Director - Engineering Lead

Role Overview 
 

Are you interested in building innovative technology that shapes the financial markets? Do you like working at the speed of a startup, but want to tackle some of the world's most sophisticated problems? Do you want to work with, and learn from, hands-on leaders in technology and finance? 

At BlackRock, we are looking for a Director of Engineering (Principal Engineer) who loves to innovate and tackle complex problems. We recognize that strength comes from diversity, and will embrace your unique skills, curiosity, and passion while giving you the opportunity to grow technically and as an individual. With over USD $11 trillion of assets, we have an exceptional responsibility: our technology empowers millions of investors to save for retirement, pay for college, buy a home, and improve their financial well-being. 

Being an engineering lead at BlackRock means you get the best of both worlds; working for one of the most sophisticated financial technology companies and being part of a software development team responsible for next-generation technology and solutions. 

About the Team 
 

Our Platform Engineering division is at the forefront, building the foundation for Aladdin, an operating system for investment managers that integrates real-time management of information, people, and technology. Aladdin is used by numerous financial institutions both internally and externally, and this team plays a critical role in protecting our estate and driving new revenue and scale channels for our clients and BlackRock. 

The SDLC team supports internal engineering customers by providing foundational libraries, build infrastructure, modern container images, upgrade strategies, and policy compliance for our supported development environments. We are expanding coverage to include Rust, Golang, and JavaScript, and need an experienced technical leader to spearhead these efforts. 

You'll join a strong peer group of Directors and a Technical Fellow who set a high bar for technical excellence and collaboration. This is a team where you'll be challenged, supported, and surrounded by people who are as passionate about the craft as you are. 

As the Engineering Lead, you will 

• Get stuff done. You'll use your seasoned judgement to independently identify, own, and deliver solutions in a complex multi-stakeholder operating environment. We're investing aggressively in AI tooling, and you'll use your experience to accelerate our transformation and avoid pitfalls. 

• Build the emerging SDLCs from scratch. The Rust, Golang, and JavaScript SDLCs are greenfield. You'll design these from the ground up, making foundational architectural choices that will endure for years and set the standard for how these languages are built, tested, and deployed across BlackRock. You'll work directly with customer teams to identify blockers and create standardized tooling that delights rather than hinders, while reducing compliance risk. 

• Improve the SDLC build system. Platform provides a standardized build environment that reduces duplicative work and meets our compliance obligations. You'll drive a simplification and modernization effort. 

• Shape technical strategy. You'll have the authority to make opinionated decisions about architecture, tooling, and standards for your ownership areas. You'll help set the direction of SDLC tooling across the firm, influencing how thousands of engineers build and ship software. 

• Grow yourself. You'll continuously expand your technical knowledge and leadership to make us one of the most productive teams at BlackRock. 

• Grow the team. We're already a great team with a healthy mix of experience levels; you'll make us better and faster by raising both the technical and cultural bar. You'll challenge us where we fall short and boost us where we lack experience. 

• Grow the org. Impact at BlackRock's scale means collaboration, and you'll deliver in partnership with other teams. You'll earn their trust, building lasting relationships focused on customer outcomes rather than territory, and become the go-to person for your ownership areas. 

What you'll need 

• Deep experience. 10+ years of engineering experience, with 5+ years in a technical lead role. Financial services experience is a plus, but not essential. 

• Systems expertise. Proven track record designing, developing, and deploying scalable and resilient systems. Strong experience translating technical designs into measurable stories for your squad. 

• Adaptability to new tech stacks. Your initial scope is Rust, Golang, JavaScript, and the build infrastructure, but you'll evolve and lead new languages as they're adopted by the firm. While experience in these stacks is beneficial, autonomy and a desire to learn are the key factors. 

• Build systems and CI/CD pipelines. You'll own a standardized platform that reduces duplicative work and meets compliance obligations, and you'll have opinions about how to make it better. 

• Strategic alignment. Experience setting goals that align with your customers' needs and the broader BlackRock technology roadmap. 

Who you are 

• Customer-obsessed. You know your customers and their pain points and work backwards from these to determine what needs to be built. You avoid working forwards from technical capabilities without a waiting customer. 

• A trusted technical lead and collaboration partner. Your team know they can depend on you; your partners know you'll support them, and your customers know you'll deliver on time. 

• Autonomous with a bias for action. You're happy figuring out what needs to be done and ensuring it aligns with the needs of your customers and the broader technical strategy. You know when to align, and when to just get stuck in. 

• Hands-on and in the details. You won't deliver everything yourself, but you won't be shy about rolling up your sleeves. 

• A clear, confident communicator. You explain complex topics with data and evidence, but with a simplicity that resonates with a broad audience of engineering and non-engineering stakeholders. 

If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.