Senior Java Developer

Company Description Magic EdTech is dedicated to making digital learning affordable, sustainable, and accessible for everyone. The company partners with education publishers, EdTech organizations, higher education institutions, and workforce learning providers to design and deliver impactful learning products and platforms. Its services span technology outsourcing, content and curriculum development, ethical AI solutions, accessibility and compliance, and the transformation of legacy platforms.

Magic

EdTech also creates immersive learning experiences using AR, VR, simulations, and games, and offers end-to-end assessment and analytics solutions.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Lead Backend Java Engineer to join our engineering team. This is a hands-on lead role. You will be expected to deliver production-quality code independently, own a backlog of features, enhancements and bug fixes and raise the bar on code quality while integrating seamlessly with the client's architecture, DevOps and product teams.

Key Responsibilities

A. Development and Delivery

• Take over the backend development workload currently handled by the client's Java engineers, including new features, enhancements, and defect resolution.
• Design, develop, test, and maintain scalable, secure Java backend services and APIs.
• Own tasks end to end: from understanding requirements through implementation, code review, testing, and handoff.
• Produce clean, well-documented, maintainable code that can be integrated smoothly into the client's existing workflow and system.

B. Collaboration and Leadership

• Work daily with the client's Java engineer and other internal developers, with a structured knowledge transfer in the early weeks.
• Collaborate with the client's Systems Architect/Engineer, who will integrate your development output into the broader system, data, and runbook workflows.
• Partner with DevOps on build, deployment, and release processes.
• Participate in code reviews, provide technical guidance, and promote engineering best practices.
• Communicate progress, risks, and blockers clearly and proactively to client stakeholders.

C. Quality and Operations

• Reproduce production-reported issues in non-production environments (the team operates without production access), diagnosing root causes through logs, data analysis, and scenario recreation.
• Write and maintain unit, integration, and regression tests.
• Contribute to technical documentation and support updates to system runbooks.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software development experience, with Java (Java; exposure to Java 11/17 preferred).
• Proven experience in a lead or senior role, mentoring engineers and driving delivery.
• Strong experience with Spring / Spring Boot, REST API design, and microservices or service-oriented architectures.
• Solid working knowledge of MySQL: schema design, query writing, and performance tuning.
• Hands-on experience with AWS (e.g., EC2, S3, RDS, IAM, Lambda, CloudWatch) in a production application environment.
• Experience with build and CI/CD tooling (Maven/Gradle, Git, Jenkins or similar).
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills, with the ability to reproduce complex issues without direct production access.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable working with a distributed, cross-functional client team.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and quickly absorb a large, existing codebase.
• Understanding of application security, including authentication and authorization (e.g., OAuth2, SSO, role-based access).
• Familiarity with Amazon Redshift or data warehousing and reporting pipelines.