Hybrid Principal Backend Architect for Enterprise Platform

Citi; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 127,967 - 163,513; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Global ownership of backend platform

Professional growth opportunities

Job summary

Citi in Mississauga, ON is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to own the backend systems powering a global digital platform serving hundreds of thousands of clients.

You will design high‑performance Java services and APIs, implement security‑first practices (OAuth2/OpenID Connect), drive performance improvements, and mentor senior engineers while collaborating with product, frontend, and infra teams.

Qualifications

• 6 to 10 years of backend software development experience, with demonstrated expertise architecting and delivering large-scale enterprise platforms.
• Expert-level proficiency in Java and its associated frameworks, applied to building high-performance, fault-tolerant services in production environments.
• Deep working knowledge of distributed systems, microservices architectures, and RESTful API design at scale.
• Hands-on experience implementing identity and access management solutions, including OAuth2 and OpenID Connect protocols and fine-grained authorization models.
• Solid experience with cloud-native development using Docker and Kubernetes, and hands-on exposure to GCP and AWS environments.
• Working knowledge of both relational and NoSQL database technologies, with the ability to select and apply the right solution to complex data challenges.
• A bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience, with a master's degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the backend architecture for an enterprise-scale digital platform, ensuring systems are built for scalability, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
• Design and build high-performance backend services and APIs in Java, covering core capabilities including user authentication, authorization, content routing, and data integration.
• Implement security-first engineering practices across all backend components, including single sign-on, centralized access control, and alignment with cyber defense standards.
• Optimize platform performance through caching strategies, asynchronous processing, and efficient data access patterns to meet the demands of millions of daily transactions.
• Architect integration solutions that connect a broad range of content provider applications into the unified platform through secure HTTPS-based interfaces.
• Lead technical decision-making in collaboration with product management, front-end engineers, architects, and infrastructure teams to deliver features end-to-end.
• Mentor senior engineers through structured code reviews and hands-on guidance, raising engineering standards across design patterns, testing, and operational practices.
• Serve as the technical escalation point for complex production incidents, leading root cause analysis and driving resolution for critical backend services.

Skills

Java & frameworks

Distributed systems

RESTful APIs

OAuth2/OpenID Connect

Docker & Kubernetes

GCP & AWS

Relational & NoSQL DBs

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Citi in Mississauga, ON is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to own the backend systems powering a global digital platform serving hundreds of thousands of clients.

You will design high‑performance Java services and APIs, implement security‑first practices (OAuth2/OpenID Connect), drive performance improvements, and mentor senior engineers while collaborating with product, frontend, and infra teams.