Senior Software Engineer

We’re seeking someone to join our FID eTrading team in FICFX as a Senior Software Engineer — a highly experienced hands-on Java developer and technical architect with deep expertise in real-time third-party payments, high-throughput zero-downtime systems, and highly available, global-scale internet-facing APIs. This role is central to scaling the TFX technology platform for major retail clients and requires a strong individual contributor mindset: someone who can define architecture, make sound technical decisions, and remain close to implementation through hands-on development, code-level guidance, and practical delivery leadership.

In the Technology division, we leverage innovation to build the connections and capabilities that power our Firm, enabling our clients and colleagues to redefine markets and shape the future of our communities. This is a Principal Software Engineering position at Vice President level, which is part of the job family responsible for developing and maintaining software solutions that support business needs.

Since 1935, Morgan Stanley has been a global leader in financial services, continually evolving and innovating to better serve clients and communities across more than 40 countries.

What you’ll do in the role:

• Act as a senior individual contributor who combines hands-on Java development with architectural leadership, remaining close to implementation and setting the technical standard through design, code-level guidance, and practical problem solving. 

• Design, build, and evolve highly available, high-throughput, zero-downtime systems and internet-facing APIs that can scale securely for large retail and external client volumes. 

• Lead architectural decisions across API design, domain modelling, integration patterns, resilience, observability, and operational robustness, ensuring the platform is fit for 24/7 global production use. 

• Work across multiple software engineering teams to drive consistency in engineering standards, development practices, and delivery execution while enabling teams to build in parallel without fragmentation. 

• Partner with business and product stakeholders to translate commercial objectives into scalable technical solutions, balancing speed, quality, resilience, and long-term platform integrity. 

• Define and implement improvements to software engineering processes, tooling, and ways of working, helping teams deliver high-quality software efficiently and predictably. 

• Provide technical leadership across design reviews, incidents, scale discussions, and production learning loops, ensuring operational insights are continuously fed back into the architecture and codebase. 

• Represent the engineering function in senior forums, communicate clearly with both technical and business leadership, and act as a thought leader on modern API platforms, distributed systems, and secure internet-scale engineering. 
  
   

What you’ll bring to the role:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience). 

• Typically 8+ years of relevant experience. 

• Strong experience as a hands-on software engineer, with deep Java expertise and a track record of building and delivering production-grade distributed systems. 

• Proven ability to design and scale API platforms and real-time systems in high-volume environments (payments, FX, or similar domains preferred). 

• Strong, hands-on experience with modern Java (Java 11+) and Spring Boot 3+, with the ability to design and implement production-grade services. 

• Solid experience working with relational and document-oriented databases (SQL and NoSQL), including data modelling and performance optimisation. 

• Experience building and operating containerised applications (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), with a clear understanding of deployment, runtime behaviour, and production operations. 

• Strong understanding of microservices architecture, including service decomposition, inter-service communication, and failure handling in distributed environments. 

• Familiarity with private cloud environments and cloud-native principles, including scalability, resilience, and observability.

• Strong knowledge of modern SDLC practices (Agile, DevOps) and ability to improve engineering effectiveness across teams. 

• Excellent communication skills, able to engage across engineering, product, and senior business stakeholders. 

• Nice to have: Experience with distributed caching solutions and patterns to improve performance and scalability in high-throughput systems.

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WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

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Certified Persons Regulatory Requirements:
If this role is deemed a Certified role and may require the role holder to hold mandatory regulatory qualifications or the minimum qualifications to meet internal company benchmarks.

Flexible work statement
Interested in flexible working opportunities? Morgan Stanley empowers employees to have greater freedom of choice through flexible working arrangements. Speak to our recruitment team to find out more.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

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