Architect, Backend Developer

Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well‑being, and work‑life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them.

Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time, including CPT/OPT.

The Senior Integration Architect (Data & APIs) will serve as a strategic leader and hands‑on technical expert responsible for designing and evolving enterprise integration architecture tnering with enterprise architects, application teams, and business leaders, this role will define API‑first and event‑driven architectures that enable real‑time, reliable, and scalable system communication. This position will drive standardized integration patterns, lead modernization efforts across legacy and modern platforms, influence key architectural decisions, and mentor engineering teams to promote secure, resilient, and loosely coupled systems.

• Design and implement API‑first and event‑driven architectures that enable scalable, real‑time system communication.
• Architect integration patterns, including RESTful and gRPC APIs, asynchronous messaging, and event‑driven workflows across distributed systems.
• Define and enforce data contracts, schemas, and interface standards to ensure consistent and reliable data exchange across domains.
• Design resilient distributed systems that address duplicate processing, retries, replays, and fault tolerance.
• Lead modernization of legacy integrations by reducing point‑to‑point dependencies and enabling loosely coupled architectures.
• Establish best practices for API lifecycle management, including versioning, documentation, security, and governance.
• Provide architectural leadership through design reviews, mentoring, and cross‑team collaboration to drive consistent adoption of integration patterns.

• Bachelor's and/or master's degree in computer science or a related field, such as information systems, mathematics, or software engineering.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable integration solutions across distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of API‑based system design and modern integration approaches, including synchronous and asynchronous patterns.
• Familiarity with event‑driven architectures and messaging concepts in real‑world applications.
• Experience defining and managing interfaces or data exchange patterns across systems.
• Understanding of distributed system reliability, including failure handling, retries, and duplicate processing.
• Experience working with legacy and modern systems in complex enterprise environments.
• Proficiency in backend or service‑based development using Java, Python, or similar programming languages.

Experience with API management platforms or gateways, such as Apigee, Kong, AWS API Gateway, or Azure API Management. Hands‑on experience with messaging or streaming platforms, such as Kafka, Kinesis, or Pub/Sub. Familiarity with domain‑driven design concepts, including bounded contexts and service boundaries. Experience with contract‑first APIs or schema‑driven development approaches. Exposure to cloud‑native architectures and distributed system patterns in AWS, Azure, or GCP.

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