Java Backend Engineer, Vice President

About this role 

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 solve some of the world’s most complex problems? Do you want to work with, and learn from, hands-on leaders in technology and finance? 

At BlackRock, we are looking for Software Engineers who like to innovate and solve complex problems. We recognize that strength comes from diversity, and will embrace your unique skills, curiosity, drive, and passion while giving you the opportunity to grow technically and as an individual. 

With over USD $10 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 wellbeing. 

As a senior developer at BlackRock, you'll work for a leading financial company and be part of a team creating next-generation technology. 

What is Aladdin Engineering? 

• Our development teams sit inside Aladdin Engineering. We collaboratively build the next generation technology that changes the way information, people, and technology intersect for global investment firms. We build and package tools that manage trillions in assets and support millions of financial instruments. We perform risk calculations and process millions of transactions for thousands of users every day worldwide. 

Which team will you be in? 

• You will be working as a key member of our core Private Markets technology team. Your team will be based in London and is part of the wider team responsible for engineering our cloud-first Private Markets platform using a microservice architecture. This platform supports hundreds of client businesses, managing and analysing their portfolios. The team’s focus is on building scalable, best of breed shared services using Java. Code quality and API-First principles are at the heart of all our development. 

Being a member of Aladdin you will be: 

• Tenacious: Work in a fast paced and highly complex environment, 

• Creative thinker: Analyse multiple solutions and deploy technologies in a flexible way. 

• Great teammate: Think and work collaboratively and communicate effectively. 

• Fast learner: Pick up new concepts and apply them quickly. 

Your Responsibilities 

• Work closely alongside the Engineering Lead to deliver on the technical strategy for your team. 

• Collaborate directly with colleagues across Private Markets and the wider Aladdin organization to build and deliver market leading software at pace. 

• Deliver high efficiency, high availability, concurrent and fault tolerant software systems using API-First principles. 

• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and other stakeholders to understand requirements and translate them into technical specifications. 

• Design, develop, and implement secure, scalable, and reliable micro-services to deliver client-facing APIs built on Java technologies, using both REST and gRPC where required. 

• Optimize performance and reliability through continuous testing, debugging, and refinement. 

• Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies to drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge. 

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to more junior developers, fostering a culture of learning and growth within the team. 

Ideally, you should have… 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or related field. 

• 7+ years of professional experience in Java development, with a focus on building client-facing APIs 

• An interest in setting strategy and direction, backed by real-work experience, ideally in an API-First setting. 

• Strong communication, presentation (written and verbal), and interpersonal skills, with direct experience of managing a diverse team of people. 

• Proficiency in Java programming language (17+ an advantage) and related frameworks (e.g., Spring Boot, Hibernate). 

• A real-world practitioner of OO development, coupled with experience applying standard Design Patterns to your software design. 

• Experience designing, building, and deploying scalable micro-services using API-First principles using at least one of REST/gRPC. 

• Motivated to work in a highly professional environment where best-practices and attention to detail are highly valued, and security and stability are built into everything you do. 

• A desire to work with your colleagues to build the best software you can, move quickly and demonstrate excellence. 

• Strong understanding of RESTful API design principles and best practices. 

• Experience with API authentication and authorization mechanisms (e.g., OAuth, JWT). 

• Demonstrable experience building modern software using engineering tools such as git, maven, unit testing and integration testing tools, mocking frameworks. 

• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail. 

• Exposure to Docker, Kubernetes and cloud services in an enterprise environment is beneficial. 

• Experience in message brokers such as Kafka is a plus. 

• Experience with API gateway technologies (e.g., Apigee, Kong) is beneficial. 

• Friendly, positive, and can-do attitude.