Senior Java Lead Application Development Manager - Senior Vice President

Citi; Mississauga; On-site; CAD 131,000 - 218,000; Full time

Job summary

CitiDirect Canada seeks a Canada site lead and senior developer to oversee a small local team, partner with global dev teams, and drive technical excellence. The role focuses on modernising CitiDirect’s Payment flow, especially the validation layer for payments, and exploring AI tooling to update the stack.

You will stay hands-on while mentoring engineers, design scalable solutions, review code, and shape the technical roadmap with product managers and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Over 10 years of software development experience with hands-on coding in Java.
• 3+ years in a leadership role leading engineers and teams.
• Strong experience with microservices, Spring, REST APIs, and databases (MongoDB, Oracle).
• Familiar with Kafka and event-driven architectures; security and design patterns knowledge.
• Proven track record of delivering complex software projects and mentoring developers.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to a small local development team.
• Maintain hands-on development involvement while solving problems and coding.
• Architect and design scalable, robust solutions for complex challenges.
• Lead planning and execution of major development initiatives and projects.
• Oversee code quality, conduct reviews, and enforce best practices.
• Drive adoption of new technologies to improve productivity and product quality.
• Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to define strategy and roadmap.
• Manage technical debt and optimize systems.
• Foster innovation and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Serve as the local contact for Canada-based team members.

Skills

Java (Backend)

Microservices architecture

Spring Framework

RESTful API design

MongoDB

Oracle

Apache Kafka

Security best practices

Leadership

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud platforms

DevOps practices

Job description

CitiDirect brings together Citi’s global products and services into a single digital platform, providing clients a gateway to manage global cash, liquidity, and trade operations. CitiDirect supports transactions across 160+ countries touching 140+ currencies. CitiDirect process trillions in transactions daily facilitating seamless flow of digital capital.

CitiDirect is seeking a Canada site lead and experienced senior developer to directly oversee a small team, partner with global dev teams to drive large programs of work, and ensure technical excellence from the team.

The ideal candidate will be a hands‑on developer with strong leadership skills and the ability to build talent within the organization. The role will be focused on modernising CitiDirect’s Payment flow, with a focus on the validation layer for payments. This is an opportunity to drive change from the ground up, as well as experiment with AI tooling to not only update the stack, but also enhance you and your team’s skillset.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to a small local development team
• Actively participate in coding and problem‑solving, maintaining a strong hands‑on presence in development
• Architect and design scalable, robust solutions for complex technical challenges
• Lead the planning and execution of major development initiatives and projects
• Oversee code quality, conduct code reviews, and enforce best practices and coding standards
• Drive the adoption of new technologies and methodologies to improve team productivity and product quality
• Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to define technical strategy and roadmap
• Manage technical debt and guide system optimisations
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and knowledge sharing within the team
• Drive morale and be the local contact point for Canada based team members

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software development experience, including
• 3+ years in a leadership role leading engineers
• Strong hands‑on coding skills in Java (Backend development)
• Extensive experience with microservices architecture, Spring Framework, and RESTful API design
• Proficiency in MongoDB and Oracle databases
• Experience with Apache Kafka and event‑driven architectures
• Strong understanding of software design patterns, architecture principles, and best practices
• Understanding of security best practices in software development
• Proven track record of leading successful software projects and mentoring developers
• Excellent problem‑solving skills and ability to navigate complex technical challenges
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud platforms
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and project management tools
• Experience with performance optimisation and scalability of large‑scale applications
• Solid understanding of payments industry, including various payment systems and processes

Education

• Bachelors degree or equivalent work experience

Job Family Group

Technology

Job Family

Applications Development

Time Type

Full time

Primary Location Full Time Salary Range

$145,100.00 - $217,700.00

Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

Automated Processing and AI

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision‑making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

This job opening is for an existing job vacancy.

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