Principal Software Engineer - Modernization

Role Description

Lead the modernization of large Java/Spring Boot monoliths in AWS into a secure, scalable microservices target state; define microservices archetypes, coding standards, error-handling and messaging patterns, introduce and scale caching (Redis), and mentor development team leads while collaborating closely with SRE in a mature containerized CI/CD environment for a federal program.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Own technical strategy and roadmap for migrating Java/Spring Boot monoliths to microservices using incremental refactor and strangler patterns.
• Define and enforce microservices archetype(s): project structure, common libraries, API contracts, logging/trace conventions, retry/backoff, idempotency, and fault-tolerance.
• Specify and enforce coding standards, error-handling, message formats, and async integration patterns (events, queues, sagas).
• Design service boundaries, data partitioning, versioning, and database migration strategies; coordinate polyglot persistence where allowed.
• Introduce, design, and scale caching strategies (Redis, in memory caches) for performance and consistency; implement cache invalidation, replication, and high-availability patterns.
• Collaborate tightly with SRE teams to align on CI/CD pipelines, container images, runtime configuration, resource policies, observability (metrics, logs, traces), alerting, and incident runbooks.
• Lead hands-on refactors of production systems and provide code-level reviews and guidance for complex migrations.
• Ensure microservices are production-ready for a mature containerized environment (Docker, Kubernetes/EKS), and integrate with existing CI/CD and security scanning workflows.
• Resolve high-priority production incidents, lead RCA, and implement long-term mitigations.
• Mentor and coach development team leads across multiple squads (30+ developers), improve engineering practices, and manage technical tradeoffs under pressure.
• Coordinate with product owners, security officers, and federal stakeholders; provide estimates, risk mitigation, and progress reporting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
• 10+ years software engineering experience; 5+ years leading monolith→microservices modernization in production.
• Demonstrated federal experience delivering software for U.S. federal agencies or contractors.
• Must be able to clear and hold a Public Trust clearance (suitability adjudication).
• Deep expertise in Java and Spring Boot; experience integrating with Angular frontends.
• Strong experience in containerized, production Kubernetes environments and mature CI/CD pipelines.
• Proven track record defining microservice archetypes, coding standards, error-handling, and messaging patterns at scale.
• Experience introducing and scaling caching solutions (Redis) in production, including HA, replication, and cache-invalidation strategies.
• Experience working closely with SRE/platform teams on observability, deployments, runtime configuration, and incident management.
• Experience coordinating engineering efforts across 30+ developers.
• Proficiency with AWS (EKS/ECS/Lambda, API Gateway, RDS/Aurora, S3, SNS/SQS), IaC (Terraform/CloudFormation), and CI/CD tooling.
• Excellent leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active federal clearance (preferred).
• Experience with event-driven architectures, saga patterns, and large relational schema refactors.
• Familiarity with observability stacks (Prometheus/Grafana, Datadog), distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry), and chaos/resilience testing.
• Prior experience defining shared platform libraries and developer onboarding for microservices.

Salary Range

The proposed salary range for this role is $170,000 to $180,000 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. Karsun considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Location

To be considered for this role, you must reside in one of the following states: CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, MD, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, SC, TX, VA, WV. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. We may consider candidates currently in H-1B status who are eligible for transfer.