Java/J2EE Technical Lead - Vice President

We are seeking an experienced and highly skilled Java/J2EE Technical Lead at the C13 (Vice President) level to join our Technology organization. The ideal candidate will lead the design, development, and delivery of complex enterprise-grade applications using Java, Spring, Angular, React, Oracle, Kafka, IBM MQ, WebSphere Application Server (WAS), ECS/OpenShift, and Microservices architectures. This role requires a strong engineering mindset, leadership capability, and a passion for building resilient, high-performance financial systems. Key Responsibilities Technical Leadership Lead end-to-end design, development, and delivery of enterprise Java/J2EE applications. Provide technical direction, mentorship, and guidance to a team of 5-10 software engineers. Conduct code reviews, enforce coding standards, and champion engineering best practices including TDD and BDD. Drive architectural decisions across microservices, API design, and UI layers. Backend Development Design and develop scalable Java (11/17) and Spring Boot / Spring Framework microservices. Build RESTful APIs and integrate with enterprise messaging platforms - Apache Kafka and IBM MQ. Deploy and manage applications on WebSphere Application Server (WAS) and container platforms (ECS / OpenShift / Kubernetes). Develop and optimize complex queries, stored procedures, and schema designs using Oracle Database. Frontend Development Collaborate with UI teams on Angular and React based Single Page Applications (SPAs). Ensure seamless API integration between backend microservices and frontend layers. Enforce UI coding standards, component reusability, and accessibility compliance. Microservices & Architecture Architect and deliver cloud-native microservices following domain-driven design (DDD) and event-driven architecture patterns. Design inter-service communication using synchronous REST and asynchronous messaging (Kafka, IBM MQ). Ensure services meet enterprise standards for scalability, resilience, and fault tolerance. Lead migration of monolithic applications to microservices architecture where applicable. Messaging & Integration Design and implement Kafka-based event streaming pipelines for real-time data processing. Configure and manage IBM MQ queues, topics, channels, and listeners for enterprise messaging. Ensure message reliability, ordering, idempotency, and dead-letter handling. Quality Assurance & Test Automation Champion a test-first culture across the engineering team. Lead development of unit, integration, and end-to-end test suites using JUnit 5, Mockito, Selenium, and Cucumber. Implement and maintain test automation frameworks integrated into CI/CD pipelines. Drive code coverage targets (>80%) and quality gate compliance via SonarQube. DevOps & Delivery Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Maven/Gradle, and container orchestration tools. Deploy microservices on ECS (Elastic Container Service) and/or OpenShift clusters. Ensure deployment health through monitoring, alerting, and observability tooling. Collaboration & Governance Partner with Product Owners, Business Analysts, QA leads, and infrastructure teams. Participate in architecture review boards and contribute to technology standards. Ensure solutions comply with security, risk, and audit requirements. Required Qualifications Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field (required). Master's degree preferred. Experience 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience. 5+ years in a technical lead or senior engineering capacity. Proven experience in financial services / banking technology environments preferred. Technical Skills Category Technologies / Skills Core Languages Java (11/17), J2EE, SQL, TypeScript, JavaScript Backend Frameworks Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Security, Spring Batch, Hibernate, JPA Frontend Frameworks Angular (12+), React (17/18), HTML5, CSS3, RxJS, Redux Messaging & Streaming Apache Kafka, IBM MQ (MQ Series) Application Servers WebSphere Application Server (WAS), Tomcat, JBoss Databases Oracle (PL/SQL, RAC), PostgreSQL, Redis Container & Cloud ECS (AWS Elastic Container Service), OpenShift, Kubernetes, Docker Testing & QA JUnit 5, Mockito, Selenium, Cucumber, REST Assured, SonarQube Test Automation CI-integrated test pipelines, BDD frameworks, Performance Testing (JMeter) CI/CD & DevOps Jenkins, Maven, Gradle, Git, Nexus/Artifactory Security OAuth 2.0, JWT, SSL/TLS, Vault, LDAP Architecture Patterns Microservices, Event-Driven, CQRS, API Gateway, Circuit Breaker Methodologies Agile/Scrum, SAFe, TDD, BDD, DevSecOps Preferred Qualifications Hands-on experience deploying on AWS ECS with Fargate or EC2-backed clusters. Experience with IBM MQ administration and advanced configuration (clustering, SSL, HA). Familiarity with Kafka Streams, Schema Registry, and Confluent Platform. Exposure to Oracle RAC, GoldenGate, or Data Guard for high availability. Knowledge of API Gateway patterns (Apigee, AWS API Gateway). Experience with Citi internal platforms such as Helix, Lightspeed Enterprise (LSE), or COIN. Certifications: Oracle Certified Professional (Java SE), AWS Certified Developer/Solutions Architect, Kafka Certified Developer. Leadership & Behavioral Competencies Strong technical judgment with the ability to make sound architectural decisions under ambiguity. Proven ability to lead, coach, and grow engineering talent. Excellent verbal and written communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Collaborative and inclusive team leader with a continuous improvement mindset. High accountability and ownership for engineering delivery and quality. Passion for emerging technologies and innovation in financial services. ------------------------------------------------------ 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. 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