Cetera Financial Group · 1 day ago
Senior API & Data Services Engineer
Dallas, TX, United States
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level
$111K/yr - $148K/yr
5+ years expCetera Financial Group is at the forefront of transforming the future of technology in the financial industry. They are seeking a Senior API & Data Services Engineer to design, build, and operate high-performance data access services within their modernized data platform.
AdviceFinancial ServicesRetailRetirementWealth Management
Responsibilities
Design and implement API-first data services using REST and/or GraphQL patterns
Build secure, performant access to canonical data produced by TPM and PCB platforms
Implement versioned, contract-driven APIs to ensure backward compatibility and consumer stability
Develop reusable data service components to reduce duplication across consumers
Ensure API ‘s and Data Services are fully documented and cataloged for enterprise wide consumption and self-service
Design and implement Redis-based caching strategies to support low-latency data access
Tune APIs and caching layers to meet performance SLAs for near-real-time use cases
Balance cache consistency, freshness, and cost in distributed environments
Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks across API, cache, and backend layers
Enforce contract-driven access patterns to ensure consistent schemas, versioning, and backward compatibility
Leverage AWS streaming technologies (e.g., Kinesis, Kafka on AWS) to enable real-time data processing, particularly for broker-dealer and wealth management transactions
Develop and deploy services using AWS-native technologies, including: API Gateway, Lambda, ECS/EKS, DynamoDB, Aurora, S3, ElastiCache (Redis)
Build infrastructure-aware services that are resilient, scalable, and cost-efficient
Participate in CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and environment automation
Implement and manage role-based access control (RBAC) and entitlement-aware data access
Ensure APIs and data services comply with security, privacy, and regulatory requirements
Partner with Data Governance and Architecture teams to ensure consistent enforcement of enterprise standards
Plan, prioritize, and manage multiple API engineering projects to ensure timely and within-budget delivery
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather requirements specific to financial services, including regulatory and compliance needs
Manage team resources effectively, balancing development and operational support needs
Work closely with Data Architecture, Ingestion, Mastering, and Integrated Data teams
Partner with application and analytics teams to onboard consumers efficiently
Ensure alignment with enterprise security, governance, and data standards
Translate consumer needs into scalable platform capabilities rather than one-off solutions
Translate complex technical challenges into actionable insights for leadership and non-technical teams
Leverage AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, code-generation and analysis tools) to: Accelerate feature delivery, Improve code consistency and quality, Reduce repetitive development tasks, Apply AI-supported testing, documentation, and refactoring techniques where appropriate
Collaborate with peers to evolve best practices for responsible and effective AI usage in engineering workflows
Ensure APIs and data services meet business critical availability (24x7), performance, and reliability standards
Implement observability through logging, metrics, and tracing
Participate in incident response, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement efforts
Contribute to runbooks, operational documentation, and support readiness
Ensure SLAs, availability targets, and performance benchmarks are consistently met
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related field; Master's degree is preferred
Minimum of 5–7 years of professional software or data engineering experience
Demonstrated experience delivering production-grade APIs or data services
Experience operating services with defined SLAs in regulated environments
Hands-on expertise with AWS streaming technologies and cloud-based data engineering tools
Proven track record of managing business-critical 24x7 operational data systems, including support and monitoring processes
Financial services experience required, with preferred experience in broker-dealer and wealth management operations
Strong experience building APIs (REST, GraphQL) and data services in distributed systems/ API-first platforms
Proficiency with AWS cloud services (API Gateway, Lambda, ECS/EKS, DynamoDB, Aurora, Iceberg)
Hands-on experience with Redis / in-memory caching (ElastiCache preferred)
Strong understanding of API security, authentication, and authorization patterns
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices
Strong understanding of data modeling and canonical data access patterns
Experience with API observability, logging, tracing, and error handling
Strong experience with AWS streaming technologies (e.g., Kinesis, Kafka on AWS (Amazon MSK))
Expertise in API documentation, meeting standards and best practices, and measurements (metrics, SLA's, etc..)
Hands-on experience using AI-assisted development practices to achieve standardization and efficiency for scalability
Experience and strong understanding with REST as well as GraphQL federation or schema management
Experience supporting operational consumers via API's
Experience with event-driven & streaming architectures and their interaction with API layers
Familiarity with data contracts and versioning strategies
Exposure to supporting analytics and AI/ML consumers via governed APIs
Exposure to data mesh or domain-oriented data access models
Knowledge of emerging trends and technologies in real-time data processing and architecture
Hands-on experience with data migration, modernization efforts, and cloud-native data solutions
Strong software engineering fundamentals (design patterns, testing, code quality)
Experience with observability and production support for critical services
Ability to diagnose and resolve complex performance and reliability issues
Familiarity with data contracts, schema versioning, and backward compatibility strategies
Strong understanding of the unique requirements of financial services data, including compliance, regulatory considerations, and transaction processing
Experience in broker-dealer and wealth management operations preferred
Experience designing and managing support and monitoring frameworks for 24x7 operational data systems
Proven ability to establish incident management processes and escalation protocols
Strong background in optimizing ODS performance, availability, and reliability at scale
Excellent problem-solving and analytical capabilities, especially in high-pressure environments
Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey technical concepts to business stakeholders effectively
Collaborative mindset with a focus on shared platform success
Preferred
Financial Services Certifications are preferred such as SIE Certification, Series-99 or similar
Technical Certifications preferred related to AWS Technology Stack (e.g. AWS Certified Solutions Architecture (preferred), AWS Certified Data Analytics, Open AP/ Swagger Training, REST/ API/ GraphQL Certifications)
Benefits
Inclusive health, dental, vision and life insurance plans built to support diverse lifestyles, offer preventative care, and protect against hardship.
Easy access to mental health benefits to meet our team members and their families where they are.
20+ days of paid time off (PTO), paid holidays, and 2 paid wellness days to give our employees the time they need to stay close with their loved ones, recharge, and give back to their communities.
401(k) Savings plan with a generous company contribution (up to 5%), and access to a financial professional to offer our employees the opportunity to plan-ahead for a strong financial future well beyond their working years.
Paid parental leave to support all team members with birth, adoption, and foster.
Health Savings and Flexible Spending Account options to help you save money on healthcare, daycare, commuting, and more.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP), LifeLock, Pet Insurance and more.
Company
Cetera Financial Group
Cetera Financial Group is a privately-held, independent broker-dealer and investment adviser families.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Cetera Financial Group has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (7)
2024 (3)
2023 (5)
2022 (2)
2021 (2)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknownKey Investors
Genstar Capital
2023-10-04Private Equity
2018-07-17Acquired
Leadership Team
Michael Durbin
Chief Executive Officer
Dan Burkott
Chief Compliance Officer - Tax Channel
Recent News
2026-01-22
2026-01-07
2026-01-07
Company data provided by crunchbase