Senior Software Engineer (Java) - Contract (1099)

About Very
(Remote – USA)

Very is a fully distributed technology firm led by expert problem-solvers who create efficient, scalable solutions that move commercial, industrial, and consumer products from pilot to production in record time.

We believe that real innovation happens in the grind — working shoulder to shoulder with clients who are building the future. Our team thrives on that energy. When we’re not helping clients deliver business-critical outcomes, we’re refining our craft and celebrating what it means to do hard things well.

We’ve built a collaborative, tight-knit culture that thrives in both remote and in-person settings. We’ve won numerous workplace awards over the years, including Great Place to Work certification and recognition from Parity.org as a Best Company for Women to Advance.

Our clients include well-known brands like Vizio, Peloton, Clear, iHeart Radio, and Fellowes — all determined to leverage connected devices and AI to drive meaningful impact. Our job is simple: help them win.

About This Role

As a Senior Level Software Engineer, you’ll play a key role in building and maintaining secure, scalable applications that support critical customer and business needs. You’ll work across the stack — from designing backend services to implementing front-end features while collaborating closely with cross-functional teams.

This role is hands-on: you’ll translate requirements into well-designed solutions, write production-ready code, participate in code reviews, and contribute to the overall reliability and performance of our systems. You’ll also help support our applications in production through on-call rotations and proactive issue resolution.

This position is ideal for an engineer who enjoys solving real-world problems, working in modern cloud environments, and contributing to systems end-to-end. You’ll have the opportunity to deepen your technical expertise, influence design decisions, and grow within a supportive engineering culture.

At Very the key distinction between mid, senior and lead roles is the scope and depth of your expertise and responsibility. As a mid you can own and deliver tasks (work packages) with a high level of professionalism and know when to reach out for help. As a senior, you have deep expertise in your area of specialization and can execute independently in your domain while interfacing with other software stacks. As a lead you become a true full stack engineer with the ability to plan, execute and lead a team across the full software stack, while interfacing with non-software aspects of the project.

This is not an easy role. You’ll work in complex domains, under real deadlines, and with clients who expect you to bring clarity, confidence, and results. If you find satisfaction in doing hard things well — in solving tough problems, building real systems, and helping others rise to the challenge — you’ll fit right in.

As a client services organization, travel may be required up to 10% of the time. Some clients may also require periodic assignment to 24/7 support rotation.

What You’ll Be Working On

Every engagement at Very is different, but they share one common theme: we build things that matter. From connected hardware and data systems to large-scale web and AI-driven platforms, you’ll:

• Capture technical requirements and contribute to high-level and low-level design for software solutions using AWS and Azure technologies.
• Write production-grade Java, Python, and SQL code that meets high standards for maintainability, security, and observability.
• Build and support complex, microservice-based, event-driven systems.
• Implement testing strategies and automation across the stack.
• Participate in on-call rotation and help maintain system health, performance, and reliability.
• Collaborate across engineering, design, and product to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Identify and proactively address potential technical or operational risks before they impact customers.

You’ll operate in a modern, polyglot environment that includes:

• Frontend: React, Vite, Expo, TypeScript, WebSockets, Progressive Web Apps
• Backend: Java, Dropwizard, Node.js, Python, FastAPI, Django
• Cloud: AWS (Lambda, ECS, Fargate, RDS, CloudFront, CloudWatch, SNS, SQS), Azure
• DevOps: Docker, Terraform, Pulimi, GitHub Actions, CI/CD pipelines
• Databases: Postgres, Redis, TimescaleDB, DynamoDB

• Testing: Jest, Cypress, Pytest, and other automated test frameworks

Outcomes

1. Deliver High-Quality Features: Ship secure, reliable code that meets requirements, adheres to standards, and delivers measurable business value.
2. Strengthen System Reliability: Improve observability, performance, and operational excellence across services and components.
3. Support Cross-Functional Delivery : Collaborate effectively with lead engineers, designers, PMs, and client stakeholders.
4. Raise the Bar: Contribute to better patterns, tooling, and engineering standards across teams.
5. Enhance Customer Success: Proactively identify and resolve technical issues that could impact system behavior or user experience.

Responsibilities

• Implement features across frontend, backend, and cloud components.
• Participate in technical design discussions and contribute to architectural decisions.
• Write clean, scalable, and secure code following Very’s engineering standards.
• Create and maintain automated tests across all layers of the stack.
• Support deployments, CI/CD pipelines, logging, monitoring, and alerting.
• Participate in code reviews, offering constructive feedback that improves overall quality.
• Participate in 24/7 on-call rotation and assist in diagnosing and resolving production issues.
• Support documentation and knowledge sharing within teams.

Minimum Qualifications

General Experience

• BS or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
• 8+ years of professional software development experience
• 4+ years of experience developing Java based backend applications
• Full software development lifecycle experience, including requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and operations.
• Experience building complex, event-driven, microservice-based systems.
• Strong understanding of production-grade system reliability, observability, and security.
• Experience working in or with government sectors is a strong plus.
• Client-facing or consulting experience preferred but not required.

Technical Proficiency

• Deep expertise in Java backend frameworks such as Dropwizard
• Strong expertise in Python backends such as Django
• Fluency with frontend technologies including React, Expo, Vite and TypeScript
• Skilled in relational and non-relational data modeling and SQL development
• Extensive knowledge in supporting event driven cloud platforms in AWS including security, logging, monitoring, observability and performance at scale
• AWS service knowledge: Lambda, ECS, Fargate, RDS, CloudFront, CloudWatch, SNS, SQS
• Ability to debug and modify CI/CD automation (GitHub Actions) and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform or Pulimi)

Requirements

• Must be US-based.
• US Citizen (required).
• Must be able to pass a Federal Personnel Security clearance (company will facilitate).

Skills

• Client Obsessed: Keeps the client’s success front and center. Measures technical choices by their business impact.
• Clear Communicator: Collaborates effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Quality-Driven: Holds themselves to high standards for code quality and reliability.
• Ownership Mindset: Takes responsibility for delivering solutions that work in real-world conditions.
• Problem Solver: Thrive in complexity and find solutions even when requirements are evolving.

Compensation

Compensation: USD $80 per hour, commensurate with experience

Contract
Though his role is structured as a contract (1099) engagement, the scope of work is substantial and may approximate a full-time workload depending on the contractor’s pace and approach.

Why Work for Very

We do not promise an easy ride — we promise meaningful work.

We work hard because our clients’ success depends on it, and we take pride in delivering when others can’t. We collaborate closely, move fast, and stay grounded in results. We take joy in the process — in the problem-solving, the iteration, and the shared wins that come from doing the hard things well.

If you’re looking for a place where every project matters, where the standards are high, and where you’ll grow by pushing yourself and others — welcome to Very.

IMPORTANT:
1. We don't currently provide Visa Sponsorship. Don't apply if you require this.
2. This job is remote but if you’re not located in the region or country mentioned in the post’s title, do not continue. Your application won’t be reviewed.

Interviewing for a new company is a serious time commitment for all parties involved. Please take the time to read this and thoughtfully consider if we would be a good fit for one another. No contractors or agencies. Seriously. #LI-Remote

**Note: To qualify for this role, you must reside in the US, be a US Citizen and be able to pass a Federal Personnel Security clearance (company will facilitate).