Java Engineering Lead

Citi is looking for a Engineering Leader to join its Payments Technology team, where you will drive the technical vision and hands-on engineering behind one of the most strategically important payment platforms in global financial services. This is an end-to-end technical leadership role - spanning core APIs, microservices architecture, integrations, and the infrastructure that underpins a comprehensive suite of payment capabilities for Citi's clients worldwide. If you combine deep engineering craft with the instinct to solve complex design problems and the conviction to raise standards across a team, this is the role for you. **Responsibilities** + Architect and deliver end-to-end technical solutions across the payments platform, from core client-facing APIs through to integrations and supporting infrastructure. + Set and enforce engineering standards across the team - championing clean code, SOLID principles, and disciplined design practices that reduce technical debt and improve long-term maintainability. + Lead design reviews, proof-of-concept initiatives, and technical experiments that evaluate new approaches and establish the best path forward for platform evolution. + Translate complex system requirements into clear, well-structured software design artifacts that guide consistent, high-quality implementation across engineering teams. + Guide and mentor engineers at all levels on what good code and good design look like in practice, through hands-on collaboration, pairing, and direct technical coaching. + Coordinate technical delivery across internal and cross-functional teams, owning estimation, solution planning, and implementation leadership for concurrent initiatives. + Embed resilience and high-availability thinking into every layer of the architecture, ensuring platform reliability at the scale Citi's clients demand. + Manage technical risk with transparency and pragmatism, identifying issues early and communicating clearly to protect delivery timelines and platform integrity. **Required Qualifications & Skills** + 15 or more years of hands-on design and development experience, with deep Java expertise and a demonstrable commitment to clean code and SOLID engineering principles. + Practical experience building medium to large-scale applications using Spring Boot, Microservices, and Kafka on open-source technology stacks. + Hands-on experience with MongoDB and a strong grasp of data modelling and persistence patterns within distributed systems. + Proven ability to design and build resilient, high-availability architectures that perform reliably under real-world, high-throughput conditions. + Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and single-click deployment workflows, with familiarity across tooling such as Tekton, Harness, Lightspeed, or OpenShift. + Fluency in test-driven and behaviour-driven development practices, including writing unit and integration tests using JUnit and standard testing frameworks. + An active practitioner of AI tools and generative AI technologies, applying them to drive engineering productivity and delivery efficiency. + Clear, confident communicator who can articulate technical decisions and surface delivery risks effectively to both engineering and non-technical audiences. **Beneficial Skills & Qualifications** + Experience authoring functional and technical specification documentation to a standard that enables independent implementation by distributed engineering teams. + Familiarity with site reliability engineering principles and a genuine interest in how reliability engineering shapes product development outcomes. + A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience. + A master's degree or equivalent postgraduate qualification in a relevant technical field. ------------------------------------------------------ **Job Family Group:** Technology ------------------------------------------------------ **Job Family:** Applications Development ------------------------------------------------------ **Time Type:** Full time ------------------------------------------------------ **Most Relevant Skills** Please see the requirements listed above. ------------------------------------------------------ **Other Relevant Skills** For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter. ------------------------------------------------------ _Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law._ _If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review_ _Accessibility at Citi (https://www.citigroup.com/citi/accessibility/application-accessibility.htm)_ _._ _View Citi's_ _EEO Policy Statement (https://www.citigroup.com/global/eeo-aa-policy)_ _and the_ _Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088\_EEOC\_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf)_ _poster._ Citi is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Minority/Female/Veteran/Individuals with Disabilities/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity.