Application Engineer, Aladdin Engineering - Vice President

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 $9 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.

What are Aladdin and Aladdin Engineering?

• You will be working on BlackRock's investment operating system called Aladdin. Aladdin is used both internally within BlackRock and externally by many financial institutions. Aladdin combines sophisticated risk analytics with comprehensive portfolio management, trading, and operations tools on a single platform to power informed decision-making and create a connective tissue for thousands of users investing worldwide.

• Our development teams reside inside the Aladdin Engineering group. We collaboratively build the next generation of technology that changes the way information, people, and technology intersect for global investment firms. We build and package tools that manage trillions in assets and supports millions of financial instruments. We perform risk calculations and process millions of transactions for thousands of users every day worldwide!

Being a member of Aladdin Engineering, you will be:

• Tenacious: Work in a fast paced and highly complex environment

• Creative thinker: Analyses 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 include:

• Provide strong leadership and hands-on technical expertise in backend design, architecture, and solutioning. Drive the team toward effective, scalable, and maintainable implementations.

• Collaborate with cross-functional, globally distributed teams to deliver high-performing and reliable software solutions aligned with business goals.

• Break down complex technical problems into clear, actionable tasks and make informed architectural decisions that balance long-term strategy with short-term needs.

• Lead backend development strategy for core products and platforms, fostering a culture of innovation, quality, and continuous improvement.

• Define and evolve backend architecture, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards, scalability, performance, and security best practices.

• Engage and manage senior stakeholders, effectively translating business requirements into technical solutions and influencing key technology decisions.

• Own delivery planning by setting project milestones, allocating resources effectively, and ensuring timely delivery across multiple concurrent initiatives.

• Proactively identify project risks, create mitigation plans, and escalate issues when necessary to maintain project timelines and quality.

• Oversee production readiness, early life support, and post-release stability including root cause analysis and remediation strategies.

• Stay current with emerging technologies (including Kafka and other streaming platforms), assess their potential impact, and guide their adoption within product and platform roadmaps.

• Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing engineering team. Promote continuous learning and facilitate upskilling initiatives to match evolving tech landscapes.

• Operate independently with minimal supervision while providing strategic guidance to junior engineers and stakeholders alike.

Core Competency Requirements:

• Backend Expertise:
  Proven experience in enterprise-grade architecture and design. Strong proficiency in Java and backend technologies, with deep understanding of performance optimization, scalability, and system resilience.

• Frameworks & Tools:
  Expertise in Java EE, Spring Framework (Boot, MVC, AOP, Security, Integration), and ORM tools like Hibernate or JPA. Familiarity with modern messaging systems like JMS (ActiveMQ, RabbitMQ, IBM MQ) and event streaming platforms such as Apache Kafka.

• Event-Driven Architecture:
  Experience building and maintaining real-time data pipelines and event-driven microservices using Kafka for distributed communication and system decoupling.

• Front-End Awareness (Nice to Have):
  Exposure to modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., AngularJS, Angular 2+), ES6, Bootstrap, and jQuery for full-stack understanding.

• DevOps & CI/CD:
  Strong knowledge of build and deployment pipelines using tools like Git, Jenkins, Maven, etc. Experience with automated testing, deployment, and infrastructure-as-code.

• APIs & Integration:
  Experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and working with web service protocols such as REST and SOAP.

• Databases:
  Strong experience in SQL and PL/SQL, as well as NoSQL technologies such as Cassandra, Elasticsearch, or Apache Ignite.

• Cloud & Containerization:
  Working knowledge of public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerization/orchestration tools like Docker, Kubernetes, or OpenShift.

• Scripting & Automation:
  Familiarity with scripting languages (Python, Bash, or Perl) to automate tasks and improve developer workflows.

• Methodologies:
  Practical experience in Agile methodologies including SAFe, Iterative, and Waterfall. Strong ability to adapt processes to team and project needs.

• Soft Skills:
  Excellent problem-solving skills, high attention to detail, strong interpersonal communication, and a proactive, ownership-driven mindset.