Lead Software Engineer, Back End ( Enterprise Platforms Technology)(Apache Spark and Java)
What You’ll Do:Architect & Build: Lead a portfolio of diverse technology projects and design robust, highly scalable data pipelines and microservices using Java, Apache Spark, Scala and Spring Boot.
Scale for Billions: Engineer systems capable of ingesting, processing, and serving billions of customer data points with low latency, high availability, and strong data consistency.
AI-Enhanced Development: Drive developer productivity by actively integrating AI coding assistants and autonomous agents (e.g., Claude Code, Co Pilot etc ) into daily development workflows, automated testing, and code refactoring.
AI & LLM Integration: Design backend architectures and APIs that interface with AI/ML models and LLM endpoints for intelligent data enrichment and automated pipeline monitoring.
Technical Leadership: Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of back-end and data engineers. Establish best practices for human-in-the-loop AI coding, conduct rigorous code reviews, and maintain high standards for system reliability.
Cloud & Data Optimization: Leverage AWS services (EMR, Glue, lambda, step functions, S3, RDS, DynamoDB, Kinesis) to build cost-effective cloud architectures. Write optimized SQL queries with Open Source RDBMS and NoSQL databases and tune Spark jobs to minimize compute costs and maximize throughput.
System Reliability: Implement robust monitoring, alerting, and automated pipelines to ensure data quality, pipeline integrity, and zero-downtime deployments.
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor’s Degree
At least 4 years of professional software engineering experience (Internship experience does not apply)
At least 1 year experience with cloud computing (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud)
Preferred Qualifications:
Master’s Degree
7 + years of professional engineering experience utilizing Java, Scala, Python, or Go
4 + years of experience with Advanced SQL and NoSQL database systems
3 + years of hands-on cloud experience (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud)
3 + years of experience working with various open source frameworks
2 + years of experience in Apache Spark performance tuning, specifically addressing memory configuration, data partitioning, and DAG optimization
Proficiency in leveraging AI-native development tools (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or OpenAI Canvas) to drive engineering velocity
At this time, Capital One will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization, or offer any immigration related support for this position (e.g. H1B, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, F-1 CPT, J-1, TN, E-3, and O-1, or any other forms of work authorization that require immigration support from an employer).
The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.
McLean, VA: $197,300 - $225,100 for Lead Software EngineerRichmond, VA: $179,400 - $204,700 for Lead Software Engineer
Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter.
This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.
Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.
This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.
