Application Engineer, Vice President
BlackRock
London, UK
About this role
Build technology that shapes global financial markets. Move fast, solve tough problems, and learn from hands-on leaders in engineering and finance.
At BlackRock, we’re hiring Software Engineers who love to innovate and solve complex problems. We value diversity and will support your growth—technically and personally.
We invest and protect over $13.9T (USD) and our technology helps millions of investors save for retirement, fund education, buy homes, and improve financial well-being.
As a technologist at BlackRock, you’ll pair the scale of a global leader with the pace and ownership of a modern engineering team building next-generation solutions.
What are Aladdin and Aladdin Engineering?
- Build on Aladdin, BlackRock’s investment operating system used by BlackRock and leading financial institutions. It unifies risk analytics, portfolio management, trading, and operations to power informed decisions for investors worldwide.
- Aladdin Engineering builds and runs the platform at global scale—tools managing trillions in assets, supporting millions of instruments, and processing millions of transactions daily for thousands of users.
Being a member of Aladdin Engineering, you will be:
- Tenacious: Thrive in a fast-paced, complex environment.
- Creative: Evaluate options and apply the right tech for the problem.
- Collaborative: Communicate clearly and deliver as a team.
- Curious: Learn quickly and apply new concepts.
Responsibilities include:
- Collaborate across teams in a multi-office, multi-country environment.
- Deliver high-performance, highly available, fault-tolerant systems.
- Contribute to Aladdin’s global, multi-asset trading platform.
- Partner with Product and users to shape the roadmap.
- Design and build solutions to complex problems; remove roadblocks.
- Apply strong engineering practices across the full SDLC.
- Ensure resilience via code reviews, automated testing, DevOps, and production support.
- Lead by example—mentor others and drive team productivity.
- Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture through actions in hiring, management, and engagement.
- Own project scope, priorities, timelines, and delivery using Agile methods.
Skills and Experience:
- Strong core Java, OO design, and design patterns.
- 8+ years of proven experience in backend software engineering.
- Proven track record delivering high-quality, well-tested software.
- Hands-on experience with Java, Spring Framework/Spring Boot, and Hibernate.
- Deep understanding of concurrency; experience designing high-throughput distributed systems.
- Experience with messaging/eventing (e.g., Kafka, JMS, MQ).
- Strong relational database fundamentals.
- Comfortable with modern engineering tools (Git, Maven) and unit/integration testing.
- Strong analysis and architecture skills; bias for test-driven development.
- Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
- Interest in finance/investment workflows and translating business needs into technical solutions.
- Experience leading projects/teams or owning the design and quality of a significant system or component; strong partnership skills.
Nice to have and opportunities to learn:
- Experience with SQL and/or NoSQL data stores (e.g., MS SQL, Sybase, Cassandra, Redis).
- Cloud-native, event-driven microservices experience (design patterns, resilience).
- Exposure to large-scale distributed systems and platforms (e.g., Kafka, MongoDB, Ignite).
- Microservices and API development (REST, gRPC) and/or streaming integrations.
- Experience in Agile teams and/or open-source contributions.
- Optimization/algorithms or quantitative engineering experience.
- Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) and container/IaC tooling (Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform/Ansible).
- DevOps practices and tooling (e.g., Azure DevOps).
- Experience with AI/ML products or research environments.
- Front-end exposure (React, Vue, Angular) is a plus.
- Evidence of strong engineering fundamentals (degree, certifications, and/or open-source track record).
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
Our benefits
To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of employee benefits including: retirement investment and tools designed to help you in building a sound financial future; access to education reimbursement; comprehensive resources to support your physical health and emotional well-being; family support programs; and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.
Our hybrid work model
BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.
About BlackRock
At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being. Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.
This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.
For additional information on BlackRock, please visit @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock
BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics at law.