Lead Software Engineer / Technical Lead – Java & PHP | Core Telco

Long-term Contract | Budapest, Hungary | Hybrid

We are looking for an experienced Lead Software Engineer / Technical Lead for a long-term Core Telco project in Budapest.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. The Lead will actively design, develop, review and troubleshoot code while guiding developers across a complex, business-critical telecommunications environment.

Important

Hands-on experience with BOTH Java and PHP is mandatory.

This role is open only to candidates currently based in Hungary and able to work from the Budapest office 2 days per week.

Applications from outside Hungary / remote applications from abroad cannot be considered.

Project details

• Domain: Telecommunications / Core Telco
• Location: Budapest, Hungary
• Work model: Hybrid – 2 days/week in the Budapest office
• Engagement: Full-time contractor/freelancer
• Start: ASAP
• Contract: Until December 2027
• Long-term project: 1+ year

Key responsibilities

• Lead the technical design and implementation of changes across multiple interdependent services and repositories
• Remain actively involved in hands-on Java and PHP development
• Develop clean, testable and maintainable production code
• Analyze and troubleshoot complex production issues
• Work with developers, architects, integration specialists and external vendors
• Break down technical work and remove development blockers
• Perform code and design reviews
• Drive engineering standards for automated testing, documentation, security and release readiness
• Analyze and modernize large legacy codebases without disrupting business-critical services
• Mentor developers and support technical decision-making
• Take ownership of technical delivery from design through production

Mandatory requirements

• 7+ years of software development experience
• Proven hands-on Technical Lead / Lead Developer experience in complex enterprise environments
• Strong commercial development experience with Java
• Strong commercial development experience with PHP
• Both Java and PHP are mandatory
• Spring Boot and/or Quarkus
• Strong REST API experience
• Experience with microservices and distributed systems
• Experience working with large legacy codebases
• Git
• CI/CD
• Automated testing
• Docker / containerized applications
• Kubernetes
• Strong technical problem-solving and troubleshooting skills
• Experience with mentoring developers and conducting code reviews
• Good professional English

Strong advantage

• Telecommunications experience
• Core Telco
• BSS / OSS
• Core Network systems
• Large-scale, business-critical enterprise platforms
• Experience working with multiple internal teams and external vendors

If you are interested, please send your CV and hourly rate expectation to viktor.zala@altshift.hu or contact me via DM.

Please apply only if you are currently based in Hungary and can attend the Budapest office twice per week.

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