Java Software Engineer

Senior Java Software Engineer – API Platform Standards & Governance

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa (Hybrid)

Experience: 8–10+ Years

Job Overview

We are looking for an experienced Senior Java Software Engineer to provide technical leadership and governance across an enterprise API and microservices platform. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in Java, Spring Boot, API engineering, microservices architecture and technical standards.

The role focuses on architecture governance, code reviews, reusable components, API standards, security and ensuring high-quality engineering practices across multiple development teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across Java and Spring Boot microservices.
• Review and approve pull requests, ensuring code quality, security and adherence to engineering standards.
• Define and enforce Java, API, microservices and coding standards.
• Drive API governance, REST principles and OpenAPI/Swagger specifications.
• Guide architecture decisions, platform scalability and reusable component development.
• Oversee shared Java libraries, dependencies, logging and observability standards.
• Implement secure coding practices, quality gates and automated compliance checks.
• Support CI/CD pipelines, code quality and security scanning.
• Troubleshoot complex technical issues and drive root-cause analysis.
• Mentor developers and provide technical guidance across multiple teams.

Essential Skills & Experience

• 8-10+ years of professional software engineering and application development experience.
• At least 5+ years of substantial Java and Spring engineering experience.
• At least 3-5 years operating as a Senior Engineer, Lead Engineer or Technical Lead in an enterprise delivery environment.
• Demonstrated experience reviewing and approving complex code changes produced by multiple engineering teams.
• Strong experience with enterprise APIs, distributed systems, microservices, integration platforms and production troubleshooting.
• Experience across the full software development lifecycle, including design, build, test, release, operate and improve.
• Experience working in a federated or multi-team environment where technical influence is required without direct line authority.

Good to Have

• Advanced Java and modern JDK capabilities.
• Spring Boot and Spring WebFlux / reactive programming.
• Maven, parent POMs and dependency management.
• REST API design, JSON, YAML and OpenAPI / Swagger.
• Microservices, distributed systems and enterprise integration patterns.
• Git and GitHub, including pull requests, branch protection, rulesets and CODEOWNERS. MTN SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
• CI/CD, automated testing, quality gates and secure delivery pipelines.
• Docker, Kubernetes and Azure Kubernetes Service fundamentals.
• Unit, component, integration and regression testing, including JUnit, Mockito, MockMvc and WebTestClient.
• Secure coding, OAuth 2.0, TLS / mTLS, certificate trust and OWASP API security.
• Logging, tracing, metrics, performance analysis and production diagnostics.
• Cloud-native configuration, secrets management and environment promotion.

Preferred Technology and Domain Experience

• Apigee or Apigee X.

• Argo CD and GitOps deployment models.

• Azure Key Vault, Grafana and enterprise observability tooling.

• SonarQube, GitHub Advanced Security, Dependabot and Fortify.

• ServiceNow change and CAB processes.

• TM Forum Open APIs and telecommunications API domains.

• Contract-first API development and API governance.

• Telecommunications domains such as customer, product, subscription, payments, fulfilment, messaging,usage and partner integration

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems or a related discipline preferred.

Ideal Candidate: A senior technical specialist with strong Java engineering expertise and proven experience in API governance, architecture stewardship, code review and enterprise microservices platforms.