Lead Software Engineer - Java Backend

Role & responsibilities:

• Translate complex business and functional requirements into robust, scalable technical solutions and architecture
• Own the technical direction of backend systems, from design and development to deployment and long-term maintenance
• Lead a team of backend engineers, setting clear goals and delivery expectations and providing regular feedback
• Own the complete Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), from requirement analysis to production deployment, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery
• Lead architecture and system design discussions, and review and approve designs, producing end-to-end technical solutions
• Define and drive adoption of engineering best practices, coding standards, code review culture, and development tooling
• Mentor and coach engineers, helping them grow technically and take ownership of their modules
• Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, QA, DevOps, and Business stakeholders to plan roadmaps, estimate effort, and manage dependencies
• Own sprint planning, prioritization, and delivery commitments for the team
• Lead bug triage, root cause analysis, and production issue resolution, including incident response and post-mortems
• Drive system reliability, scalability, and performance through capacity planning, load testing, and optimization
• Monitor product quality, performance, and delivery metrics (SLAs, latency, uptime, defect rates) and provide regular status updates to senior leadership
• Evaluate build-vs-buy decisions, technology choices, and technical debt trade-offs
• Participate in hiring, including interviewing, evaluating, and onboarding engineers
• Stay current with emerging technologies, open-source frameworks, and industry trends, and drive their adoption where valuable
• Build and contribute to reusable frameworks, platforms, standards, and solution methodologies across teams

Preferred candidate profile:

• 7+ years of hands-on experience in Java backend development, with at least 2-3 years leading a team or owning technical delivery
• Strong command of data structures, algorithms, and system design for high-scale, high-availability systems
• Excellent knowledge of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles, design patterns, and clean architecture
• Proven experience designing and building RESTful APIs and microservices using Java and Spring Boot
• Strong experience with SOA, microservices, and N-tier architectures, including service decomposition, API versioning, and inter-service communication
• Deep understanding of database design, SQL optimization, indexing, and sharding or partitioning strategies using MySQL / MariaDB, with exposure to NoSQL stores (e.g., Redis, MongoDB, Elasticsearch)
• Hands-on experience with messaging and streaming platforms such as Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar, including event-driven design
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS preferred), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and Infrastructure as Code
• Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines, Git workflows, and automated testing strategies
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools (e.g., Grafana, Prometheus, ELK, New Relic) and with caching and performance tuning
• Strong debugging, troubleshooting, and performance-optimization skills in production environments
• Solid understanding of application security, data protection, and API security best practices
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, conduct code reviews, and build a high-performing team
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain technical trade-offs to non-technical audiences
• Ability to work independently, take ownership, and thrive in a fast-paced, startup-like environment