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Lead, SW Full Stack Eng

Northern Trust · Chicago, IL · $99,600–$169,200 a year · Full time

Posted Jul 15, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a time you set engineering standards for a team. How did you get developers to follow them?

What they are checking: Whether they drive engineering excellence through example, review and tooling rather than decree.

Tell me about a production issue you led the team through. What did you change afterward?

What they are checking: Calm hands-on leadership in incidents and a habit of fixing root causes.

What would you do

A business stakeholder wants a feature in two weeks that you think needs six. How do you handle that?

What they are checking: Negotiating scope honestly and offering options rather than overpromising or flatly refusing.

How much of your week do you expect to spend writing code versus reviewing and guiding others, and why?

What they are checking: Whether they truly want a hands-on lead role and can balance their own output with multiplying the team.

A junior developer's pull request works but is hard to follow. How do you give that feedback?

What they are checking: Ability to coach through code review in a way that improves skills without discouraging people.

About the work

You'd lead engineering for the Client Onboarding and Lifecycle Management portfolio. What makes onboarding software hard to get right at a bank?

What they are checking: Awareness of KYC, document handling, workflow state and audit trails that make CLM more than a simple form app.

Walk me through how you'd design a full stack onboarding workflow that can pause for compliance review and resume days later.

What they are checking: Ability to design durable, stateful workflows with clear data models, APIs and front-end handling of long-running processes.

How do you approach security in a web application that handles client identity documents and personal data?

What they are checking: Practical knowledge of authentication, authorization, input validation, encryption and secrets handling in sensitive apps.

How do you keep a front end fast and maintainable as a product grows over several years?

What they are checking: Judgment on component structure, state management, testing and performance budgets for long-lived apps.

How do you design APIs between the onboarding front end and back-end systems so other teams can rely on them?

What they are checking: Thinking about contracts, versioning, error handling and documentation for scalable, shared services.

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The full job description

As published by Northern Trust.

About Northern Trust As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions. Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide. With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service. Position Summary: The Lead Software Engineer is responsible for leading the design, development, and delivery of digital solutions supporting the Client Onboarding & Lifecycle Management (CLM) portfolio within Global Engineering. This role provides hands-on technical leadership, drives engineering excellence, and partners with business and technology stakeholders to deliver scalable, secure, and high-performing dig it products . Key Responsibilities • Lead the design, development, and implementation of enterprise digital solutions aligned with business and technical requirements. • Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and guidance to development teams while promoting engineering best practices. • Drive application, data, and event-store optimization, including logging, monitoring, reporting, dashboarding, and security administration. • Ensure code quality through architecture reviews, testing, and adherence to development standards. • Champion Agile, DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud engineering practices to improve delivery speed and reliability. • Collaborate with product, business, and technology stakeholders to define solutions and strategic priorities. • Monitor system health, resolve stability and scalability issues, and drive continuous improvement. • Identify, assess, and mitigate technology, operational, and security risks by implementing effective controls, ensuring compliance with governance standards, and proactively addressing vulnerabilities to maintain application reliability, resilience, and regulatory compliance. • Ensure compliance with organizational standards, security policies, and governance requirements. Required Qualifications • 5+ years of full-stack Java/JEE development experience. • Strong expertise in Spring Boot, REST APIs, Microservices, and web application development. • Experience with Oracle, SQL, Elasticsearch . MQ/Solace, and enterprise integration technologies. • Experience with CI/CD pipelines / DevOps practices . • Experience with Agile methodologies, and Azure DevOps. • Knowledge of Linux, cloud platforms, VMware, networking, and security technologies. • Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills. • Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and mentor engineering teams. Education & Experience • Bachelor's degree in computer science , Engineering, or related field. • 5–7+ years of software engineering experience. • Experience working in Agile environments. • Experience with digital product, workflow automation, and transaction services within financial services environments is a plus. Salary Range: $99,600 - 169,200 USD Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component. Work Authorization Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa). Working with Us As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve. Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities. Reasonable Accommodation Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at MyHRHelp@ntrs.com , or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.

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