Role Overview
We are looking for a highly experienced, deeply hands-on Team Lead- Java Back-End Developer to drive day-to-day engineering execution on the Digital Assets Platform. The successful candidate will focus on core 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.
Key Responsibilities
Hands-On Technical Leadership
• 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.
Code Quality & Code Review
• 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.
Low-Level Design (LLD)
• 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.
Team Leadership & Mentorship
• 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.
Delivery Ownership
• 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; escalate 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.
Engineering Excellence
• 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 recurring production issues.
• Stay current on backend engineering, distributed systems, and platform reliability best practices (deliberately not a smart contract/Web3-first role — the emphasis is core software engineering excellence).
Qualifications
• 6 -10 years of 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 of leading by doing — an engineer who still codes regularly and is respected for technical depth rather than title alone.
• Strong, demonstrable experience conducting thorough, high-signal code reviews and catching issues that others miss (correctness, security, performance, edge cases, race conditions).
• Strong command of low-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).
Preferred
• 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).
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Job Family Group: Technology------------------------------------------------------
Job Family:Applications Development------------------------------------------------------
Time Type:Full time------------------------------------------------------
Primary Location:New York New York United States------------------------------------------------------
Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:$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.
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Most Relevant Skills Please see the requirements listed above.------------------------------------------------------
Other Relevant Skills For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.------------------------------------------------------
Anticipated Posting Close Date:Oct 27, 2026------------------------------------------------------
Automated Processing and AIWe 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.
Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right
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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.
View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.
Skills Required
- 6–10+ years of hands-on professional software development experience
- Demonstrated depth in backend engineering, including Java, Spring Boot, distributed systems, microservices, and REST/gRPC APIs
- Track record of leading by doing and coding regularly
- Strong experience conducting thorough code reviews covering correctness, security, performance, edge cases, and race conditions
- Strong low-level design skills, including producing and critiquing detailed technical designs
- Experience leading or technically mentoring a team of engineers
- Understanding of data structures and algorithms, design patterns, concurrency, database design, API design, and testing practices
- Experience in large-scale, regulated, or enterprise environments
- Excellent communication skills for explaining technical trade-offs to engineers and senior stakeholders
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Financial services experience
- Exposure to blockchain, distributed ledger, or digital asset platforms
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, containerization, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift, and cloud-native architectures
- Experience working in an Agile/Scrum delivery model
- Formal people-management experience, including performance reviews and career development conversations
Citi Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Citi and has not been reviewed or approved by Citi.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is presented as comprehensive, including free in-network preventive care, mental-health resources, and the Be Well Program. Materials also state new hires have access to health and insurance benefits from the outset.
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Retirement Support — The retirement plan offers a $1-for-$1 match up to 6% of eligible pay. New employees are eligible for the plan, with automatic enrollment after 90 days if they do not enroll themselves.
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Inclusive Benefits Coverage — Benefits highlight fertility treatment coverage, adoption/surrogacy reimbursement up to $30,000, and disability coverage. Coverage extends to spouses and domestic partners regardless of gender identity or sexuality, with gender-affirming care-related support noted.
Citi Insights
What We Do
Citi's mission is to serve as a trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress. Our core activities are safeguarding assets, lending money, making payments and accessing the capital markets on behalf of our clients. We have 200 years of experience helping our clients meet the world's toughest challenges and embrace its greatest opportunities. We are Citi, the global bank – an institution connecting millions of people across hundreds of countries and cities.
