Java Spring Boot Developer

About This Role

This engineering role involves designing, developing, and maintaining enterprise-grade microservices and event-driven applications using Java and Spring Boot. The developer will leverage expertise in Apache Kafka and cloud platforms like Azure or AWS to build scalable, resilient backend services. The role requires close collaboration with architects, product owners, and cross-functional engineering teams to deliver high-quality, cloud-native solutions.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and maintain scalable Java microservices using Spring Boot, applying clean architecture, SOLID principles, and design patterns for production-grade codebases
• Build and expose secure, well-documented RESTful APIs, following API-first design principles, OpenAPI / Swagger documentation standards, versioning strategies, and performance best practices
• Develop and optimize data access layers using Spring Data JPA / Hibernate, managing complex entity relationships, query optimization, and database migration strategies across relational and NoSQL databases
• Write comprehensive unit and integration tests using JUnit and Mockito, maintaining high code coverage and regression confidence through test-driven development practices
• Participate actively in code reviews, providing constructive technical feedback and upholding coding standards, security practices, and architectural consistency
• Design and implement event-driven microservices using Apache Kafka, developing producers, consumers, and Kafka Streams applications with Spring Kafka
• Design Kafka topic architecture, defining partitioning strategies, replication factors, retention policies, and consumer group configurations
• Implement robust error handling patterns, including Dead Letter Queues (DLQ), retry strategies, and poison pill handling
• Configure Kafka Schema Registry with Avro or Protobuf, enforcing schema evolution governance and backward / forward compatibility
• Implement exactly-once semantics and delivery guarantee patterns where business requirements demand strong consistency
• Monitor and troubleshoot Kafka cluster health, consumer lag, partition rebalancing, broker performance, and throughput metrics using Kafka UI, Confluent Control Centre, or equivalent tools
• Design and deploy cloud-native Java microservices on Azure, leveraging AKS, App Services, Azure Functions, and Azure Container Registry
• Integrate applications with Azure messaging services, including Azure Service Bus, Event Hub, and Event Grid
• Implement Azure security best practices, such as Managed Identities, Azure Key Vault, Azure AD RBAC, and Private Endpoints
• Configure Azure monitoring and observability with Application Insights, Azure Monitor, and Log Analytics
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, automating build, test, security scanning, and deployment workflows
• Manage Azure database services, including Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• Design and implement OpenSearch index mappings and search queries, building full-text search, faceted filtering, and relevance-tuned search experiences
• Develop OpenSearch aggregation pipelines for analytics, reporting, and real-time data summarization
• Integrate Spring Boot services with OpenSearch using Spring Data OpenSearch / Elasticsearch
• Optimize OpenSearch search performance with analysers, tokenisers, query caching, and shard management
• Contribute to microservices architecture design, applying DDD, CQRS, Event Sourcing, and Saga patterns
• Collaborate with Solution Architects, Business Analysts, Product Owners, and DevOps teams, translating complex requirements into cloud-native technical solutions in Agile sprints
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues, including performance bottlenecks, Kafka consumer lag, cloud service failures, and distributed system failures
• Produce clear and concise technical documentation, such as API contracts, event schemas, architecture decision records, and deployment runbooks
• Mentor and support junior Java developers, sharing knowledge across Spring Boot, Kafka, and Azure domains

Requirements

• 6+ years of hands-on Java development experience with a strong track record of delivering enterprise microservices in production environments
• Deep expertise in Spring Boot, including Spring MVC, Spring Cloud, Spring Security, and Spring Kafka, with a strong understanding of microservices design patterns
• Proven Apache Kafka experience, including producer / consumer development, Kafka Streams, topic design, error handling, and Schema Registry in production event-driven systems
• Strong Azure cloud experience (preferred), including AKS, App Services, Service Bus, Event Hub, Key Vault, Azure AD, Application Insights, and Azure DevOps
• Working knowledge of AWS cloud services, including EC2, EKS, SQS, SNS, MSK, IAM
• Solid database skills, including relational (Azure SQL / PostgreSQL / MySQL) and non-relational (Cosmos DB / MongoDB / Redis), with strong SQL and ORM expertise
• Experience with containerisation (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes / AKS / EKS) for cloud-native microservices deployment
• Hands-on CI/CD experience with Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitLab CI for automated build, test, and deployment pipelines
• Strong understanding of event-driven architecture, messaging patterns, eventual consistency, saga orchestration, and distributed system design
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to engage effectively with architects, product owners, and cross-functional engineering teams

Nice to have:

• Hands-on OpenSearch / Elasticsearch experience, including index design, full-text search, aggregations, and Spring Boot integration
• Experience with Azure Managed Kafka (Event Hub for Kafka) or AWS MSK for fully managed Kafka deployment
• Familiarity with service mesh technologies, such as Istio or Linkerd, for AKS microservices traffic management and observability
• Knowledge of CQRS and Event Sourcing patterns using Axon Framework or equivalent
• Exposure to GraphQL API development alongside REST
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code, such as Terraform or Azure Bicep, for cloud resource provisioning
• Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) or Azure Solutions Architect (AZ-305) certification
• AWS Certified Developer Associate certification
• Experience in Financial Services, FinTech, Retail, or other regulated industry environments