Principal Java Engineer

We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Java Engineer to lead the design and development of scalable, secure, and high-performance enterprise applications. The ideal candidate will possess extensive expertise in Java, Spring Boot, microservices architecture, cloud technologies, and distributed systems. This role requires strong technical leadership and the ability to make critical architectural decisions while mentoring senior engineers and collaborating across teams.

Key Responsibilities

- Lead the architecture, design, and development of complex, enterprise-grade applications using Java and Spring Boot.
- Define and implement scalable, reliable, and secure microservices and distributed systems.
- Drive technical strategy, establish architecture standards, coding best practices, and engineering guidelines.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to senior engineers and development teams.
- Conduct code reviews, guide design discussions, and ensure high standards of code quality, performance, and maintainability.
- Design and optimize RESTful APIs and system integrations.
- Lead database design, query optimization, and data-access strategies.
- Oversee performance tuning, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis for complex production issues.
- Collaborate with Product, Architecture, DevOps, QA, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
- Lead cloud-native application development and deployment on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Establish and enhance CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, monitoring, and observability practices.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to the engineering ecosystem.

Required Qualifications

- Over 10 years of professional software engineering experience, primarily focused on Java-based application development.
- Strong expertise in Java 17+ and modern Java features.
- Extensive hands-on experience with Spring Boot, Spring Framework, and Spring Security.
- Proven experience designing and implementing microservices and distributed systems.
- Deep knowledge of REST APIs, API security, and enterprise system integrations.
- Solid understanding of object-oriented programming, design patterns, SOLID principles, and clean architecture.
- Experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Oracle, along with familiarity with NoSQL databases.
- Hands-on experience with messaging technologies like Kafka or RabbitMQ.
- Strong grasp of concurrency, multithreading, JVM internals, memory management, and performance optimization.
- Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Familiarity with CI/CD tools, automated testing frameworks, and application observability.
- Comprehensive understanding of security, scalability, resilience, and fault-tolerant system design.
- Excellent communication, problem-solving, and technical leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience with event-driven architecture and domain-driven design (DDD).
- Familiarity with infrastructure as code and cloud-native development practices.
- Background in high-volume, low-latency systems and large-scale enterprise platforms.
- Knowledge of system design principles, architecture documentation, and technical governance.
- Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments.

Seniority & Expectations

- Experience: 8+ years in a senior engineering role.
- Role Type: Individual contributor with significant technical leadership responsibilities.
- Focus: Hands-on engineering, system architecture, technical strategy, and mentorship.

This position offers the opportunity to lead critical engineering initiatives within a dynamic environment, driving innovation and excellence in enterprise software development.