Backend Java Developer (contract)

Title: Backend Java Developer

Location: 1755 Grant St Concord, CA

Duration: 18 months

Work Engagement: W2

Work Schedule: 3 days in office/2 days remote

Compensation: $60-63/hr is the pay range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for this position

Benefits on offer for this contract position: Health Insurance, Life insurance, 401K and Voluntary Benefits

Summary:

We are seeking a Backend Engineering Lead to join the Consumer Technology Group (EDP) in support of a mission‑critical middleware platform used by more than 120 internal banking clients. This role provides technical and engineering leadership for a high‑volume, enterprise‑scale platform that powers account inquiry, account production services, authentication/sign‑on, and money movement transactions across multiple Lines of Business.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in Java‑based middleware and API development, experience operating in highly regulated financial services environments, and demonstrated success leading engineering teams supporting mission‑critical applications. This role is hands‑on, spanning architecture, design, development, performance, and production support, with strong expectations for leadership, quality, and operational excellence.

Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Lead the design, development, and support of middleware web services and APIs using Java and Spring Boot in a high‑availability, high‑volume production environment.
• Engineer and evolve REST and XML‑based APIs, secure service integrations, and SSO/authentication solutions.
• Drive architectural decisions supporting cloud readiness, containerization, and microservices‑based designs deployed on Kubernetes/OpenShift.
• Partner closely with downstream system teams to manage complex backend integrations and dependencies.
  
  

Scale, Performance & Reliability

• Support platforms processing millions of transactions per day, with a strong focus on performance, latency, scalability, and resiliency.
• Actively participate in performance testing, stress testing, and load analysis to validate system stability under peak demand.
• Use observability and monitoring tools such as Splunk, Elastic, Grafana, AppDynamics, New Relic, DataDog, or Dynatrace to monitor production health, diagnose issues, and validate deployments.
  
  

DevOps, SDLC & Quality Engineering

• Contribute hands‑on across the full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), from design through production support.
• Work within enterprise‑shared CI/CD pipelines, supporting build, test, and deployment automation.
• Apply DevOps and DevSecOps best practices, including secure SDLC principles and production deployment support.
• Champion Quality Engineering practices, code quality, testing standards, and SDLC process improvements aligned with enterprise and regulatory requirements.
  
  

Agile Delivery & Collaboration

• Operate as a senior member of an Agile Scrum team, collaborating with product, QA, and platform partners.
• Use Jira for story tracking, backlog management, and sprint execution.
• Document architecture, technical decisions, and operational processes in Confluence.
• Effectively support and lead geographically distributed onshore and offshore teams in a global enterprise environment.
  
  

Leadership & Communication

• Provide technical and engineering leadership for architecture and application framework teams.
• Mentor engineers and lead by example through strong design discipline and hands‑on development.
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Operate with a strong focus on compliance, resiliency, and operational excellence within a regulated environment.
  
  

Qualifications:

• Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
• Demonstrated engineering leadership experience, including leading or supporting development teams.
• Experience working in inclusive, geographically distributed teams, including both onshore and offshore collaboration.
• Hands‑on experience with middleware web services and API design and implementation in high‑volume production environments.
• Demonstrated experience providing engineering and technical leadership for mission‑critical applications.
• Strong proficiency in Java and Spring‑based middleware development.
• Excellent verbal, written, and organizational communication skills.
• Experience implementing Quality Engineering best practices and SDLC process improvements.
• Working experience with DevOps and DevSecOps practices, including application support in production environments.
• Experience using Agile delivery tools such as Jira and Confluence.
• Knowledge of cloud readiness, cloud design principles, and containerized architectures using Kubernetes/OpenShift for Java/Spring applications.
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools, including Elastic, Grafana, AppDynamics, Splunk, or Dynatrace.
• Experience or familiarity with API management platforms, such as Apigee.
• Prior experience in large financial institutions is a strong advantage due to familiarity with enterprise scale, controls, and operating models.