Senior Manager API and Data Service Engineering

Overview

We are at the forefront of transforming the future of technology in the financial industry, and we seek curious, practical individuals to help us pave the way. Our team is not intimidated by taking calculated risks, as they relish a good challenge and are eager to engage in problem-solving. As a member of our team, you will work alongside like-minded experts in a culture that is deeply rooted in innovation and progression.

Join us to be part of a transformative journey that can shape the industry's future.

The Senior Manager of API & Data Services Engineering will lead the design, development, and operation of the enterprise data distribution layer for Cetera’s Modernized Event-Driven Data Platform and related operational data platforms. This role is responsible for delivering secure, scalable, and high-performance data access through APIs, caching layers, and data services that serve both operational and analytical consumers.

This position plays a critical role in decoupling data producers from consumers, enabling technology stack simplification while ensuring data is delivered in a consistent, governed, and reliable manner. The Senior Manager will oversee business-critical, near-real-time and batch data services, enforce data access contracts, and partner closely with Data Architecture, Ingestion, Mastering, and Integrated Data teams to ensure end-to-end data platform coherence.

The ideal candidate brings strong experience in API-first platforms, distributed systems, and financial services, with a preference for broker-dealer or wealth management environments where performance, security, and auditability are paramount.

This opportunity offer a Hybrid work schedule from our Dallas, Texas office.

What you will do:

Team Leadership and Development:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing API and Data Services Engineering team.
• Foster a culture of ownership, reliability, and continuous improvement.
• Establish clear performance expectations and support career development for team members.

API & Data Service Engineering:

• Oversee the design and implementation of API-first data access patterns (REST, Graph
  
  QL) for operational and analytical use cases.
• Lead the development of data services that expose canonical data to the Cetera modernized event-driven data platform in a secure, performant, and consumable manner.
• Implement caching and performance optimization strategies to meet low-latency access requirements without duplicating data logic.
• 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.

Security, Governance & Access Control:

• 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.

Project and Resource Management:

• 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.

Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication:

• Serve as the primary point of contact for data access and distribution capabilities.
• Partner with application teams, analytics teams, and external consumers to onboard use cases efficiently.
• Partner with the Data Architecture function to align engineering efforts with organizational data strategy.
• 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.

Operational Excellence:

• Own the reliability and performance of business-critical 24x7 data services supporting near-real-time and batch workloads.
• Establish monitoring, alerting, and incident…