Java Technical Lead

Thomson Keene; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Thomson Keene in London is seeking a senior Java Technical Lead to shape and deliver a scalable Data Lake platform within Wholesale Data Technology. You will lead development, ownership of architecture, and mentor a small engineering team while coding.

The role combines hands-on engineering with strategic leadership, supporting future AI and data-driven initiatives in a hybrid working environment.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Java and Kafka engineering experience.
• Experience building distributed systems, microservices and REST APIs.
• Strong AWS knowledge including S3-based data platforms.
• Experience collaborating with Front Office traders and teams.
• Technical leadership, architecture ownership and mentoring.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of a large-scale Data Lake platform.
• Build data-acquisition services, feeds and ingestion pipelines.
• Shape architecture and technical standards across the platform.
• Improve data quality, validation, monitoring and lineage capabilities.
• Mentor engineers while remaining actively involved in development.
• Support expansion into AI and agent-based capabilities.

Skills

Java

Kafka

Distributed systems

Microservices

REST APIs

AWS

S3

Data pipelines

Front Office

Architecture

Mentoring

Team leadership

Data Lake

Iceberg

Tools

Apache Iceberg

Job description

London | Investment Banking | Java Technical Lead | Hybrid Working

We are working with a leading investment bank who are looking for a hands-on Java Technical Lead to help shape and build a strategic AI Labs and Data Lake platform within its Wholesale Data Technology function.

This is a senior engineering role combining hands-on development, architecture ownership and technical leadership. You will lead the delivery of scalable data-acquisition capabilities used across Global Markets, working closely with Front Office stakeholders and wider Risk, Finance and Operations teams.

What you'll be doing:

• Leading the design and development of a large-scale Data Lake platform
• Building data-acquisition services, feeds and ingestion pipelines
• Shaping architecture and technical standards across the platform
• Improving data quality, validation, monitoring and lineage capabilities
• Mentoring engineers while remaining actively involved in development
• Supporting the platform's future expansion into AI and agent-based capabilities

What we're looking for:

• Strong hands-on Java and Kafka engineering experience
• Experience building distributed systems, microservices and REST APIs
• Strong AWS knowledge, ideally including S3-based data platforms
• Experience developing data feeds, pipelines or data-acquisition services
• Previous experience working directly with traders or Front Office teams
• Technical leadership experience, including architecture and mentoring
• Ability to lead a small engineering team without moving away from the code
• Market data processing or vendor data-feed integration
• Apache Iceberg or other Data Lake technologies