Senior Java Developer (Product Discovery)

Midwest Tape | Hoopla

About us:

For over 30 years, Midwest Tape has served libraries and their patrons with unparalleled access to the best content available in the media world. Our digital offering, hoopla Digital, combines the media and library expertise of Midwest Tape with the latest in web and mobile technology, delivering an all-in-one experience to the library world. As hoopla continues to grow on a global scale, we are expanding our team.

At Midwest Tape, we know our people are the reason for our success. We value our employees and believe in empowering them to help them thrive. We offer competitive pay and benefits, a healthy work/life balance, and appreciation for a job well done.

• For local candidates within 60 miles of our Holland, OH headquarters this role is hybrid after 60-day orientation period.
• For candidates outside of local area, this role would be primarily remote. You will be required to come onsite for first week to onboard and as needed for dev conference and meetings.
• Must live in the following states to be considered: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, Montana, Rhode Island, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada.
• Must be able to work business hours of 8:30am-5:00pm EST in addition to occasional off-hours deployments or crisis resolution.
• We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas. All candidates must have authorization to work in the U.S. without current or future sponsorship.
  
  
  

Position Summary

The Senior Java Developer will be responsible for designing, developing, and delivering technical solutions for the eCommerce and Product Discovery team at Midwest Tape, with a primary focus on backend services built using Java. This role emphasizes modern architectural patterns, including microservices, event-driven design with Kafka, NoSQL databases like MongoDB, and ETL workflows.

The ideal candidate will collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, possess a strong understanding of business requirements, communicate progress and challenges clearly, and contribute meaningfully to Agile sprints. This position emphasizes hands-on development, technical leadership, and continuous improvement in both engineering and operational efficiency. This role is ideal for developers who are passionate about problem-solving, technical design, and fostering a collaborative team environment while maintaining a strong focus on

quality and delivery.

Primary Duties And Responsibilities

• Solution Design and Development
• Support core application workflows, with attention to performance, data integrity, and availability.
• Develop and optimize REST APIs to expose business logic.
• Understanding Business Context and Systems
• Dive deep into the business domain to understand existing systems and processes.
• Use this understanding to inform design decisions and improve technical delivery.
• Team Collaboration
• Engage with Product Owners, Engineers, and Agile Leaders to clarify requirements and address challenges.
• Proactively reach out to team members to understand dependencies, resolve issues, and provide updates.
• Ownership and Problem-Solving
• Take ownership of tasks, ensuring they are delivered end-to-end while resolving impediments independently or collaboratively.
• Address and resolve technical challenges efficiently, escalating only when necessary.
• Participation in Agile Practices
• Actively participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives.
• Collaborate in sprint planning to estimate work and deliverables.
• Code Quality and Standards
• Write high-quality, well-documented, and testable code following established patterns and standards.
• Perform code reviews to ensure adherence to best practices, design patterns, and team standards.
• Testing and Quality Assurance
• Write unit and integration tests, apply test-driven development (TDD) principles where appropriate, and ensure comprehensive test coverage across APIs, services, and data layers.
• Partner Collaboration
• Occasionally present solutions or assist in technical discussions during partner calls.
• Additional Responsibilities & Duties
• Provide production support and participate in on-call rotation schedule
  
  
  

Skills:

• Technical Skills
• Strong expertise in GraphQL (core to application architecture), including schema design, resolvers, performance optimization, and security
• Proficient with the latest versions of Java (21) and Spring Boot (3).
• Extensive experience with REST, SQL, and writing/reviewing SQL queries and stored procedures.
• Skilled in writing unit and integration test cases.
• Expertise in security, including Spring Security, authentication, and authorization.
• Knowledgeable in API versioning and documentation using Swagger/OpenAPI.
• Experienced with Microservices, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Hands-on experience with Memcached and Redis.
• Proficient with various AWS technologies: Amazon OpenSearch Service, CloudFormation, CloudFront, CloudWatch, DynamoDB, EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, ElastiCache, Elastic Container Registry, Elastic Container Service, IAM, Lambda, RDS, Route 53, S3, Systems Manager, VPC, WAF & Shield.
• Experienced with CI/CD and GitHub Actions.
• Familiar with Agile/Scrum methodology, JIRA, and Confluence.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Experienced with application monitoring tools like Datadog.
• Proficient in using AI development tools and creating LLM-based applications.
• Skilled in debugging and performance optimization.
• Soft Skills
• Ability to take ownership of ambiguous initiatives and drive them to completion.
• Effective communication skills to reach out for assistance, provide updates, and resolve blockers effectively.
• Willingness to learn unfamiliar tech stacks or parts of the codebase independently.
• Ability to follow existing patterns, processes, and standards without deviating unnecessarily.
  
  
  

Required Experience

• 7 years of experience building and maintaining building services and APIs with Java, Spring, and AWS.
  
  
  

Preferred Education

• B.S., M.S., in software engineering, computer science, or related area
• Equivalent experience
  
  
  

Preferred Experience

• Experience with Node.js and TypeScript.
• Familiarity with GraphQL and federated services (preferred 3 years).
• Experience migrating stored procedure logic from databases to backend systems.
  
  
  

Physical Requirements / Work Environment

The work environment characteristics and physical demands described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to regularly sit for extended periods of time
• Perform repetitive motion type tasks
• Able to be physically present for meetings, presentations, and trainings
• Ability to work on-site in a team environment.
  
  
  

Benefits:

• Medical, dental, & vision insurance
• 401k match
• Profit sharing
• Paid vacation and personal time
• Flex time
• 10 paid holidays
• Company performance bonus
• Holiday bonus
• Paid time to volunteer
• Training & career development opportunities
  
  
  

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.