Lead Developer - Java and Microservices

Citi; Chennai; On-site; INR 900,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Citi is seeking a highly experienced Application Dev Lead to architect and drive core banking integration strategies and a modern microservices ecosystem.

You will lead teams of developers, backend engineers, and integration specialists; own architectural scoping, sprint estimation, and delivery governance.

With deep Java microservices and Oracle/SQL expertise, you will partner with enterprise architecture, DBAs, and security to ensure scalable, robust systems.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with Java microservices architectures and enterprise integration patterns.
• Strong leadership and people-management capabilities.
• Experience with Oracle/SQL databases in large-scale banking environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and manage a high-performing team of developers, backend engineers, and integration specialists.
• Own architectural scoping, task breakdown, sprint estimation, resource planning, and milestone prioritization for complex integrations.
• Enforce engineering governance through rigorous code reviews, PR audits, and architectural design reviews (TDRs).
• Collaborate across enterprise architecture, DBAs, infrastructure, security, and vendor teams to align delivery with business goals.

Skills

Java Microservices

Integration technologies

Oracle/SQL

Job description

We are seeking a highly experienced and technically accomplished Application Dev Lead to join our team, responsible for architecting, developing, and leading our core banking integration strategies and modern microservices ecosystem. The ideal candidate will be a subject matter expert in integration technologies, possess deep, hands‑on expertise in Java Microservices and enterprise Database engineering (Oracle/SQL), have extensive knowledge of the financial services domain, and demonstrate a proven track record of leading technical teams to deliver robust, scalable, and secure solutions.

This role requires a unique blend of hands‑on technical excellence, architectural vision, database performance optimization, and strong people management skills to drive the modernization and stability of our mission‑critical banking systems.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Lead, manage, and mentor a high-performing team of developers, backend engineers, and integration specialists, fostering technical capability, career growth, and engineering excellence across Java microservices and middleware platforms.
• Project & Delivery Ownership: Take full ownership of technical delivery across complex integration initiatives, including architectural scoping, task breakdown (WBS), accurate sprint estimation, resource planning, and milestone prioritization.
• Quality Assurance & Engineering Governance: Enforce best-in-class engineering practices by conducting rigorous code reviews, pull request audits, and comprehensive architectural design reviews (TDRs).
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate seamlessly across business lines, enterprise architecture, database administrators, infrastructure, Information Security, and third‑party vendor teams to align technical delivery with strategic business goals.
• SME & Agile Delivery: Act as the primary Subject Matter Expert (SME) for complex escalations, production incident triage (Sev‑1