Lead Developer
About The Position
The Lead Developer programs and configures software to meet TIAA business needs. Under minimal supervision, this role identifies and analyzes complex business software needs, writes and reviews complex code to optimize the performance and efficiency of the organization's IT platform and infrastructure, and tests programs to ensure they function properly. The role is a subject matter expert in Applications Development & Support and provides technical leadership across the development lifecycle. The Lead Developer leads the design and development of production-quality Java solutions—including microservices, batch pipelines, and APIs—for enterprise financial and insurance platforms, especially externally facing, partner-integrated capabilities. The role also designs, secures, and maintains customer-facing APIs at enterprise scale, and leads containerization and deployment strategy using AWS EKS and CI/CD tooling. The developer partners with business analysts, integration teams, and downstream data consumers to deliver and troubleshoot end-to-end solutions supporting SIA product portability. The role applies and validates AI-generated code in production environments, maintains software, and corrects defects. This position requires a bachelor's degree and at least five years of experience; seven or more years are preferred. The stated base pay range is $128,000 to $153,000 per year. TIAA describes a comprehensive Total Rewards package that includes a retirement program and health, wellness, and work-life offerings. The company describes its workplace as a collaborative in-office environment.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree required.
- At least 5 years of Java development experience, including Java 17 or later, with deep expertise in Spring Boot and Spring Batch.
- Hands-on experience developing and securing external customer-facing APIs at enterprise scale.
- Hands-on experience with AWS EKS, Docker/Kubernetes containerization, and CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, Cloudbees, and ArgoCD.
- Experience with REST API design and integration and deep familiarity with contract-first approaches such as OpenAPI/Swagger.
- Demonstrated ability to use AI-assisted development tools such as Copilot, Kiro, or similar to improve SDLC quality and delivery velocity.
- Experience triaging production-support incidents using Splunk, Dynatrace, or similar observability tools.
- Proven record of providing technical leadership and mentoring development teams.
Nice To Haves
- 7 or more years of work experience.
- Python proficiency for scripting, automation, or data-processing tasks supporting platform and integration workflows.
- Message-based integration experience with IBM MQ, Apache ActiveMQ Artemis, Kafka, or JMS.
- Broader cloud infrastructure experience with AWS services such as ECS, S3, Glue, or Lambda; OpenShift; or Terraform.
- Experience with secrets management and authentication chains such as CyberArk Conjur, Kerberos, or equivalent.
- Financial services or insurance industry domain exposure.
- Experience with BPMN/workflow orchestration tools such as Flowable or Camunda.
- Agile/Scrum practices in a Jira-based SDLC.
- Ability to work across technical and business teams to translate strategic platform goals into engineering execution.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and development of production-quality Java solutions, including microservices, batch pipelines, and APIs, for enterprise financial and insurance platforms.
- Provide technical leadership across the development lifecycle, including architecture decisions, code review, and mentoring developers.
- Partner with business analysts, partner integration teams, and downstream data consumers to design, develop, and troubleshoot end-to-end technical solutions supporting SIA product portability.
- Design, secure, and maintain external customer-facing APIs at enterprise scale, meeting performance, security, and reliability standards.
- Lead containerization and deployment strategy using AWS EKS and CI/CD tooling such as Jenkins, Cloudbees, and ArgoCD.
- Apply, validate, and stress-test AI-generated code in production-grade, externally facing environments while maintaining quality and security.
- Perform maintenance programming and correct identified defects across personal work and the broader team's work.
- Identify and analyze complex business software needs, write and review complex code, and test programs to ensure proper operation.
Benefits
- Superior retirement program.
- Competitive health, wellness, and work-life offerings.
- Comprehensive Total Rewards package intended to support physical, emotional, and financial well-being.
- Depending on the role, participation in an incentive program linked to performance may be available.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
