Java Lead

Java Lead

Location: Minneapolis, MN: 3 days onsite must Duration: Longterm Contract

Job Description

Software Engineering Lead Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Software Engineering Lead to drive end-to-end application development for a high visibility, enterprise-grade product. This role requires deep technical expertise, strong architectural thinking, and the ability to lead development initiatives while partnering closely with business stakeholders and leadership teams. The ideal candidate is a hands-on technologist with a passion for solving complex problems, mentoring engineers, fostering innovation, and building highly resilient and scalable systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of enterprise-scale applications using Java and Spring Boot.
• Drive architectural discussions, evaluate design choices, and ensure alignment with long-term technical roadmap.
• Own and enforce engineering best practices, coding standards, and development patterns.
• Conduct in-depth PR reviews, code quality checks, and provide structured feedback to improve engineering excellence across the team.

Cloud & Platform Expertise

• Architect and implement cloud-native solutions using AWS services (EC2, ECS/EKS, Lambda, S3, RDS, CloudWatch, IAM, etc.).
• Ensure the application meets world-class standards in: Availability, Scalability, Performance, Observability (metrics, logging, tracing), Security.
• Collaborate with DevOps/SRE on CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and reliability engineering.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor and coach junior and mid-level engineers; conduct technical workshops and knowledge sessions.
• Guide the team through complex development challenges, breaking down work, and ensuring timely delivery.
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and problem-solving.

Stakeholder & Business Collaboration

• Work closely with product owners, business stakeholders, and cross-functional teams to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Present technical strategies, design decisions, risks, and progress updates to leadership.
• Participate in business requirement discussions, feasibility analysis, and solution shaping.

Quality, Security & Non-Functional Requirements

• Own the strategy and execution plan for: CVE vulnerability remediation, Security hardening, Performance tuning, Resiliency improvements, Other Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) including disaster recovery and capacity planning.
• Ensure applications adhere to enterprise compliance, security, and quality standards.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities for automation, new technologies, and modern engineering practices.
• Champion innovation within the engineering team by evaluating emerging tools, frameworks, and cloud capabilities.
• Drive POCs and propose improvements to existing architecture and processes

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of total software engineering experience, with at least 34 years in a technical leadership role.
• Expert-level proficiency in: Java, Spring Boot, RESTful services.
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS Cloud (must be able to architect and guide cloud-native solutions).
• Deep understanding of microservices architecture, distributed systems, and integration patterns.
• Strong capability in troubleshooting, performance analysis, scalability design, and fault tolerance.
• Experience working with modern DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and containerization (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Proven track record of mentoring engineers, driving high-quality delivery, and influencing cross-functional teams.
• Excellent communication skillsable to interact comfortably with developers, business partners, and leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Certifications (Solution Architect, Developer, or DevOps).
• Experience with observability stacks such as Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, ELK, OpenTelemetry.
• Familiarity with modern front-end technologies (React/Angular) is a plus.
• Experience with security frameworks and vulnerability remediation processes.