Staff Software Engineer - Back End

Job Description

Job Description

Staff Software Engineer - Back End

This is a remote position.
JOB ID #936

Ad Hoc is a technology company that empowers organizations to deliver scalable, impactful digital services. Using modern, agile methods, our team creates products that meet people's needs and transform their experience of government.

Work on things that matter

Our collaborations have shaped some of the defining moments in public-sector service delivery. We've helped build products that connect Veterans to tailored services, help millions access affordable health care, and support important programs like Head Start. As we work with agencies to deliver critical services, we're also changing how the government approaches technology.

Built for a remote life

Our culture, communications, and tools are built for remote work, enabling us to bring together top talent nationwide. At Ad Hoc, remote life empowers our teams to design work environments that fit their lives and that foster flexibility and collaboration to achieve positive outcomes for our customers.

Committed to high expectations and a welcoming culture

Ad Hoc values acceptance, accountability, and humility. We aren't heroes. We learn from our mistakes and improve the process for the next time. We build small, inclusive teams to collaborate closely with our partners to solve the right problems and deliver software that works.

The Veterans Affairs business unit helps transform the VA into a modern digital services organization where Veteran outcomes are at the center of every effort. We partner with the VA to design and deliver seamless user experiences for Veterans, their families and caregivers, and VA employees. By applying better practices in service design, product management, and technology, we enable the VA to increase the use, quality, and reliability of services and decrease the time Veterans spend waiting for outcomes.

About the Program

This role supports the Veterans Enrollment System Enrollment Eligibility (VESEE) program for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information & Technology. These systems support Veteran health care eligibility and enrollment and serve more than 16,000 users across the Health Eligibility Center and VHA Office of Community Care.

The program is actively modernizing a large, mission-critical enterprise Java application into a microservices-based architecture. This modernization is happening in phases, with several phases still ahead.

You will join active, in-flight modernization work, building modern backend services while the legacy platform remains in production and continues to require enhancement and sustainment. The modern and legacy stacks coexist and interoperate, and this role will work across both environments to help move the platform forward while maintaining the reliability of systems Veterans depend on today.

Primary Responsibilities

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will serve as a senior individual contributor and emerging subject matter expert, operating with a high level of trust, autonomy, and technical ownership. With minimal oversight, you will be responsible for meeting scope, schedule, and delivery commitments while helping guide technical decisions within the team.

You will represent the software engineering practice in planning and technical discussions, advocate for sound engineering solutions, and clearly communicate technical tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Design, develop, and maintain backend services within a microservices architecture using Java 17+, Spring Boot, JPA/Hibernate, and REST APIs
• Design and implement REST and SOAP-based services, including integrations between the modernized platform and existing systems
• Support the enhancement and sustainment of the legacy enterprise Java platform using technologies including Java, Spring Framework, Struts, JSP, EJB, JMS, WebLogic, Hibernate, and Oracle
• Analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve complex software defects and production issues across modern and legacy systems
• Develop and optimize SQL queries, data access patterns, and database integrations with Oracle
• Collaborate with architects and senior engineers on modernization initiatives, technical design, and implementation strategy
• Reduce technical ambiguity through clear documentation, thoughtful refactoring, automated testing, and improvements to existing systems
• Contribute to automated testing, CI/CD processes, application deployments, and overall engineering quality
• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, standups, reviews, and retrospectives, as well as planning and technical discussions with partners and key stakeholders
• Conduct code reviews, share technical knowledge, and mentor junior and mid-level engineers
• Plan and execute technical roadmaps and complex engineering work with minimal guidance from technical leadership
• Present technical topics effectively, clearly articulating implementation complexity, tradeoffs, risks, and costs to help inform business and technical decisions
• Communicate effectively about existing systems, design decisions, and program history in support of technical demonstrations, bid writing, and other client-facing activities
• Participate in technical interviews and help evaluate engineering candidates
• Periodically travel to collaborate with and present to clients, partners, and stakeholders

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field and 10+ years of professional software development experience
• Relevant professional experience may be substituted for education
• 8+ years of hands-on Java development experience
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with Spring Framework and/or Spring Boot
• 5+ years of hands-on experience developing REST APIs and web services within a microservices architecture
• 5+ years of experience working with Oracle or another relational database
• Experience designing, developing, troubleshooting, and supporting production enterprise applications
• Experience working within Agile/Scrum development environments
• Experience using Git-based source control
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to work directly with teammates, partners, and stakeholders in a distributed environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with event-driven architectures and technologies such as Kafka
• Experience with caching technologies such as Redis
• Experience designing resilient external integrations using patterns such as circuit breakers, retry logic, timeout handling, and graceful failure
• Familiarity with legacy J2EE technologies such as Struts, JSP, EJB, JMS, and WebLogic
• Experience with containerized application development using Docker and Kubernetes
• Strong automated testing practices using tools such as JUnit and Mockito
• Experience modernizing or decomposing large monolithic applications into microservices
• Experience supporting environments where legacy and modernized architectures must operate concurrently
• Prior experience working in FedRAMP, FISMA, HIPAA, or similarly regulated environments

To learn more about working at Ad Hoc, please visit:

Benefits

• Company-subsidized health, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible PTO
• 401K with employer match
• Paid parental leave after one year of service
• Employee Assistance Program

Ad Hoc LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.

We value the unique skills gained through military service and encourage veterans and transitioning service members to apply.

In support of various state and city equal pay transparency laws, Ad Hoc job descriptions feature the starting range we reasonably expect to pay to candidates who would join our team with little to no need for training on the responsibilities we've outlined above. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide range of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and responsibility. The range of starting pay for this role is $130,000 - $160,000. Our recruiters will be happy to answer any questions you may have, and we look forward to learning more about your salary requirements.

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