Associate Director Staff Engineer (GraphQL, Java, Kotlin, Nodejs)

Job description

Key Responsibilities (Top 5)

• Architecture Design & Domain-Aligned Solutions Define and evolve scalable, resilient architectures for communication platforms supporting customer engagement (voice, messaging, digital channels)

Design solutions aligned to industry-specific requirements

Financial Services: security, compliance, auditability Communications: real-time processing, high availability MarTech: personalization, event-driven engagement Ensure alignment with enterprise target-state architecture and platform strategy

• Hands-on Engineering (≈50%) Design and implement backend services, APIs, and integration layers Build and deploy applications using containerized environments and Kubernetes orchestration Develop production-grade code, prototypes, and reference implementations
• API, Data & Integration Architecture Architect API-first ecosystems, including GraphQL and RESTful services
• Design event-driven and streaming architectures to support real-time communication and marketing workflows
• Integrate with enterprise platforms such as: CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce) Contact center / CPaaS platforms Marketing automation and customer data platforms
• Cross-functional Leadership & Influence
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and enterprise architecture teams to ensure solution alignment and execution
• Act as a thought partner, introducing innovative approaches and improving system design quality
• Influence decisions across teams without formal authority
• Standards, Governance & Continuous Improvement Establish and enforce architecture standards, reusable patterns, and engineering guardrails Drive simplification, scalability, and reduction of technical debt Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend pragmatic adoption aligned to business value

Technical Skills

Strong expertise in backend architecture and distributed systems design Hands-on experience with: Kubernetes and containerization (Docker, orchestration patterns) GraphQL and modern API architectures (REST, event-driven systems)

Microservices and cloud-native platforms Observability

Distributed tracing (X-Ray/OpenTelemetry), structured logging, metrics/alerting pipelines.

Messaging & Orchestration

SQS/EventBridge or equivalents (Pub/Sub, Service Bus); DLQs; workflow engines.

CI/CD

Automated pipelines with tools including Github Actions, Jenkins or equivalent experience Experience building or supporting real-time or high-throughput systems

• Proficiency in backend technologies (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Node.js, Go, or similar)
• Bachelor's Degree in Information systems, Computer Science or a related field.

Domain Experience (Preferred) Candidates should have experience in one or more of the following: Financial Services Secure, compliant systems (PII, PCI, regulatory constraints) Transactional platforms (payments, lending, servicing) Communications / MarTech / Contact Center Low-latency, high-availability distributed systems Personalization engines, campaign orchestration Voice, messaging, IVR, or omnichannel engagement platforms Architecture & Engineering Capabilities

• Ability to operate across strategic architecture and hands-on implementation
• Strong grounding in: scalability, resiliency, and performance engineering API lifecycle and governance system integration and orchestration patterns Experience aligning solutions to enterprise target-state architecture Personal Attributes Self-starter: Proactively drives outcomes with minimal oversight Thought provocateur: Challenges existing paradigms and elevates architectural thinking Collaborative: Builds alignment across engineering, product, and architecture teams Pragmatic: Balances long-term vision with near-term delivery needs Influential communicator: Clearly conveys complex technical concepts to varied stakeholders