Lead Software Engineer

Title: Lead Software Engineer

Location: Rockville, MD or McLean, VA (Hybrid)

Contract: 6+ month Contract with extension

Only Local candidates who can take Assessment and only who are in DC/VA/MD who can got for F2F interview

Role Overview

• Lead-level opening, with a Senior Engineer role expected to follow.
• Team currently consists of approximately 3 engineers plus a Product Manager/DPM.
• This is primarily a hands-on technical lead, not a traditional people-management position.
• Approximately 2 days per week will be dedicated to lead responsibilities, with the remainder focused on hands-on technical work.
• The existing engineering team is technically strong; the primary need is someone who can provide direction, drive priorities, ask the right questions, and guide architectural decisions.
• This work previously fell under Sunil's team.

Technical Focus

• Java/Spring Boot is the strongest technical priority; this is a backend-heavy role.
• Candidate should be comfortable diving deeply into multiple existing codebases, understanding how they work, and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Architecture is heavily based on microservices running on AWS ECS.
• Front end is Angular/TypeScript, but there is already a strong front-end developer on the team, making deep backend expertise more important.
• The Lead will provide architectural direction, evaluate legacy components, and determine where the platform can be simplified or modernized.
• Expected to use AI-assisted development tools to accelerate understanding of existing codebases and improve engineering productivity.

Platform / IAM Environment

• The application supports enterprise web security and identity/access management.
• The platform manages account credentials and access for various types of users and organizations, including brokers, dealers, firms, and members.
• There is significant business logic embedded within Java microservices, including rules based on user/account attributes and organizational relationships.
• The current identity environment relies heavily on Active Directory.
• The team is partnering with infrastructure to migrate AD-based accounts to PingOne.
• Direct PingOne experience is a significant plus, but broader experience supporting enterprise IAM platforms is valuable.
• Candidates should understand IAM concepts well enough to evaluate the environment, ask appropriate technical questions, and help guide the migration.

Leadership Expectations

The Lead will be expected to:

• Provide technical and architectural direction to a capable engineering team.
• Analyze existing applications and code to determine what needs to change or improve.
• Help establish engineering priorities and direct the team toward the highest-value work.
• Partner closely with Product to break initiatives into actionable engineering work.
• Identify opportunities to streamline legacy functionality and reduce unnecessary complexity.
• Quickly develop a strong understanding of the existing architecture and codebase.
• Drive technical discussions rather than simply waiting for requirements or direction.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The strongest candidate will likely have:

• Deep Java/Spring Boot expertise.
• Strong backend and microservices architecture experience.
• Hands-on experience with AWS/ECS environments.
• Experience analyzing and modernizing existing/legacy applications.
• Technical Lead or Lead Engineer experience directing other strong engineers.
• Ability to translate Product initiatives into technical priorities and implementation plans.
• Enterprise IAM experience; PingOne is especially valuable.
• Angular/TypeScript knowledge is helpful, but backend depth is more important.
• Strong communication, curiosity, and the ability to ask effective technical questions.
• Experience using AI tools to understand, develop, or modernize complex codebases.

Interview Process

• Candidates should be submitted through FlexTrack.
• Initial interview will likely be a 2–3 person panel via Zoom.
• The first round may include one or two coding/technical questions, although the exact format has not yet been finalized.
• The initial process will narrow the pool to approximately 2–3 finalists.
• Finalists will have a more in-depth interview with leadership and potentially Senior Engineers.
• Expect deeper evaluation of Java/backend expertise, architecture, technical leadership, and the candidate's ability to understand and improve an existing platform.