Lead Software Engineer

Kforce has a client in Englewood, CO that is seeking an experienced Lead Software Engineer to support large-scale modernization initiatives across critical banking technology platforms. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for someone who can translate complex architectural strategies into secure, scalable, production-ready solutions. The Lead Software Engineer will partner closely with architects, engineering teams, and business stakeholders to guide technical decisions, resolve complex engineering challenges, and improve delivery outcomes. Key Responsibilities:

• Partner with architects and engineering teams to translate solution designs into practical implementation strategies
• Lead technical decisions across complex modernization and application development efforts
• Design, develop, and support scalable, secure, and resilient applications, services, and APIs
• Provide hands-on engineering support through coding, code reviews, troubleshooting, testing, and implementation
• Review application designs, source code, and delivery plans to improve quality, reliability, maintainability, and security
• Collaborate across engineering, product, architecture, and platform teams to deliver technically sound solutions
• Identify and mitigate technical risks, dependencies, and implementation gaps before they affect delivery
• Provide practical guidance through proofs of concept, technical reviews, and development support
• Support modernization efforts involving cloud-native platforms, APIs, microservices, event-driven architectures, and enterprise integrations
• Promote engineering excellence through automation, observability, resiliency, security, testing, and operational best practices
• Mentor engineers and contribute reusable patterns, standards, and technical guidance across teams
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
• Eight or more years of software engineering experience building and supporting enterprise applications
• Five or more years of hands-on development experience using Java and Spring Boot
• Demonstrated experience delivering complex technical solutions across multiple teams or systems
• Experience partnering with architects and technical leaders on large-scale initiatives
• Strong ability to analyze complex systems, evaluate tradeoffs, troubleshoot issues, and solve difficult technical problems
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder-management skills

• Strong expertise in Java, Spring Boot, and modern backend development
• Experience designing and building APIs, microservices, distributed systems, and event-driven architectures
• Experience with Kafka or similar messaging technologies
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, cloud-hosted applications, and containerized deployments
• Experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL Server
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and engineering automation
• Knowledge of observability, monitoring, resiliency, security, and operational excellence
• Familiarity with OpenAPI, Swagger, and API-first development
• Experience supporting critical banking or financial-services platforms
• Ability to influence technical direction without formal management authority