IT Software Engineer 5

Cullerton Group has a new opportunity for a IT Software Engineer 5 in Chicago, IL . The work will be done hybrid, with two days per week onsite (Monday and Wednesday) . This is a long-term position that can lead to permanent employment with our client. Compensation is up to $105/hr + full benefits (vision, dental, health insurance, 401k, and holiday pay). Job Summary The IT Software Engineer will provide technical leadership in the design, development, testing, and deployment of a state-of-the-art digital platform hosted on AWS. This position will lead the development of enterprise-scale REST APIs and backend microservices supporting a broad range of digital applications. The engineer will drive architecture decisions, solution decomposition, engineering standards, and end-to-end software ownership while collaborating with product owners, architects, UI teams, and other engineering groups. This role is ideal for an experienced technical leader with deep expertise in Java, Spring Boot, API architecture, cloud technologies, and scalable enterprise software development. Key Responsibilities Lead the design and development of enterprise-scale REST APIs and microservices using Java 21+, Spring Boot, Apigee API Gateway, and AWS cloud services . Architect API-first solutions, including service contracts, payload schemas, and OpenAPI/Swagger specifications. Translate complex business requirements into technical designs, user stories, and actionable implementation tasks. Lead architecture decisions, design reviews, code reviews, and technical direction for complex software initiatives. Guide engineers in building secure service-to-service integrations using OAuth 2.0, JWT, and enterprise authorization models . Establish engineering best practices for reliability, scalability, observability, security, and maintainability. Drive automated testing, performance and load testing, production-readiness reviews, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement. Create and maintain technical documentation, operational runbooks, and engineering standards while owning solutions from design through deployment and production support. Required Qualifications Degree with 10+ years of relevant software engineering experience . Extensive knowledge of software development tools, practices, and activities required to deliver software products and systems that meet business and product requirements. Strong software product design and architecture experience, including the ability to translate requirements into scalable technical designs. Strong decision-making and critical-thinking skills with the ability to analyze complex situations and make sound technical decisions. Extensive experience with Java 17+ and Spring Boot RESTful API development . Experience with API management and gateway technologies such as Apigee . Experience deploying and maintaining applications in public cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, or GCP . Proven ability to own the full software lifecycle, including design, development, automated testing, deployment, monitoring, support, and continuous improvement. Preferred Qualifications Experience designing event-driven architectures using technologies such as AWS Kinesis, SQS, SNS, Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, or Azure Event Hub. Strong understanding of relational and NoSQL databases, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, AWS RDS/Aurora, MongoDB, Cassandra, and DynamoDB , as well as Elasticsearch, Redis, and vector databases. Experience with automated testing frameworks such as JUnit and Mockito . Hands-on CI/CD experience using Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GoCD, or similar technologies . Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot or Cursor . Demonstrated success working in an Agile/Scrum software development environment. Why This Role? This position offers an opportunity to take a technical leadership role in the development of a modern, enterprise-scale digital platform supporting a global organization. You will work with technologies including Java, Spring Boot, AWS, microservices, REST APIs, event-driven architecture, cloud infrastructure, and AI-assisted development while helping establish engineering and architecture standards for a growing team. Cullerton Group provides a professional environment with growth potential and the opportunity to contribute to highly visible, complex digital initiatives.