Lead Java Developer (VP)

Citi; Belfast City District; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave

Discretional annual bonus

Private Medical Care

Life Insurance

Pension Plan

Parental Leave

Employee Discounts

Learning resources

Job summary

The role requires strong big data, streaming and database skills (Kafka, Spark, Hadoop, Hive, MongoDB) and a disciplined Agile approach with secure coding practices. A hybrid work model is available.

Qualifications

• Significant hands-on software engineering in enterprise-scale environments.
• Deep knowledge of the Java/J2EE stack including Spring, microservices and REST APIs.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, conduct code reviews and promote technical excellence.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Microservices

REST APIs

Big Data

Kafka

MongoDB

SQL

Cloud awareness

Agile/Scrum

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science

Tools

Git/Bitbucket

Maven/Gradle

Jenkins

Docker

Kubernetes

Spark

Hadoop

Hive

Kafka

MongoDB

SQL

Job description

Discover your future at Citi

Working at Citi is far more than just a job. A career with us means joining a team of more than 230,000 dedicated people from around the globe. At Citi, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your career, give back to your community and make a real impact.

Job Overview

Engineer the future of global finance. At Citi, our Tech team doesn’t just support finance – we are helping to redefine it. Every day, $5 trillion crosses through our network. We do business in 180+ countries operating at a scale few can match. From deploying advanced AI to helping shape global markets, we build systems that matter. Look to join a team where your work helps influence economies, your ideas can drive innovation and outcomes, and your growth is backed by mentorship, continuous learning and flexibility with potential hybrid work opportunities. Help solve real-world challenges that touch millions and get the opportunity to build the future of finance with Citi Tech.

In this role, you will be directly responsible for leading the technical design, development, and optimisation of our regulatory reporting framework and data pipelines, with a strong focus on onboarding new regulations. This is an active engineering leadership position where you will guide a team of developers, write clean, production-grade code, design system components, and troubleshoot complex data processing issues. You will work closely within an Agile team, collaborating with business analysts and other engineers to translate regulatory requirements into reliable, scalable software solutions.

• Lead and Mentor: Guide and support a team of software engineers, fostering a collaborative environment, conducting code reviews, and promoting technical excellence.
• Regulatory Onboarding: Drive the technical execution of onboarding new regulatory requirements, ensuring the platform is adaptable to evolving global compliance standards.
• AI & Automation Integration: Apply knowledge of AI/ML concepts to explore and implement intelligent automation, anomaly detection, or data classification solutions within the regulatory reporting pipelines.
• Hands‑On Development: Write clean, robust, and testable code using Java and Spring Boot, setting a high standard of engineering quality for the team.
• Component Design: Design scalable application components, microservices, and data integration layers to support high‑throughput regulatory reporting.
• Big Data Processing: Develop and optimise distributed data processing jobs using Apache Spark, Hadoop, and Hive to aggregate and transform large‑scale financial datasets.
• Real‑Time Streaming: Build and maintain real‑time data ingestion and streaming pipelines using Apache Kafka.
• Database Management: Design and optimise data models in MongoDB and relational databases, ensuring high performance for complex queries and data storage.
• Agile Execution: Drive sprint planning, task estimation, and daily progress within an Agile/Scrum framework to ensure timely delivery of project milestones.
• Requirement Translation: Partner closely with Business Analysts and Compliance teams to translate complex regulatory rules into precise technical specifications.
• Technical Liaison: Act as the primary technical point of contact for your team, communicating progress, technical risks, and solutions to technology management.
• Quality Assurance: Establish best practices for automated testing (unit, integration, and regression tests) and ensure secure coding standards are met.

Qualifications & Skills

Required Technical Experience

• Professional Experience: Significant experience of hands‑on software engineering experience in enterprise‑scale environments, with a proven track record of delivering robust, high‑performance applications.
• Java/J2EE Expertise: Deep, authoritative knowledge of the J2EE platform and Core Java (Java 8 and above), including advanced concepts such as multi‑threading, concurrency, memory management, JVM profiling, and performance tuning.
• Spring Ecosystem: Extensive experience building microservices and RESTful APIs using Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Spring Data, and Spring Security.
• Big Data Technologies: Strong, hands‑on experience with distributed computing frameworks, specifically Apache Spark, Hadoop, and Hive. Proven ability to write and optimise complex Spark jobs.
• Real‑Time Streaming: Practical experience designing and implementing event‑driven systems using Apache Kafka, including topic configuration, producer/consumer APIs, and stream processing.
• Database Concepts: Exceptional understanding of database concepts. Strong proficiency in SQL, database design, indexing strategies, and query optimisation. Hands‑on experience with NoSQL databases, specifically MongoDB, is highly required.
• Modern Tooling: Proficiency with Git/Bitbucket, Maven/Gradle, Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes.

Required Professional & Process Skills

• Agile Mindset: Strong experience working in fast‑paced Agile/Scrum environments, with a deep understanding of sprint ceremonies and agile metrics.
• Software Lifecycle Mastery: Comprehensive knowledge of modern SDLC practices, secure coding standards (OWASP), and test‑driven development (TDD) using JUnit and Mockito.
• Problem Solving: Analytical thinker with a relentless focus on troubleshooting, root‑cause analysis, and resolving complex system issues under tight deadlines.
• Communication: Superb written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to document technical designs clearly and present ideas persuasively.

Preferred Qualifications

• Financial Domain Knowledge: Prior experience in the financial services industry, with a strong preference for candidates who understand Regulatory Reporting (e.g., Basel III/IV, CCAR, MiFID, Dodd‑Frank, or local transaction reporting), Risk Management, or Capital Markets.
• Cloud Awareness: Familiarity with cloud‑native development and deploying applications on cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field

What We’ll Provide You

By joining Citi, you will not only be part of a business casual workplace with a hybrid working model (up to 2 days working at home per week), but also receive a competitive base salary (which is annually reviewed), and enjoy a whole host of additional benefits such as:

• 27 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• A discretional annual performance related bonus
• Private Medical Care & Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Pension Plan
• Paid Parental Leave
• Special discounts for employees, family, and friends
• Access to an array of learning and development resources

Visit ourGlobal Benefitspage to learn more.

Alongside these benefits Citi is committed to ensuring our workplace is where everyone feels comfortable coming to work as their whole self, every day. We want the best talent around the world to be energized to join us, motivated to stay and empowered to thrive.

Job Family Group

Technology

Job Family

Applications Development

Time Type

Full time

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