Senior Backend Developer

Location: Vienna or Winchester, VA, San Diego, CA, or Pensacola, FL | Hybrid schedule: onsite 3 days a week | Open to both C2C and W2 options | Multiyear contract

About the role

The Senior Backend Developer is responsible for the design, development, modernization, and support of backend services that power mobile and online banking applications. This role partners closely with product teams, architects, analysts, QA engineers, frontend developers, and platform teams to deliver scalable, secure, and resilient cloud-native solutions using Java and Azure technologies. The ideal candidate brings technical leadership, cloud expertise, and a passion for continuous improvement, including leveraging AI-assisted development tools to enhance engineering productivity and code quality.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, enhance, and maintain backend services and APIs.
• Build scalable, secure, and resilient cloud-native applications.
• Participate in architecture and design discussions and contribute to technical solutioning.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and deliver new features and capabilities.
• Identify performance bottlenecks, troubleshoot issues, and implement effective solutions.
• Conduct code reviews and champion engineering best practices, quality standards, and secure coding principles.
• Support application modernization and technical debt reduction initiatives.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation using Azure DevOps.
• Participate in production support, incident response, root cause analysis, and operational readiness activities.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior engineers.
• Evaluate and leverage AI-assisted development tools to improve productivity, code quality, testing, and delivery speed.
• Help maintain code quality, organization, documentation, and automation standards.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience, ideally closer to 15 years with extensive Java backend development.
• Strong experience developing applications using Java 17 or higher.
• Experience with Spring Framework and Spring Boot.
• Experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and microservices architectures.
• Strong understanding of web applications, web services, and distributed systems.
• Experience with cloud platforms, preferably Microsoft Azure.
• Experience with Azure services such as App Services, Azure SQL, Service Bus, API Management, Application Insights, or similar cloud-native services.
• Experience with Git-based source control, Azure DevOps Repos, pull requests, and branching strategies.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps.
• Strong understanding of databases, SQL, and application data integration patterns.
• Experience troubleshooting complex, interconnected systems and applications.
• Understanding of application scalability, resilience, observability, and performance optimization.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments.
• Familiarity with AI-powered development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, AI-assisted code generation, testing, analysis, and debugging).
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to learn new technologies and adapt to changing business needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Docker and Kubernetes (AKS preferred).
• Experience with event-driven architectures and messaging platforms.
• Experience working in the banking or financial services industry.
• Knowledge of secure software development practices and regulatory considerations in financial systems.
• Awareness of sustainable coding practices and energy-efficient system design.

Benefits

• Health and welfare benefits coverage options including medical, dental, and vision.
• Spending accounts and life insurance.
• Voluntary plans.
• Participation in a 401(k) plan.