Applications Developer - IV

Job Title: Applications Developer - IV

Location: Des Moines, IA (preferred) or Boston, MA

Pay: Competitive, based on experience

Position Overview

The Senior Developer role partners with the FP&A team and IT data team to design, build, and optimize the FP&A Forecasting and Reporting processes. This position will be accountable for developing and maintaining high-performance components, ensuring the processes scale effectively with complex calculations and large data volumes. You will be a key member of the FP&A Transformation, helping to build a calculation and forecast modeling platform to support a growing, high pace firm. You will act as a technical leader, bringing deep engineering expertise while working closely with FP&A, Investment, Actuarial and data specialists to ensure the processes deliver robust, efficient, and production-grade solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Platform Development & Optimization
  • Lead the design, development, and optimization of core code base using Python and Python-based compute environments (e.g., Jupyter, VS Code, Databricks).
  • Collaborate with FP&A and data teams to integrate FP&A forecasting models, analytics, and data pipelines.
  • Ensure computational performance, scalability, and reliability across FP&A workloads.
  • Drive technical innovation, including use of compute grids, data vectors, and AI-based methods where relevant.
• Collaboration & Support
  • Partner with FP&A and external consultants to deliver performant model execution and tooling.
  • Provide technical guidance on backlog items and requirements for IT Data and supporting teams.
  • Serve as a senior escalation point for critical incidents, providing Tier-3 expertise when needed.
• Governance & Best Practices
  • Establish and champion engineering standards, testing practices, and performance monitoring.
  • Contribute to platform documentation, run books, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
  • Mentor junior developers and data engineers, raising engineering maturity across the team.
  • Ensure ongoing maintenance, upgrades, and optimizations are delivered with minimal disruption.

Education

• An undergraduate or advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent combination of education and experience).

Skills

• Expert Python skills with proven experience in building high-performance, data-intensive systems.
• Strong understanding of Life & Annuity data, financial models, or large-scale computational engines.
• Deep knowledge of data management and integration in hybrid cloud ecosystems (AWS / Snowflake).
• Hands-on experience with compute parallelization and performance optimization techniques.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; ability to interface effectively with FP&A and program leadership stakeholders.
• Strong leadership qualities: mentoring, influencing, and guiding technical direction across teams.

Experience

• 10 years in professional software engineering, with significant hands-on Python development.
• Demonstrated success building or maintaining financial modeling or large-scale computational systems.
• Experience working with investment banks and/or within life and annuity insurance domains is highly desirable.
• Proven track record in data-driven platforms, large-scale computation, or advanced analytics.
• Experience with DevOps practices and ability to explain them to business users.
• Desirable:
  • Cloud ecosystem expertise (AWS, Azure, Redshift)
  • Familiarity with AI/ML integration in computational systems
  • Experience in data visualization and reporting