Senior Staff API Engineer

Role Description

Ignite Banking is seeking a Senior Staff API Engineer with deep, hands-on Apigee experience to lead the design and delivery of enterprise API platforms for digital banking and open finance. This role is centered on API gateway engineering and integration architecture, with Apigee as a primary platform. You will design, build, and operate API proxies, security policies, and traffic management solutions, while also developing supporting Java-based microservices where needed.

This role sits within our API Banking & Integrations team, working directly with client architecture and engineering teams to design and build modern, scalable integration solutions. This is a hands-on development lead role — you will be expected to actively design, build, and deliver APIs and microservices, while also guiding technical direction and setting standards across engagements.

This is not a purely oversight or architecture role; success in this position requires strong engineering execution paired with the ability to lead by example. This is not a traditional development role — this individual will operate as a front-line consultant (“tip of the spear”), leading early-stage technical execution across multiple engagements. You will be expected to bring both strong engineering capability and a consultative mindset, helping clients navigate complex transformation initiatives.

Candidates without recent, hands-on Apigee implementation experience will not be considered. This role is remote; however, strong preference will be given to candidates located in Charlotte or Raleigh, NC, who are open to working onsite with clients several days per week as engagement needs require.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of hands-on Apigee experience (REQUIRED)
• 5+ years of experience building Java-based microservices (Spring Boot)
• Prior experience working in a consulting or professional services environment
• Experience working within banking or financial services environments

Requirements

• API proxy development
• Policy configuration (OAuth2, mTLS, traffic management)
• Strong experience designing and implementing API gateway solutions (Apigee preferred)
• Experience with IBM DataPower in API gateway or integration roles
• Strong experience designing and implementing REST APIs
• Strong understanding of API design, JSON/XML, and service orchestration
• Experience deploying services in Azure environments
• Working knowledge of Kubernetes (AKS) and containerized applications
• Familiarity with secure service-to-service communication (OAuth2, mTLS)
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and business stakeholders
• Comfortable leading early-stage technical work and shaping solution direction
• Familiarity with digital banking platforms, core banking integrations, or open banking architectures
• Understanding of enterprise integration patterns and modernization strategies

Benefits

• Lead Apigee implementations in client environments within the first 90 days
• Deliver production-ready API proxies, policies, and security configurations
• Establish reusable API patterns and gateway standards across engagements
• Act as a trusted technical lead for API platform strategy and execution