Lead Java Back End Developer — Digital Assets Platform - Vice President
Citigroup Inc.
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Job summary
Citigroup Inc. in New York is seeking a highly experienced Team Lead- Java Back-End Developer to drive day-to-day engineering on the Digital Assets Platform.
You will write production code, lead by example, and mentor engineers while enforcing engineering rigor. The role demands 6–10+ years of backend experience with Java, Spring Boot, distributed systems, and microservices; you will review designs, shape low-level architecture, and ensure quality and timely delivery in a regulated enterprise
Qualifications
- 6-10 years of hands-on software development with backend focus (Java, Spring Boot, distributed systems).
- Proven track record of leading by doing and coding regularly.
- Strong code-review discipline, security, performance, and edge-case awareness.
- Solid low-level design skills and ability to critique detailed technical designs.
- Experience mentoring engineers and participating in hiring/technical interviewing.
- Experience in large-scale, regulated or enterprise environments (financial services preferred).
- Excellent communication to explain trade-offs to engineers and stakeholders.
Responsibilities
- Hands-on coding, code reviews, and shipping production-quality software with the team.
- Own the most complex engineering problems and set the technical direction.
- Lead low-level design sessions and translate requirements into implementable designs.
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and participate in technical interviewing.
- Drive sprint execution, manage risks, and ensure on-time delivery.
- Uphold engineering excellence with automated testing, CI/CD, and observability.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
We are looking for a highly experienced, deeply hands‑onTeam Lead- Java Back-End Developer to drive day-to-day engineering execution on the Digital Assets Platform. The successful candidate will focus oncore backend/platform software engineering leadership: and write production code regularly, leads by example, enforces engineering rigor, and is the technical backbone that junior and mid-level engineers rely on for direction, review, and mentorship.
The ideal candidate will bring at least 6 to 10+ years of hands‑on development experience and has "been in the trenches" — someone who can jump into a complex codebase, spot subtle bugs and design flaws during code review, drive low-level design (LLD) discussions with authority, and unblock the team on the hardest technical problems. This person is expected to be more experienced and technically sharper than the other developers on the team, acting as the de‑facto technical authority and quality gatekeeper for the squad.
- Actively write, review, and ship production-quality code alongside the team — this is not a purely managerial or coordination role.
- Personally take ownership of the most complex, high-risk, or ambiguous engineering problems on the platform.
- Set the technical direction for the team's day-to-day implementation work, ensuring consistency with overall platform architecture.
- Perform rigorous, detailed code reviews across the team's pull requests, catching subtle logic errors, concurrency issues, security gaps, performance bottlenecks, and maintainability problems before they reach production.
- Establish and enforce coding standards, review checklists, and best practices (clean code, SOLID principles, secure coding, testability).
- Act as the final technical quality gate prior to merge/release for critical components.
- Drive low-level design sessions, translating high-level architecture and requirements into detailed, implementable technical designs (class/module structures, API contracts, data models, sequence flows, error handling strategy).
- Review and challenge design proposals from other engineers, ensuring designs are scalable, resilient, and aligned with platform standards.
- Document key design decisions and trade-offs for traceability and knowledge sharing.
- Directly manage and/or technically lead a squad of backend/platform engineers, providing day-to-day technical guidance and unblocking impediments.
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, raising the overall technical bar of the team through pairing, reviews, and structured feedback.
- Identify skill gaps and growth opportunities within the team; contribute to hiring and technical interviewing.
- Drive the team's sprint/iteration execution — decomposing epics into well-scoped technical tasks, estimating effort, and ensuring on‑time, high‑quality delivery.
- Proactively identify technical risks, bottlenecks, and debt; elevate and resolve issues before they impact delivery timelines.
- Partner closely with the Engineering Team Lead (SVP), Architect, and Product/Business stakeholders to translate requirements into a sound technical execution plan.
- Champion automated testing (unit, integration), CI/CD discipline, observability, and operational readiness for everything the team ships.
- Identify and remediate technical debt, legacy pain points, and recurrent production issues.
- Stay current on backend engineering, distributed systems, and platform reliability best practices (deliberatelynota smart contract/Web3‑first role — the emphasis is core software engineering excellence).
- 6 -10 yearsof hands‑on professional software development experience, with demonstrated depth in backend engineering (e.g., Java, Spring Boot, distributed systems, microservices, REST/gRPC APIs).
- Proven track record ofleading by doing— an engineer who still codes regularly and is respected for technical depth rather than title alone.
- Strong, demonstrable experience conductingthorough, high‑signal code reviewsand catching issues that others miss (correctness, security, performance, edge cases, race conditions).
- Strong command oflow‑level design— able to independently produce and critique detailed technical designs, not just high‑level architecture diagrams.
- Experience leading or technically mentoring a team of engineers (formal management experience a plus, but technical leadership is essential).
- Solid understanding of software engineering fundamentals: data structures & algorithms, design patterns, concurrency, database design, API design, and testing practices.
- Experience working in large‑scale, regulated, or enterprise environments (financial services experience strongly preferred).
- Excellent communication skills — able to explain complex technical trade‑offs clearly to both engineers and senior stakeholders.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
- Prior exposure to blockchain, distributed ledger, or digital asset platforms (as context, not as a primary skill requirement — this role is intentionally weighted toward core engineering depth over Web3/smart contract specialization).
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes/OpenShift), and cloud‑native architectures.
- Experience operating in an Agile/Scrum delivery model.
- Prior formal people‑management experience (performance reviews, career development conversations).
$142,320.00 - $213,480.00
In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.
Please see the requirements listed above.
For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.
Sep 08, 2026
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.
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