Java Backend Engineer - #2168672

Lead Java Backend Engineer

£450/day (Inside IR35) Edinburgh (preferable)/London (2 days pw onsite)

1 year Contract

We are looking for an experienced Lead Java Backend Engineer to lead the technical delivery of scalable backend services within a major UK banking environment. This is a hands-on technical leadership role requiring strong expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, REST APIs, Microservices and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), alongside proven experience coordinating engineering delivery across onshore and offshore teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the onshore technical delivery of Java backend services, coordinating across client, product, architecture and offshore engineering teams.
• Design and develop scalable, secure Java / Spring Boot microservices and REST APIs.
• Build and integrate event-driven services using Apache Kafka.
• Translate business requirements into technical designs, implementation plans, estimates and engineering backlogs.
• Lead technical discussions, impact assessments, code reviews and engineering governance.
• Guide engineers on implementation standards, reusable design patterns and secure coding practices.
• Drive engineering quality through BDD/TDD, JUnit, automated testing and CI/CD.
• Support cloud-native application deployment using GCP, Docker, Kubernetes and Helm.
• Coordinate integration testing, defect triage, release planning and production readiness.
• Work closely with Product Owners, Architects, DevOps, QA and offshore development teams.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies and blockers, ensuring timely resolution.
• Support production incidents, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis and long-term fixes.
• Maintain technical documentation, knowledge transfer and operational handover.

Essential Skills

• Strong hands-on Java 8+ backend development experience.
• Strong expertise in Spring, Spring Boot, REST APIs and Microservices.
• Experience designing and developing Kafka-based, event-driven applications.
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and cloud application deployment.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes and Helm.
• Strong understanding of BDD/TDD, JUnit and automated unit testing.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Jenkins, Git and SonarQube.
• Knowledge of API gateways, API security and service-to-service integration.
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle, release management and production readiness.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments using Jira and Confluence.
• Proven experience leading technical delivery across distributed engineering teams.
• Strong client-facing communication, stakeholder management and technical leadership skills.

Desirable Skills

• Previous experience leading onshore/offshore engineering delivery.
• Experience within Banking / Financial Services.
• Knowledge of scalability, resilience, performance optimisation and observability.
• Experience with production support, incident management and root-cause analysis.
• Familiarity with cloud monitoring, logging and operational support.
• Understanding of banking integrations, payments, cards or customer-servicing platforms.
• Experience mentoring engineers and driving engineering best practices.

Please apply with your CV and we'll be in touch. Thank you!