Job Title : Lead Java Engineer
Location : St. Louis MO
Duration : / Term : 6+ months
Experience Desired : 12+ Years
Job Description :
We are seeking a highly accomplished Principal Java Engineer to lead the design and evolution of large-scale, mission-critical backend systems. This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who combines deep Java expertise with architectural vision, performance optimization skills, and a strong engineering craftsmanship mindset.
You will define technical direction, guide engineering standards, and build highly scalable, resilient systems operating at high throughput (TPS) in cloud-native environments.
Key Responsibilities :
- Lead architecture and design of high-scale distributed systems using Java
- Define and enforce engineering best practices, coding standards, and design principles
- Design scalable microservices and event-driven architectures
- Drive performance optimization, scalability improvements, and system reliability
- Mentor senior engineers and influence cross-team technical decisions
- Conduct architectural reviews and provide consultative guidance
- Ensure high code quality through TDD, code reviews, static analysis, and automation
- Collaborate with Product, DevOps, and Platform teams to align system design with business goals
- Lead modernization initiatives (legacy to microservices, monolith decomposition, cloud migration)
- Contribute to observability, resilience, and fault-tolerant system design
Technical Expertise Required :
Core Java & Backend
Deep expertise in Java 8 / 11 / 17Strong knowledge of :Lambda expressions & Stream APIConcurrency & multithreadingCompletableFuture & async programmingJVM performance tuning & memory managementExtensive experience with Spring Boot / Spring CloudArchitecture & Distributed Systems
Microservices architectureEvent-driven systems (Kafka or equivalent)REST API design (spec-first / OpenAPI preferred)High-availability & fault-tolerant system designCircuit breakers, rate limiting, caching strategiesHorizontal scaling and high TPS environmentsData & Persistence
Strong expertise with : Oracle / DB2 / PostgreSQL / MySQL, MongoDB or other NoSQL databasesData modeling for high-scale systemsPerformance tuning (query optimization, indexing strategies)DevOps & Platform
CI / CD (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or equivalent)Docker & KubernetesObservability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, etc.)Cloud platforms (AWS / Azure / GCP)Code Quality & Engineering Excellence
TDD / BDDStatic analysis tools (SonarQube)Strong understanding of design patterns & SOLID principlesExperience in conducting architectural reviewsLeadership Expectations
Act as a technical authority and strategic advisorInfluence engineering culture toward craftsmanship and excellenceChallenge assumptions using data and performance benchmarksMentor engineers across levelsDrive long-term architectural visionIdeal Background
12 18+ years of experience in backend engineeringProven track record of designing high-scale, always-on systemsExperience in payments, telecom, fintech, healthcare, or other high-throughput domains preferredStrong communicator capable of presenting to senior stakeholdersKey Skills :
Java 8 / 11 / 17, Lambda, Stream API, JVM, Kafka