Sr. Director of Engineering

District Partners is partnered with a mid-market financial services firm operating across broker-dealer infrastructure and investment management, with a focus on fixed income markets. The firm has built and operates its own trading, financing, and post-trade platform supporting structured products in a regulated environment.This is a hands-on engineering leadership role within a lean, execution-driven team. The scope aligns with an Engineering Lead or hands-on Head of Engineering in a smaller organization. The focus is on ownership, direct contribution, and driving day-to-day execution rather than managing large teams or operating at a distance.The environment is best suited for someone coming out of a mid-sized firm, fintech, or smaller platform-centric organization where they have been close to the systems, the code, and the business.Position DetailsTitle: Engineering LeadLocation: Tri-State (NY/CT/NJ) or Washington, DC metro areaWork Model: HybridCompensation: $300,000 – $400,000 total compensation (base + bonus)Position OverviewOwn and operate engineering across a fixed income platform covering trading, financing, and post-trade workflows. This role is responsible for maintaining and evolving existing systems, improving structure and execution, and working closely with business stakeholders.This is not a role for someone coming from large, layered organizations. It requires comfort operating in a smaller team where priorities shift, ownership is broad, and execution matters more than process.What You'll DoOwn end-to-end engineering across trading, repo/financing, clearing, settlement, and accounting systemsContribute directly to architecture and system design and remain close to the code and technical decisionsLead a small team of engineers while staying actively involved in deliveryDrive execution across front-to-back fixed income workflows with a focus on reliability and scalabilityIntroduce practical structure across development, prioritization, and release processes without adding bureaucracyPartner directly with trading, operations, and business leadership on system enhancements and prioritiesEnsure systems operate effectively within a regulated environment including SEC, FINRA, and SOXIdentify opportunities to improve efficiency through tooling and automation including selective use of AITechnology EnvironmentBackend: Java, Groovy, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, microservicesData: MongoDB, event-driven architectureCloud: AWS (EC2, ECS, SQS, SNS, S3, CloudWatch)DevOps: Jenkins, Terraform or AWS CDK, containerizationSystems: Fixed income trading, repo/financing, clearing, settlement, and accounting platformsWhat You HaveDirect experience working on fixed income platforms including trading and post-trade systemsExposure to mortgage-backed securities, repo, or structured fixed income productsBackground in smaller to mid-sized firms, fintechs, or platform-driven environments preferredTrack record of operating as a hands-on engineering lead within lean teamsStrong technical depth in distributed systems and AWS-based architecturesExperience working on internally built platforms rather than vendor-heavy ecosystemsUnderstanding of regulated financial environments and associated controlsAbility to balance speed and structure without over-engineering processIdeal BackgroundComes from a mid-market firm, fintech, or smaller platform-centric organizationHas led small teams typically under 5 engineers while remaining hands-onHas stayed close to architecture and development rather than moving into pure managementComfortable operating without layers of process, tooling, or large support functionsHas worked directly with trading desks, operations, or business stakeholders in real timeAdditional NotesThis is a high-ownership role with immediate impact on a core platformThe team is intentionally lean and requires hands-on contribution and practical decision-makingNot aligned to candidates from large-scale enterprise environments with narrow scope or heavy delegationBest suited for someone who prefers building, owning, and operating rather than managing at scale