Sr. Director of Engineering

Posted yesterday

district partnersNew York (NY)

SENIORITY

Manager

SALARY

$300,000 per year

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About the role

District Partners is partnering with a highly stable, operationally mature financial services firm operating at the intersection of broker-dealer infrastructure, buy-side investment management, and fixed income markets. The platform is built, the systems are performing, and the team is experienced. This is a key leadership hire with full ownership of engineering, responsible for driving structure, consistency in execution, and the next phase of platform growth within a regulated financial environment. This role is best suited for a leader stepping into a VP-level position with meaningful ownership in a lean environment, where scope is broad and impact is immediate. This role requires experience within a mid-market or platform-oriented financial services environment where engineering teams operate with end-to-end ownership. Candidates coming from highly siloed large-bank structures will not be a fit.
What You’ll Do: Own engineering, architecture, and system evolution across trading, clearing, settlement, and accounting platforms Serve as the primary technical counterpart to executive leadership, ensuring alignment between business priorities and system design Lead, develop, and scale a lean engineering team while maintaining a high bar for performance and accountability Establish and enforce engineering standards, delivery frameworks, and prioritization discipline Drive system reliability, scalability, and performance across a regulated financial environment Ensure alignment with SEC, FINRA, and SOX requirements across systems and processes Introduce structure where needed without disrupting an already effective operating model Oversee the integration and practical use of AI tooling to improve engineering output and efficiency Operating ModelOperate as a hands‑on leader with retained technical credibility Balance architecture ownership with team leadership and delivery accountability Make decisions with incomplete information in a low‑bureaucracy environment Partner closely with business stakeholders to align technical direction with operational needs Maintain a high signal‑to‑noise ratio in how priorities are set and executed Technology EnvironmentBackend: Java, Groovy, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, distributed microservices architecture DevOps: Jenkins CI/CD, infrastructure as code (Terraform or AWS CDK), containerization Systems: Trading, clearing and settlement, and accounting platforms supporting fixed income products in a regulated environment What You’ll HaveDirect experience within fixed income financial services environments is required, including trading, clearing, and post‑trade systems Background aligned to organizations supporting mortgage‑backed securities (MBS), repo financing, or similar structured products is strongly preferred Experience within broker‑dealer, buy‑side, hedge fund, or regulated fintech platforms with comparable system complexity Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams while remaining credible in system design and architecture Strong working knowledge of regulated financial systems and associated compliance requirements Experience operating in lean organizations with broad ownership across systems Ability to introduce structure, prioritization, and accountability without over‑engineering Executive presence with the ability to engage effectively across technical and business leadership LocationTri‑State (NY/CT/NJ) or Washington, DC metro area with periodic presence in office CompensationTotal compensation in the $300,000–$400,000 range (base + bonus), aligned to scope and impact

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