Java Architect

About the role

REI Systems’ mission is to deliver reliable, innovative technology solutions that advance Federal clients' missions and exceed their expectations. Our technologists and consultants are passionate about solving complex challenges that impact millions of lives. We take a Mindful Modernization® approach in delivering our services, including application modernization, grants management, case management systems, government data analytics, and advisory services. This approach, the REI Way, ensures mission impact by aligning our clients' strategic objectives with measurable outcomes through people, processes, and technology. We offer the same commitment to our employees by providing professional development, meaningful projects, and flexibility to spend time with family and friends. We believe employees are at their best when fulfilled in both their professional careers and their personal lives. Employees voted REI Systems a Washington Post Top Workplace in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Responsibilities

Solution Architecture & Technical Leadership

• Lead the architecture, design, and development of enterprise Java applications supporting FDA mission-critical systems.
• Define application architecture, technical standards, integration patterns, and development best practices.
• Design scalable, modular, maintainable solutions using Java, Spring Boot, Spring Framework, and microservices architecture.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership through architecture reviews, design sessions, code reviews, and proof-of-concept development.
• Translate business and functional requirements into technical architecture, solution designs, and implementation roadmaps.
• Develop architecture diagrams, technical design documents, API specifications, and system integration documentation.
• Evaluate legacy systems and recommend modernization strategies, including application refactoring, cloud migration, and API enablement.
• Identify and resolve complex architectural challenges involving performance, scalability, availability, security, and interoperability.
• Mentor Java developers and technical leads, promoting engineering excellence and consistent development practices.

Java Development & Microservices

• Architect and develop enterprise applications using Java 11/17/21, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Security, and Spring Data JPA.
• Design and implement RESTful APIs and microservices for distributed enterprise applications.
• Apply design patterns, object-oriented programming principles, SOLID principles, and clean architecture practices.
• Implement service-to-service communication, asynchronous processing, exception handling, and transaction management.
• Design secure API integrations using OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT, and API gateway patterns.
• Work with Hibernate/JPA, JDBC, and ORM frameworks for database-driven applications.
• Support event-driven architecture and messaging integrations using technologies such as Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, or AWS messaging services, where applicable.
• Establish automated unit, integration, and API testing standards using JUnit, Mockito, and related frameworks.

AWS Cloud Architecture & Modernization

• Design, deploy, and optimize cloud-native and cloud-enabled applications within AWS environments.
• Provide architectural guidance for AWS services such as EC2, ECS, EKS, Lambda, S3, RDS, API Gateway, IAM, CloudWatch, and CloudFormation.
• Architect containerized applications using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Support application modernization, cloud migration, and infrastructure automation initiatives.
• Design highly available, fault-tolerant, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions.
• Collaborate with cloud infrastructure and DevOps engineers on deployment strategies, monitoring, scaling, and disaster recovery.
• Apply AWS security, networking, identity management, and cloud architecture best practices.

Database Architecture & Integration

• Design and optimize database integrations involving Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and other relational databases.
• Develop and review complex SQL queries, stored procedures, and PL/SQL components as applicable.
• Provide guidance on database performance optimization, indexing, connection pooling, and data access patterns.
• Design data integration solutions between enterprise applications, legacy platforms, and external systems.
• Support data integrity, transaction management, and secure data exchange across distributed applications.

DevSecOps, CI/CD & Application Security

• Collaborate with DevSecOps teams to establish automated build, testing, deployment, and release processes.
• Support CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or comparable enterprise tools.
• Apply infrastructure-as-code practices using Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or similar technologies.
• Integrate automated code quality, dependency scanning, vulnerability detection, and security testing into development workflows.
• Promote secure coding standards and address vulnerabilities identified through SAST, DAST, and software composition analysis.
• Implement appropriate logging, monitoring, audit trails, and application observability.
• Ensure architecture and development practices align with applicable federal security requirements, including NIST guidelines, FISMA, FedRAMP, and FDA-specific standards.

Agile Delivery & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Collaborate with FDA technical stakeholders, product owners, business analysts, project managers, and development teams.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, architecture discussions, and release planning.
• Work closely with QA engineers, database administrators, cloud engineers, and DevSecOps teams to ensure successful solution delivery.
• Provide technical estimates, identify architectural risks, and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Support technical troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, production issue resolution, and continuous application improvement.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with significant hands-on Java application development experience.
• 5+ years of experience in technical architecture, solution design, or technical leadership for enterprise applications.
• Strong hands-on expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Spring Framework, Spring Security, and RESTful web services.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing microservices and distributed enterprise applications.
• Strong knowledge of object-oriented design, software design patterns, SOLID principles, and enterprise application architecture.
• Experience designing, developing, or modernizing applications hosted on AWS.