Lead Software Engineer - Application Architect
JPMorgan Chase · Jersey City, United States · 1mo ago
Software Engineering — VP & ED
Wholesale Credit Risk — Core Engineering
We have multiple positions open at both Vice President (VP) and Executive Director (ED) levels. The mission is the same at both levels; the scope of ownership and influence grows with seniority (see Levels below).
Why This Role
We're looking for a hands-on engineering leader who wants to shape how one of the world's largest banks manages credit risk. You'll own the architecture of mission-critical hybrid-cloud platforms, stay close to the code, and set the technical bar for multiple engineering teams. This is a role for someone who still loves to design/build — not just direct — and who wants their decisions to matter at scale.
You'll have a strong voice in defining technical strategy and modernizing our OLTP and OLAP workloads with AI/ML, working closely with senior stakeholders to review, refine, and agree on the path forward.
What You'll Do
- Architect at scale — Design mission-critical hybrid-cloud systems that thousands of users and downstream platforms depend on.
- Stay hands-on — Contribute directly to code and solution design, setting the standard through your own work, not just review.
- Lead engineers — Guide multiple teams, mentor senior engineers and development leads, and grow the next generation of technical talent.
- Drive AI adoption — Champion the integration of AI/ML and agent-based tooling into enterprise platforms and engineering workflows.
- Set the standard — Own best practices in software engineering, security, and risk management, and enforce them through code reviews.
- Shape strategy — Prioritize competing initiatives, balance urgent delivery against long-term architecture, and present technical direction to senior leadership.
- Build the culture — Foster collaboration, integrity, and continuous improvement across the organization.
Levels: VP vs ED
These are individual-contributor technical leadership roles — you lead through architecture, code, and technical influence, not people management.
| Vice President (VP) | Executive Director (ED) | |
| Focus | Own the design and delivery of major components and systems. | Set technical direction across multiple platforms and domains. |
| Scope | Architect and hands-on build key systems; raise the bar through code and reviews. | Own end-to-end architecture; shape the multi-year technical roadmap. |
| Influence | Guide fellow engineers and partner with development leads and product. | Act as a technical authority; align senior stakeholders and leadership. |
| Experience | ~7+ years building enterprise-scale solutions. | ~10+ years, with deep architecture and cross-team technical leadership. |
How we engineer: We codify our architecture & coding standards into the pipeline. Quality and conventions are enforced by AI agents/skills at every gate — for example, a PR review gate that stops bad code or design from reaching main. You'll help build and evolve these guardrails so good practice is automatic, not optional.
What You Bring
Core engineering
- 7+ years (VP) / 10+ years (ED) designing and building hybrid-cloud solutions at enterprise scale.
- Deep, current command of architecture and design patterns, with hands-on coding expertise in Java or Python.
- Strong data modeling skills, for example dimensional modeling and slowly changing dimensions.
- Proven experience with transactional systems, analytics platforms, and cloud-native technologies.
Risk & delivery
- Strong background in risk management, compliance, and secure software development.
- Track record of partnering with development leads and influencing senior stakeholders.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills.
AI/ML (increasingly essential)
- Hands-on builder of AI agents, skills, and agentic workloads.
- Delivered AI-driven projects from concept to production.
- Integrated AI/ML into hybrid-cloud and enterprise platforms.
- Power user of AI-assisted, spec-driven SDLC.
How You Work
- Decisive and data-driven; you turn ambiguity into a clear plan and a working solution.
- Assess risk with a big-picture, holistic view.
- Lead by example with a genuine can-do attitude.
- Separate the important from the merely urgent.
- Generous with your time; you lift up the engineers around you.
- Act with integrity, always.