Backend Java Developer

Senior Lead Java Backend Engineer

Location: Chicago, IL

Education:

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Experience:

• 10+ years of hands-on experience designing, developing, and delivering enterprise-grade Java applications.
• 3+ years of experience leading and mentoring geographically distributed development teams.
• Proven experience delivering complex, highly scalable, and mission-critical backend systems.

Required Technical Skills:

• Strong expertise in Java 17 and modern Java development practices.
• Extensive backend development experience with a focus on scalable, resilient, and high-performance applications.
• Strong knowledge of RESTful API design, development, and integration.
• Hands-on experience with AWS services, including IAM, Kinesis, DynamoDB, API Gateway, SQS, SNS, and KMS.
• Proficiency with PostgreSQL or other relational database management systems.
• Experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, automation, and cloud-native deployments.
• Knowledge of high-availability architectures, fault-tolerant systems, and reliability engineering principles.
• Experience contributing to solution architecture and technical design decisions.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience developing applications and automation solutions using Python.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of complex software solutions with minimal supervision.
• Serve as a technical leader for development and support teams, providing guidance, mentoring, and best practices.
• Drive the development of business-critical features and ensure alignment with organizational goals.
• Design and implement scalable, secure, highly available, and reliable backend services and platforms.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex application and infrastructure issues, including participation in off-hours production support as needed.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver new functionality and enterprise-wide technology solutions.
• Establish and promote software engineering standards, coding best practices, and quality assurance processes.
• Mentor junior engineers and foster a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence.
• Partner with business stakeholders, end users, and internal customers to define requirements and ensure successful solution delivery.
• Lead integration testing, customer acceptance testing, and deployment activities to ensure high-quality releases.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and provide recommendations for platform and architectural improvements.
• Promote reusable, standardized solutions that align with enterprise architecture and long-term technology strategies.
• Coordinate production support activities, including incident triage, root cause analysis, stakeholder communication, and resolution management.

Required Soft Skills:

• Strong leadership, mentoring, and team collaboration skills.
• Ability to perform effectively in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making abilities.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Passion for technology, continuous improvement, and delivering high-quality software solutions.
• Experience managing production incidents, driving resolution efforts, and communicating effectively with stakeholders.