Full Stack Tech Lead

Full Stack Tech Lead for a contract role with a client located in Burbank, CA (Hybrid)

Location: Burbank, CA (3X onsite - Monday, Tuesday & Thursday)

Job Details

We are seeking a Technical Project Lead with 8+ years of experience in Java EE, Spring Framework, and related technologies. The ideal candidate will have balanced experience (50% front-end and 50% back-end) and preferably exposure to healthcare, pension, or related domains. This role is responsible for designing and developing technical solutions for IT projects, mentoring developers, overseeing technical teams, and ensuring all deliverables meet or exceed customer expectations.

Required Skills

Provide technical direction and hands-on leadership throughout all phases of the development lifecycle

Mentor team members and resolve technical challenges while ensuring alignment with business and project goals

Ensure adherence to coding standards, architectural principles, and best practices

Support and advocate for Agile, DevOps, and CI/CD methodologies

Design and architect complex, secure, scalable, and high-performance software systems

Develop and document system architectures to ensure consistency and maintainability

Evaluate and recommend appropriate technologies, frameworks, and tools

Technical Experience

8+ years designing and developing multi-tier enterprise applications using Java EE and Spring

5+ years developing web and enterprise applications across the full Java technology stack

5+ years building SOA-based and RESTful services using Java, Spring, Hibernate

5+ years developing front-end applications using React, Angular, or Vue.js

Strong expertise in Spring Boot and Spring Cloud

Experience with MariaDB/MySQL, Kafka, ESB/API Gateways, and event-streaming platforms

Experience performing technical assessments of existing systems

Experience with testing frameworks: JUnit, Mockito, Cucumber, Jasmine, Karma

Strong knowledge of object-oriented and functional programming paradigms

Soft Skills

Ability to translate complex business requirements into effective technical solutions

Capable of completing projects with minimal supervision

Strong collaboration skills with a positive, empathetic, and solution-oriented mindset

Proven experience working in fast-paced Agile/Scrum environments

Experience managing and collaborating with onshore and offshore teams

Excellent analytical, critical-thinking, and interpersonal skills

Preferred Skills

Database programming using SQL with MySQL and Oracle

Ability to convert user stories into technical tasks

Experience with deployment strategies for distributed and multi-tier applications

Ability to create UML diagrams and flowcharts using Visio or similar tools

Pension domain experience is a strong plus

Experience with BPM and ECM

Role Overview

We are seeking a Lead Solution / Technical Design Lead to support a large-scale modernization initiative for a core pension application within a healthcare/pension organization.

This role is not a hands-on coding position. It is a design, solutioning, and technical leadership role responsible for bridging business requirements and offshore execution teams. The ideal candidate is a strong problem-solver with a learning mindset, ownership mentality, and the ability to lead through ambiguity.

Business Context

Core pension platform is 20+ years old

Organization is modernizing 56 core applications

The role may require them to code at times. Attitude is very important in this role a willingness to learn and grow w the organization

Modernization includes:

Technical transformation (SOA, microservices, modern stack)

Functional transformation (process redesign, streamlining workflows)

This role supports one of the largest and most complex modernization efforts

Team & Delivery Model

Hybrid onsiteoffshore model

Shift-left approach: Requirements, design, and solutioning occur onsite; execution is offshore.

Key Responsibilities

Partner with BSAs and business stakeholders to understand functional requirements

Translate requirements into:

Functional designs

Technical solution designs

Own and document solution architecture and design artifacts

Guide offshore development and QA teams during execution

Serve as the primary escalation point for technical and functional roadblocks

Mentor developers and QA leads

Support proofs of concept (POCs) when needed

Drive teams toward successful execution and delivery

Demonstrate ownership, curiosity, and proactive problem-solving

Required Experience & Skills

Experience

8+ years of overall software development experience (guideline)

5+ years in a technical lead or solution lead role

Experience designing enterprise applications in complex environments

Comfortable leading teams without direct authority

Frontend

Strong experience with Angular (preferred)

React or Vue acceptable

Backend

Java

Spring ecosystem:

Spring Boot

Spring Batch

Spring Security

SOA and microservices architecture

Database

MySQL Enterprise

Additional Technologies (Nice to Have)

Kafka / event streaming

Rules engines (Kotlin-based preferred)

Workflow systems (Camunda)

ETL and data migration concepts

CI/CD tools (Bitbucket, Jenkins)

Monitoring tools (Grafana, Prometheus)

Testing & Quality

Familiarity with:

JUnit

Mockito (preferred)

Cucumber (nice to have)

Deep expertise in all testing tools is not required

Cloud & Infrastructure

Core pension application remains on-prem

Select components moving to cloud (e.g., workflow, MDM, content management)

Cloud provider (AWS vs Azure) not finalized