Senior Backend Engineer - Java/Microservices Architecture

Description :As a Senior Backend Engineer, you will serve as a technical anchor within a cross-functional Agile team, collaborating closely with Product Owners, Designers, and fellow engineers.You will own the design and delivery of backend services powering government digital products from domain modeling and API design to production stability.Beyond writing code, you will shape engineering standards, mentor team members, and drive technical decisions across modules and teams.Key Responsibilities :Technical Ownership :- Design, build, and maintain Java microservices handling complex domain workflows including state machines, multi-step journeys, and data synchronization pipelines.- Own module boundaries and API contracts across shared libraries and consuming services to ensure clean separation of concerns.- Make and document architectural decisions, including evaluating trade-offs and communicating rationale to the team.- Identify and prioritize technical debt, and propose refactoring strategies without disrupting delivery.Quality & Engineering Practices :Define and enforce testing strategies including :- Unit testing (JUnit, Mockito)- Integration testing (Testcontainers)- Code coverage enforcement (JaCoCo)- Drive CI/CD best practices, including pipeline optimization and automated quality checks.- Lead code reviews focusing on correctness, maintainability, and adherence to engineering standards.- Establish and promote commit discipline, branching strategies, and PR standards.Collaboration & Leadership :- Work within Agile ceremonies to break down features into clear, testable user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria.- Collaborate with Product Owners and Designers to identify delivery risks and negotiate scope.- Coordinate with other teams to manage cross-service dependencies and shared models.- Mentor mid-level and junior engineers through pairing, design discussions, and structured feedback.- Communicate technical concepts and delivery progress to non-technical stakeholders.Production Readiness :- Lead production incident triage, including root cause analysis and prevention strategies.- Ensure services handle concurrency, optimistic locking, and edge cases effectively.- Participate in deployment planning, including migration scripts, master data dependencies, and rollback strategies.Required Skills & Experience :Core Skills (Must Have) :- 12+ years of backend development experience in Java- Strong proficiency in Java 17+, including modern features such as :1. Records2. Sealed classes3. Pattern matching4. Streams and OptionalExtensive experience with :1. Spring Boot2. Spring Cloud3. Spring Data JPA4. Hibernate / ORM- Hands-on experience with MSSQL Server and MongoDB- Experience managing multi-module Maven projects- Strong expertise in RESTful API design, including versioning, error handling, pagination, and idempotency- Advanced SQL skills including complex queries, indexing strategies, migrations, and stored procedures- Strong understanding of concurrency and transaction management- Production experience with Docker and Kubernetes- Expertise in Git workflows (branching strategies, rebasing, PR collaboration)- Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or similar) (ref:hirist.tech)