Principal/Lead Software Engineer

Job Title Principal/ Lead Software Engineer
Location Remote
Duration - Long Term

Job Description

I'm looking for someone with strong technical expertise in Java, SQL, Spring Boot, and React, along with hands-on experience using Claude. Ideally, this person should also demonstrate strong leadership qualities and the ability to guide and mentor engineering teams in the right direction.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the design and delivery of scalable microservices using Java and Spring Boot, ensuring clean separation of concerns and resilience.
• Design and optimize MS SQL schemas, stored procedures, and queries to support high-throughput transactional workloads.
• Architect and maintain Kafka-based event-streaming pipelines for real-time data processing and decoupled service communication.
• Collaborate with UX and product teams to build responsive, accessible front-end interfaces integrated with back-end APIs.
• Conduct code reviews, define coding standards, and drive adoption of engineering best practices across the team.
• Mentor and coach 4 8 engineers; run 1:1s, support career growth, and resolve technical blockers.
• Partner with product managers and architects to translate business requirements into technical roadmaps.
• Champion observability, security, and CI/CD practices across the platform.
• Actively contribute to hiring - screen candidates, run technical interviews, and help build the team.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with a track record of delivering production systems at scale.
• Deep expertise in Java (11+) and the Spring ecosystem - Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Spring Security, Spring Data.
• Strong MS SQL skills - indexing strategies, execution plans, normalization, and T-SQL development.
• Proven experience building and operating Kafka pipelines in a distributed microservices environment.
• Solid front-end proficiency in at least one modern framework (React, Angular, or Vue) with an eye for usability.
• Demonstrated leadership: led a team of engineers, owned delivery milestones, and influenced architectural decisions.
• Comfortable in Agile/Scrum environments; experience facilitating sprint ceremonies.
• Strong communication skills - able to explain complex decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) is a strong plus.

LEADERSHIP & SOFT SKILLS

• Inspires a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement within the team.
• Approaches conflict with empathy; builds consensus while being willing to make tough calls.
• Proactively identifies risks and escalates with solutions, not just problems.
• Acts as a bridge between engineering and the wider business - translating strategy into execution.