Java Backend Engineer

About Aladdin and Aladdin Engineering

Join BlackRock's investment operating system, Aladdin, a powerful platform used internally and by leading financial institutions worldwide. Aladdin integrates sophisticated risk analytics with comprehensive portfolio management, trading, and operations tools, enabling informed decision-making and connecting thousands of global investment professionals.

As part of the Aladdin Engineering group, you will collaboratively build the next generation of technology that redefines the intersection of information, people, and technology for global investment firms. Our teams develop and package tools that manage trillions in assets and support millions of financial instruments, processing vast numbers of transactions and risk calculations daily for users across the globe.

What You'll Bring

• A tenacious spirit to thrive in a fast-paced, highly complex environment.
• A creative mind capable of analyzing multiple solutions and deploying technologies flexibly.
• Excellent teamwork and communication skills, fostering a collaborative approach.
• The ability to learn quickly and apply new concepts with speed.

Your Responsibilities

• Collaborate effectively with team members in a multi-office, multi-country setting.
• Deliver software systems characterized by high efficiency, availability, concurrency, and fault tolerance.
• Make significant contributions to the development of Aladdin's global, multi-asset trading platform.
• Partner with product management and business users to shape the product roadmap.
• Design and develop innovative solutions for complex challenges, proactively identifying and addressing roadblocks.
• Apply validated quality software engineering practices throughout all development phases.
• Ensure system resilience and stability through rigorous code reviews, unit, regression, and user acceptance testing, as well as DevOps and L2 production support.
• Act as a visionary leader and collaborative partner in brainstorming solutions to enhance team productivity and efficiency, guiding and motivating colleagues.
• Champion a strong culture of inclusion and diversity through specific recruiting, management actions, and employee engagement initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering (B.E./B.Tech./MCA) or a related field from a reputable institution.

Skills and Experience

• Minimum 4 years of experience in Java backend technologies.
• A solid foundation in core Java and related technologies, with strong Object-Oriented (OO) skills and design patterns.
• A proven track record of building high-quality software using design-focused and test-driven development (TDD) approaches.
• Hands-on experience with Java, Spring Framework, Spring Boot, and Hibernate.
• In-depth understanding of concurrent programming and experience designing high-throughput, high-availability, fault-tolerant distributed applications.
• Prior experience with message brokers.
• A strong understanding of relational databases is essential.
• Demonstrable experience building modern software using engineering tools such as Git, Maven, unit testing and integration testing tools, and mocking frameworks.
• Excellent analytical and software architecture design skills, with a focus on test-driven development.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication abilities.
• Some experience or a strong interest in finance, investment processes, and the ability to translate business problems into technical solutions.

Nice to Have & Learning Opportunities

• Expertise in building distributed applications using SQL and/or NoSQL technologies like MS SQL, Sybase, Cassandra, or Redis.
• Practical experience applying cloud-native design patterns to event-driven microservice architectures.
• Exposure to high-scale distributed technologies such as Kafka, Mongo, Ignite, or Redis.
• Exposure to building microservices and APIs, preferably with REST, Kafka, or gRPC.
• Experience working in an agile development team or on open-source development projects.
• Experience with optimization, algorithms, or related quantitative processes.
• Experience with cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.
• Experience with cloud deployment technologies (Docker, Ansible, Terraform, etc.) is a plus.
• Experience with DevOps and tools like Azure DevOps.
• Experience with AI-related projects/products or working in an AI research environment.
• Knowledge of modern front-end frameworks such as React, Vue.js, or Angular is beneficial.
• Exposure to Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud services.
• A degree, certifications, or open-source track record demonstrating mastery of software engineering principles.