Associate Java Software Engineer

About the role

Vestmark is seeking an early-career Software Engineer in Wakefield. The ideal candidate should have strong computer science fundamentals, a passion for solving complex problems, and the drive to grow quickly in a collaborative, high-performance environment.

Responsibilities

• Design & Build Production-Quality Systems
• Contribute to the design and implementation of Java-based backend services and APIs, adhering to best practices and industry standards.
• Build and ship well-tested, maintainable solutions as part of a squad working on real problems with direct business impact.
• Participate in the full delivery lifecycle: design discussions, development, testing, deployment, and iteration.
• Write clean, efficient, well-documented, and maintainable Java code; treat code quality as a direct contribution to everyone who touches this codebase after you.
• Participate in code reviews as both a reviewer and a recipient; treat both as learning opportunities.
• Work closely with senior engineers, product managers, and architects to understand requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Engage actively in design reviews and architecture discussions; ask questions and develop your point of view over time.
• Take feedback seriously and apply it quickly; growth velocity matters here as much as current skill level.
• Use AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Claude Code) as part of your day-to-day workflow; we expect you to be curious about these tools and actively developing your practice.
• Engage with the team's evolving standards for when and how to apply AI tooling responsibly and effectively.

Requirements

• Strong foundational knowledge in computer science: data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, and how production systems behave under real-world conditions.
• Ability to reason through system design problems, understand trade-offs, and write code that is correct before it is clever.
• Understanding of APIs, basic cloud concepts, and modern software delivery practices.
• Proficiency in Java, or a related object-oriented language, with a clear willingness and ability to become productive in Java and Spring Boot quickly.
• Working knowledge of relational databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server); querying, schema design, and understanding how your application interacts with a database at runtime.
• Proficiency in version control (Git or Bitbucket) in a collaborative team environment.
• Experience with AWS or equivalent cloud environments.
• Education & Experience: M.S. in Computer Science preferred; B.S. required (or equivalent work experience).
• 0–2 years of professional software engineering experience; strong internship experience or personal project work considered.
• Experience with or clear ability to ramp quickly on Java, Spring Boot, and relational databases.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with agentic frameworks, LLM APIs, or workflow orchestration tools in professional or project settings.
• Background in financial services, mathematics, or quantitative disciplines.
• A project, contribution, or body of work you can speak to in depth: something you built, something that broke, and what you learned from both.

Skills

• AI Fluency & Curiosity: Comfort using AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor) as part of your workflow; we expect curiosity here and a willingness to develop your practice.
• Problem-Solving Ability: Engage with ambiguous problems: ask good questions, break the problem down, and propose a reasonable approach before jumping to a solution.
• Attention to the business context of the work: Understanding why something matters, not just what needs to be built.
• Learning Velocity: Demonstrated ability to learn quickly and independently; you don't wait to be taught everything.
• Receptive to feedback and able to apply it quickly; continuous improvement is the expectation, not the exception.

Benefits

Comprehensive total rewards package including equity-based grants for all new hires, company-paid medical premiums of 90%, a competitive time-off program, and other variable compensation, if eligible.

Pay

$80,000 USD - $95,000 USD

Schedule

N/A