Java Kafka Developer (Hybrid)

Job Description

Job Description

Java Kafka Developer – Full-Time

Ashburn, VA (Hybrid – 1 to 2 days onsite / 3 to 4 days remote)
Must be a U.S. Citizen and currently reside in the Metro Washington, D.C. area

We have an immediate opening for a Java Kafka Developer to join an Agile Scrum team supporting a federal program. This role focuses on backend development within an event-driven, microservices architecture, delivering releasable software in short sprint cycles.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement custom software and database applications across legacy and modernized systems

• Build and support event-driven, distributed systems using Kafka-based architectures

• Collaborate within Agile Scrum teams to deliver high-quality software in short sprint cycles

• Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, testing, demos, retrospectives, and releases

• Analyze complex technical challenges and develop scalable, innovative solutions

• Ensure product quality, timeliness, and performance standards

• Contribute to engineering standards and architectural best practices

• Mentor junior developers and support team growth

Required Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen able to pass a CBP background investigation:

  • 3-year felony conviction check

  • 1-year illegal drug use check

  • 1-year misconduct check (e.g., theft or fraud)

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience)

• 7+ years of professional software development experience

• 5+ years of Java backend development

• 3+ years of hands-on Spring Boot experience

Technical Expertise

• Deep expertise in Apache Kafka:

  • Producer & Consumer APIs

  • Kafka Streams

  • Topics, partitions, consumer groups, offsets

  • Schema Registry (schema evolution & governance)

• Strong experience implementing Kafka with Spring Framework

• Event-driven architecture and microservices design patterns

• Relational databases (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle)

• ORM frameworks (Spring Data JPA, Hibernate)

• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)

• Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)

• CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices

• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and debugging skills

• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities

Desired / Nice to Have

• Experience with Confluent Kafka

• NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Cassandra) or in-memory data stores (Redis)

• Data governance and data quality principles in event-driven systems

• Advanced DevOps / CI/CD automation experience