Lead Software Engineer - Java Backend
JPMorgan Chase · Seattle, WA
$152,000–$215,000from the description
Jul 16, 2026
Seattle, WA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A lead-level backend engineering role on a merchant and fraud prevention team within a large financial institution. Day-to-day work centers on designing, building, and troubleshooting production data and streaming systems, writing secure code in Java, Scala, or Python, and applying CI/CD and agile practices across the full development lifecycle. Candidates with experience in streaming technologies such as Flink or Spark, and familiarity with feature stores, are particularly well suited.
Senior level · 5+ years · Seattle, WA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 5,700 people in the Seattle, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 4,300–7,500
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The title is 'Lead Software Engineer' but the role description frames this as an 'emerging member' of a software engineering team, suggesting the advertised seniority may be inflated relative to the actual scope; requirements support a Senior-level role.
Two locations are listed with identical salary bands: Seattle, WA and Palo Alto, CA ($152,000–$215,000/year). The Seattle CBSA is used as primary; the Palo Alto/San Jose CBSA (41940) is an equally valid location for this posting.
Java, Scala, and Python are presented as interchangeable options ('Proficiency in one or more languages; Java, Scala, or Python'); Java is used as the primary with the others as alternatives.
The posting requires 'formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience' — no specific degree is mandated, so degree requirement is set to None.
Feature store experience (Feast or internal/custom), Flink tuning, and Spark optimization appear under 'Preferred qualifications' and are marked accordingly.
The role is subject to Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, meaning criminal conviction history will be reviewed as part of the hiring process — this is not a security clearance requirement.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): production data/streaming systems.
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.