Application Engineer (ETF)-Java Backend -Associate

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, and tackling some of the world’s most interesting challenges? 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 sophisticated problems. We recognize that strength comes from diversity, and will embrace your outstanding skills, curiosity, and passion while giving you the opportunity to grow technically and as an individual. 

We invest and protect over $14 trillion (USD) of assets and have an extraordinary responsibility to our clients all over the world. Our technology empowers millions of investors to save for retirement, pay for college, buy a home and improve their financial well-being. 

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

Team Overview: 

Our ETF development team is part of the Aladdin Engineering group. We manage a software platform that oversees the global iShares investment process. Together, we develop cutting-edge technology that transforms the interaction between information, people, and technology for global investment firms. Our tools manage trillions in assets and support millions of financial instruments. We play a crucial role in the growth of the primary markets business by bringing together multiple Market Makers, Authorized Participants, Issuers, and Providers, enhancing transparency, and reducing market frictions. 

Being a member of Aladdin Engineering, you will be:  

Tenacious: Work in a fast paced and highly complex environment  

Creative thinker: Analyze 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 

Responsibilities: 

• Design, develop, deliver, and maintain applications with focus on high efficiency, high availability, concurrent and fault tolerant software. 

• Demonstrate technical leadership of software design & architecture to support strategic product roadmap, 

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in a multi-office, multi-country environment to define, design, and ship high-quality software solutions. 

• Design and develop innovative solutions to complex problems, identifying issues and roadblocks. 

• Work with project managers, technical leads, and business analysts to contribute throughout the SDLC cycle. 

• Manage stakeholders for driving business decisions, negotiating priorities, and partner with various business teams to drive strategy and technology adoption 

• Ensure scale, resilience and stability through risk identification and mitigation, quality code reviews, creating robust test suites, and providing level two support. 

• Foster continuous improvement in software development practices through innovation and automation. 

• Stay up to date with industry trends and emerging technologies to continuously improve development processes. 

Skills & Experience: 

• Hands-on programming experience in Java and/or Python with OO skills and design patterns 

• Exposure to building microservices and APIs ideally with Kafka or gRPC. 

• Experience working with relational and NoSQL databases (such as SQL Server, Apache Cassandra) 

• Experience with DevOps, continuous integration, and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, and tools like Azure DevOps. 

• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and software architecture skills. 

• Experience in partnering with other teams, sponsors, and user groups who are on the same product journey. 

• Ability to work in Agile/Scrum development environments with strong teamwork, communication, and time management skills. 

• Innovative and a thought leader around new/cutting-edge technologies. 

Nice to Have: 

• Exposure to and innovative thinking around AI workflows and code generation 

• Experience with financial applications 

• Experience with cloud native tools (such as Kubernetes, Docker) and cloud platforms (such as Azure, AWS, or GCP) 

• Exposure to high scale distributed technologies such as Kafka, Ignite, Redis. 

• Experience or real interest in finance, investment processes, and/or an ability to translate business problems into technical solutions. 
    

Qualifications: 

• B.S. / M.S. college degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related subject area 

• 3+ years of hands-on development exposure