Java Lead Software Engineer

Job Description

Role Summary

Our client, a well-established nonprofit organization consistently recognized as a top workplace, is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to serve as a senior technical contributor within a Java-based engineering team.

This position functions as a technical lead and subject matter expert rather than a people-management role, focusing on system architecture, hands-on development, and mentoring engineers through technical guidance. The role supports large-scale, distributed platforms used globally to deliver information services.

The organization is known for long employee tenure, strong workplace culture, and comprehensive benefits, reflecting a mission-driven environment with a stable and collaborative engineering team.Key ResponsibilitiesTechnical Leadership & Architecture

Lead the design and delivery of medium-to-large software initiatives from concept through production.

Architect scalable and resilient systems using Java-based frameworks, distributed architectures, and cloud infrastructure.

Establish and promote engineering best practices related to code quality, testing, observability, and documentation.

Guide teams through complex technical design decisions and architectural trade-offs.Mentorship & Engineering Excellence

Mentor engineers across teams and experience levels through code reviews, design discussions, and technical guidance.

Support a collaborative engineering culture that encourages experimentation, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning.

Provide constructive feedback and act as a trusted technical resource within the organization.

Model strong communication and cross-team collaboration.Strategic & Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner with product and business stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable technical solutions.

Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends to inform platform and architecture decisions.

Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Contribute to initiatives that improve system reliability, platform capabilities, and developer productivity.Hands-On Development

Design, build, and maintain backend services using Java, Spring Boot, and microservices architectures.

Develop and integrate distributed systems using technologies such as Kafka, Spark, and cloud-native services.

Write clean, testable code supported by unit, integration, and performance testing.

Participate in code reviews, incident response, and continuous improvement of engineering processes.Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent professional experience.

7+ years of professional software development experience, including 5+ years working with Java.

Strong expertise in:

Java and object-oriented design (design patterns, UML)

Distributed systems and service-oriented architectures

Spring Framework (Spring IoC, Spring Boot) and Maven

RESTful and SOAP-based web services

Experience with NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra, HBase) or Hadoop-based data platforms.

Experience working with event-driven or data-intensive systems (Kafka, Spark, Hadoop).

Experience building and operating cloud-based applications (AWS preferred).

Familiarity with Linux/UNIX environments and CI/CD pipelines.

Strong initiative, ownership, and ability to work independently while aligning with team goals.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.Preferred Qualifications

Experience designing and operating microservices at scale.

Exposure to AI tools or frameworks used to enhance software development or system capabilities.

Experience with cloud data platforms such as Snowflake.

Full-time