IT Software Engineer 5 / Lead Java Backend Developer

Job Description Job Title: IT Software Engineer 5 / Lead Java Backend Developer Location: Chicago, IL preferred but the role can be 100% remote but there will be travel involved when needed. Duration: 12 months contract. Position’s Contributions to Work Group: · Provides technical leadership and delivery ownership for a team of software engineers building and operating scalable cloud-native applications on AWS. · Drives architecture decisions, engineering best practices, and solution design across Spring Boot microservices, OpenSearch platforms, CI/CD, observability and AWS infrastructure. · Collaborates with product, architecture, and platform teams to deliver secure, resilient, and high-performing solutions while mentoring engineers, improving development processes, and ensuring successful execution of business objectives. Typical task breakdown: · Leads software engineers in delivering business-critical applications. · Establishes technical direction and architectural standards. · Drives AWS cloud adoption and modernization initiatives. · Ensures solution scalability, performance, security, and reliability. · Promotes DevOps, CI/CD, automation, and AI-assisted development practices. · Supports incident resolution, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. Interaction with team: · Mentors’ engineers and develop technical talent. · Partners with Product Owners, Architects, and stakeholders to align technology investments with business goals. Education & Experience Required: · Bachelor’s degree is a must. · 10+ years’ experience in this capacity with 5+ years in a lead role. Required Technical Skills: Java (latest would be ideal), Spring Boot, Microservices, REST APIs, AWS (ECS/Fargate, IAM, ALB, RDS, CloudWatch, Secrets Manager), OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, Docker, CI/CD, GitHub, Distributed Systems, Cloud Architecture, Observability, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, SQL/NoSQL databases, Event-Driven Architecture, API Integration, Performance Optimization, and AI-assisted Development Tools. Soft Skills: Strong technical leadership, communication, stakeholder management, mentoring and coaching, collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, ownership, conflict resolution, adaptability, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams while driving successful delivery of complex cloud-native solutions.