Lead Software Engineer - Parametric

Morgan Stanley; New York (NY); On-site; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Morgan Stanley is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to enhance the Core Operations Platform. This role entails leading the development of a performance reporting engine on AWS and requires deep expertise in Python and cloud-native solutions.

The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of experience in software engineering and a strong background in managing cloud technologies. The position allows for flexible hybrid work arrangements.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on Software Engineering experience.
• Expert-level Python including async patterns and performance optimization.
• 5+ years of cloud-native development on AWS.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead the development of a performance calculation engine on AWS.
• Drive migration of legacy applications to modern platforms.
• Mentor and lead a global team of engineers.

Skills

Python

AWS Cloud Development

Apache Kafka

Agile/Scrum Methodologies

Data Modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science

Tools

AWS Services

CI/CD Pipelines

Terraform

Job description

ABOUT MORGAN STANLEY

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in more than 41 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals.

For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

ABOUT PARAMETRIC

Parametric is part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the asset management division of Morgan Stanley. We partner with advisors, institutions, and consultants to build portfolios focused on what's important to them and their clients. A leader in custom solutions for more than 30 years, we help investors access efficient market exposures, solve implementation challenges, and design multi-asset portfolios that respond to their evolving needs. We also offer systematic alpha and alternative strategies to complement clients' core holdings.

This role is part of Parametric's hybrid working model, which includes working in the office 3 days a week and choosing to work remotely or in the office the remaining days of the week.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Core Operations Platform is designed to build, integrate, and support a unified technology ecosystem that enables efficient, scalable, and controlled execution of client and market operations processes. It serves as the central backbone for operational workflows, consolidating fragmented systems into a single, orchestrated platform that improves data integrity, reduces manual effort, and enhances operational transparency. This aligns with the broader vision of moving from multi-system, manual processes to a unified, workflow-driven model.

Performance Reporting Team

• Designs and operates a highly resilient, scalable platform on AWS to deliver performance and reporting data across the firm. The calculation engine aggregates data from multiple sources and teams, computes performance metrics, and applies both technical and business validation before publishing to downstream consumers.
• Applies software and data engineering best practices to aggregate and transform data using event-driven and serverless AWS technology.
• Maintains and plans for migration of existing legacy applications to a modern technology platform.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Lead Software Engineer is responsible for providing technical leadership, project management, process development, training, and support across the Core Operations Platform. At the heart of this role is ownership of the Performance Reporting engine—the system that calculates and delivers portfolio performance metrics across the firm. The Lead Engineer will also drive the modernization of legacy performance calculation systems onto scalable, event-driven, and AWS cloud-native architecture.

The Lead Engineer will partner with business analysts, operations stakeholders, and cross-functional technology teams to ensure the platform meets the accuracy, latency, and traceability standards required for client reporting, regulatory compliance, and investment decision support.

Primary Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Architect and lead development of a high-throughput, event-driven performance calculation engine on AWS, processing large volumes of financial data with accuracy and auditability requirements.
• Drive the migration of the legacy performance reporting application stack onto a modern, cloud-native technology platform—defining migration strategy, sequencing, and risk mitigation.
• Design scalable distributed systems using Python, Apache Kafka, PySpark, and AWS services (Lambda, Batch, Glue, Athena, S3, DynamoDB).
• Define and enforce data modeling standards, schema design, and data structure patterns appropriate for performance calculation use cases.
• Establish observability, alerting, and runbook standards to ensure system reliability and auditability.

Delivery & Engineering Practice

• Lead Agile-based delivery: sprint planning, backlog refinement, and iterative delivery cadences.
• Provide flexible, pragmatic solutions to complex business problems within firm technology standards and regulatory constraints.
• Author and review technical design documents, ADRs, and runbooks.
• Own and enforce code quality standards; conduct code and merge-request reviews.
• Build comprehensive test coverage: unit, integration, functional, and performance tests.
• Research and evaluate open-source technologies and cloud-native AWS services; drive adoption where justified.

People & Stakeholder Leadership

• Mentor and lead a global team of engineers; provide regular feedback, support career development, and foster an inclusive, high-performing engineering culture.
• Partner with business analysts and stakeholders to translate complex financial requirements into technical specifications.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with architecture, data platform, and infrastructure teams.
• Communicate technical trade-offs and roadmap recommendations clearly to senior leadership.

Job Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on Software Engineering experience.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, or related field (advanced degree a plus).
• Expert-level Python—including async patterns, performance optimization, and library ecosystem.
• 5+ years of cloud-native development on AWS (Lambda, Step Functions, Batch, S3, Athena, Glue).
• Experience supervising and guiding software development teams and fostering an engaging, collaborative environment.
• Demonstrated experience architecting highly available, distributed, event-driven systems.
• Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka or equivalent streaming/messaging platforms.
• Strong experience working with relational databases, SQL, and NoSQL data stores (e.g., DynamoDB).
• Strong data modeling expertise—relational, columnar, key-value, and streaming patterns; ability to reason about trade-offs under specific performance and latency requirements.
• Proven track record delivering via Agile/Scrum methodologies.
• Experience leading legacy system modernization initiatives.
• Strong communication skills—ability to work effectively with both technical teams and non-technical business users.
• A constant learning and upskilling mindset.
• Fluency in AI/GenAI for engineering productivity (integration strategy, code review, test-case creation, and code generation), with a strong understanding of the evolving AI landscape and the ability to apply AI technologies effectively.
• Experience in Financial Services, particularly portfolio performance calculations, NAV/returns, or risk metrics is a plus.
• Experience with PySpark for large-scale data processing.
• Infrastructure-as-Code experience, preferably Terraform.
• Experience with Snowflake as an analytical data warehouse.
• Microservices architecture and Serverless technologies.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and code quality tooling.
• Experience in C# and .NET software development is a plus.

EEO Statement

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.