems.
• Extensive experience with REST APIs, RDBMS, and Kafka or similar messaging systems.
• Deep experience with microservices architecture and containerization technologies (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Significant experience working in and leading teams within Agile environments, demonstrating strong collaboration and ownership.
• Proven ability to lead technical teams and mentor engineers to achieve technical excellence.
• Extensive experience with Databricks is highly preferred.
• Deep familiarity and experience with building AI-powered solutions / AI agents.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree/University degree or equivalent experience
• Master’s degree preferred

This job description provides a high-level review of the types of work performed. Other job-related duties may be assigned as required.

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