Senior API Management (APIM) Engineer / Lead

Senior API Management (APIM) Engineer / Lead

The Senior APIM Engineer / Lead is responsible for designing, implementing, governing, and scaling enterprise API platforms. This role combines hands-on engineering with technical leadership, ensuring APIs are secure, performant, reusable, and aligned with business and integration strategies. The role often partners closely with architecture, security, DevOps, and application teams.

Job location: Columbus, OH or Nashville, TN (both locations would be for on site work)

Key Responsibilities

• API Platform Engineering
  • Design, implement, and operate enterprise API platforms (e.g., Azure APIM, Apigee, Mulesoft, Kong, AWS API Gateway).
  • Develop and enforce API standards, patterns, and best practices (REST, GraphQL, async/event-driven APIs).
  • Configure API gateways for routing, policies, throttling, caching, transformations, and versioning.
  • Implement API lifecycle management from design through retirement.
• Security & Compliance
  • Implement API security controls including OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT, mTLS, IP filtering, and rate limiting.
  • Partner with security teams to ensure compliance with enterprise security, regulatory, and data protection requirements.
  • Support secrets management and key rotation using enterprise tools.
• DevOps & Automation
  • Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for API deployments using tools such as GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitLab.
  • Automate API provisioning and configuration using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, ARM, CloudFormation, etc.).
  • Enable monitoring, logging, and alerting using tools like App Insights, Splunk, Datadog, New Relic, or cloud-native services.
• Integration & Application Enablement
  • Support integration of APIs with internal applications, third-party partners, and SaaS platforms.
  • Optimize API performance, resiliency, and scalability for high-volume workloads.
  • Troubleshoot complex API, networking, and integration issues across environments.
• Technical Leadership
  • Serve as technical lead for API initiatives and platform modernization efforts.
  • Mentor junior engineers and review API designs and implementations.
  • Collaborate with enterprise and solution architects to align APIs to domain and business capabilities.
  • Promote API-first and product-oriented API thinking across teams.

Required Qualifications

• Technical Skills
  • 7 years of experience in software engineering or integration, with 3 years focused on API management platforms.
  • Strong understanding of RESTful API design and concepts.
  • Hands-on experience with API gateways such as Azure APIM, Apigee, Mulesoft, Kong, or AWS API Gateway.
  • Experience with authentication and authorization mechanisms (OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT).
  • Proficiency with at least one programming or scripting language (e.g., Java, C#, JavaScript, Python).
  • Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
  • Solid understanding of networking concepts (DNS, TLS, load balancing).
• DevOps & Tooling
  • Experience building CI/CD pipelines and release automation.
  • Infrastructure-as-Code experience (Terraform, ARM, Bicep, CloudFormation).
  • Familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) is a plus.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with event-driven and async APIs (Kafka, Event Grid, SNS/SQS).
• Knowledge of API product management concepts and API monetization (if applicable).
• Cloud certifications (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect, AWS Solutions Architect).
• Experience supporting highly regulated environments (financial services, healthcare, etc.).

Soft Skills

• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Comfortable leading technical discussions and influencing architecture decisions.
• Adept at balancing hands-on delivery with strategic oversight.