Lead Java Backend Engineer

Lead Java Backend Engineer Overview

Job ID: J55018 Job Title: Lead Java Backend Engineer Location: Chicago, IL Duration: 24 Months + Extension Domain Exposure: Healthcare Client: To Be Discussed Later Employment Type: W-2, 1099, C2C Work Authorization: US Citizen, Green Card, H-1B, OPT-EAD, CPT, Other Job Title: Lead Java Backend Engineer Location: Chicago, IL (Remote) Duration: 24 Months + Extension Bill Rate: $78/hour (C2C) Job Type: W-2, 1099, C2C Client: To Be Discussed Later Work Authorization: US Citizen, Green Card, OPT-EAD, CPT, H-1B, H4-EAD, Other

Job Description: Looking for a hands-on Lead Java Backend Engineer to help design, develop, and scale enterprise-level APIs and microservices supporting its AWS-hosted digital platform. This is a technical leadership role on a team of approximately 12–13 engineers. The ideal candidate can drive architecture and design decisions, guide other developers, and take ownership of complex initiatives while remaining actively involved in hands-on backend development. This is NOT a pure architect or people management role. Candidates must still be hands-on with Java/Spring Boot development.

Must-Have Requirements:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including extensive hands-on Java backend development.
• Java 17+ (Java 21 preferred) and strong Spring Boot experience.
• Extensive experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and microservices.
• Strong AWS/cloud experience, including deploying and supporting production applications.
• Proven technical leadership experience involving architecture decisions, design reviews, code reviews, and mentoring engineers.
• Strong API design and integration experience; Apigee/API Gateway experience highly preferred.
• Experience with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and end-to-end software delivery.
• Must be able to work onsite in Chicago Mondays and Wednesdays.

Highly Preferred Technical Experience:

• API Management: Apigee, OpenAPI/Swagger, API-first architecture.
• Security: OAuth 2.0, JWT, service-to-service authentication.
• Event-Driven Architecture: Kafka, AWS SQS/SNS/Kinesis, RabbitMQ, or similar.
• Databases: PostgreSQL, Oracle, MongoDB, DynamoDB, or similar SQL/NoSQL databases.
• CI/CD: Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GoCD.
• Testing: JUnit, Mockito, integration and performance testing.
• Additional: Redis, Elasticsearch, GitHub Copilot/Cursor, Agile/Scrum.

Candidate Screening Guidelines: Prioritize candidates who have:

• Recent hands-on Java/Spring Boot development experience, not just architecture oversight.
• Experience functioning as a technical lead on enterprise backend/API projects.
• Strong AWS and microservices architecture experience.
• Stable work history with reasonable tenure.

Equal Opportunity Employer We are an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, citizenship/ immigration status, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

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