Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Android Developer

🎯 Role Definition

We are seeking an experienced, product-minded Android Developer to design, develop, and maintain native Android applications. This role owns feature implementation from conception to Play Store release, ensures high quality through automated tests and code reviews, and partners closely with product managers, designers, backend engineers, QA, and data teams to deliver performant, secure, and accessible mobile experiences. The ideal candidate brings deep Kotlin expertise, modern Android architecture experience (Jetpack, Compose, MVVM/Clean), and a track record of delivering production apps at scale.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Android Developer
Mobile Engineer (Android focus)
Full-stack Engineer with Android experience

Advancement To:

Senior Android Developer / Staff Android Engineer
Mobile Tech Lead / Engineering Manager
Principal Engineer (Mobile Platforms)

Lateral Moves:

iOS Developer
Cross-platform Mobile Engineer (Flutter/React Native)
Backend Engineer focused on mobile APIs

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, implement, and maintain scalable native Android applications using Kotlin and the Android SDK, ensuring high code quality, modularity, and maintainability across product releases.
Architect and build features with modern Android patterns (MVVM, MVI, Clean Architecture), applying separation of concerns and SOLID principles to produce testable and extensible code.
Lead development and adoption of Jetpack libraries (ViewModel, LiveData, Navigation, WorkManager, Paging) and Jetpack Compose for declarative UI where appropriate to accelerate delivery and consistency.
Implement and optimize RESTful API integrations and GraphQL clients, handling offline caching, synchronization strategies, and robust error handling for unreliable networks.
Write comprehensive unit and instrumentation tests (JUnit, Mockito, Espresso, Compose testing) and implement test-driving where feasible to reduce regressions and ensure high reliability.
Integrate background processing, scheduling, and persistence solutions such as WorkManager, Room/SQLite, and other local storage strategies optimized for performance and data integrity.
Implement Kotlin Coroutines and Flow for asynchronous programming and reactive data streams, and ensure cancellation, error propagation, and structured concurrency are handled correctly.
Design and apply dependency injection patterns using Dagger/Hilt or other DI frameworks to improve modularity and enable easier testing.
Investigate and remediate performance bottlenecks (CPU, memory, UI jank), perform profiling with Android Profiler, and apply optimizations for battery life and startup time.
Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Bitrise, Jenkins, CircleCI) to enable automated builds, linting, tests, and Play Store release automation.
Manage releases to Google Play Console, implement staged rollouts, release notes, versioning, and handle Play Store metadata, licensing, and in-app billing integrations.
Ensure mobile security best practices: secure storage, network encryption, certificate pinning, obfuscation (ProGuard/R8), and secure handling of sensitive user data.
Collaborate with UX/UI designers to translate visual and interaction designs into polished, accessible, and responsive Android UI that follows Material Design guidelines.
Mentor and conduct code reviews for other developers, provide constructive feedback, and champion engineering best practices across the mobile team.
Drive technical design discussions, write technical specifications, and produce prototypes and proofs-of-concept to evaluate new libraries, architectures, or platform capabilities.
Instrument telemetry, logging, and analytics (Firebase, Crashlytics, Sentry, Amplitude) to monitor app health, track user behavior, and drive data-informed product decisions.
Implement internationalization (i18n), localization, and right-to-left (RTL) support to expand reach to global audiences.
Ensure accessibility compliance (TalkBack, content descriptions, focus navigation) and usability across device sizes and OS versions to meet broad user needs.
Work closely with backend teams to define API contracts, troubleshoot integration issues, and optimize endpoints to minimize mobile payloads and latency.
Maintain documentation for architecture, APIs, release processes, and onboarding guides to accelerate team ramp-up and knowledge sharing.
Participate in Agile ceremonies, estimate tasks, break down features into deliverable stories, and plan iterations in collaboration with product owners.
Proactively monitor and update apps for compatibility with new Android OS releases, SDK changes, and third-party dependency updates.
Lead or contribute to cross-platform initiatives, SDKs, or shared libraries to reduce duplication and enhance consistency across Android applications.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc feature requests, bug investigations, and hotfixes to ensure production stability and customer satisfaction.
Contribute to the organization's mobile strategy, roadmap, and technical standards to improve platform scalability and developer productivity.
Collaborate with product managers and designers to translate business requirements into technical implementations with appropriate trade-offs and timelines.
Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies to continuously improve team delivery and processes.
Conduct competitive analysis, monitor industry trends, and pilot new Android technologies (e.g., Jetpack Compose, Kotlin Multiplatform) for strategic adoption.
Assist QA with reproducibility of reported issues, provide testing artifacts, and help validate fixes across device matrices and API levels.
Support onboarding of new mobile engineers by creating learning materials, code walkthroughs, and pairing or mentoring sessions.
Coordinate with DevOps to optimize build pipelines, caching strategies, and artifact management for faster developer feedback loops.
Engage with customer support to triage critical issues, gather actionable bug reports, and prioritize fixes based on user impact.
Help manage third-party SDK relationships, review privacy/security implications, and ensure license compliance.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Expert in Kotlin and strong knowledge of Java for Android platform interoperability.
Deep familiarity with Android SDK, AndroidX libraries, and Jetpack components (ViewModel, Navigation, LiveData, WorkManager).
Experience building UIs with Jetpack Compose and/or XML layouts, following Material Design principles and responsive design practices.
Solid experience with architecture patterns: MVVM, MVI, Clean Architecture, and modular app structures.
Proficient with asynchronous programming using Kotlin Coroutines and Flow.
Hands-on experience with local persistence (Room, SQLite), caching strategies, and offline-first design.
Strong experience integrating RESTful APIs and GraphQL, using Retrofit/OkHttp, and implementing network resilience patterns.
Dependency injection experience with Hilt or Dagger and familiarity with service locators when appropriate.
Unit testing and UI testing expertise (JUnit, Mockito, Espresso, Compose testing), and knowledge of test automation practices.
CI/CD and release automation experience (GitHub Actions, Bitrise, Jenkins, Fastlane) including Play Store deployment.
Knowledge of app performance profiling, memory leak detection, and optimization tools (Android Profiler, LeakCanary).
Experience with analytics, crash reporting and monitoring tools (Firebase Analytics, Crashlytics, Sentry, Amplitude).
Experience with Google Play Console, in-app purchases/Billing, push notifications (FCM), and app signing.
Familiarity with security best practices: encryption, secure storage, certificate pinning, and code obfuscation (R8/ProGuard).
Version control expertise (Git), code review workflows, and branching strategies.
Familiarity with cross-platform tooling or Kotlin Multiplatform is a plus.
Experience working across multiple Android API levels and device form factors (phones, tablets, foldables, Android TV) is beneficial.

Soft Skills

Strong communication skills for cross-functional collaboration with product, design, and backend teams.
Product-oriented mindset with the ability to balance user experience, performance, and delivery timelines.
Excellent problem-solving, debugging, and troubleshooting abilities under production pressure.
Attention to detail and commitment to high code quality, maintainability, and testing.
Self-driven and proactive, able to independently scope work and take ownership of features end-to-end.
Mentorship and teamwork skills: ability to guide junior engineers and contribute to a positive engineering culture.
Time management and prioritization skills in fast-paced, iterative development environments.
Adaptability to changing technical requirements and eagerness to learn new tools and frameworks.
Empathy for users and a focus on accessibility, internationalization, and inclusive design.
Data-driven decision making: ability to use telemetry and analytics to guide product and technical choices.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, or related field, or relevant professional certifications (Android Developer, Kotlin certification).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Software Engineering
Information Systems
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Human-Computer Interaction / Design

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of professional Android development experience building production mobile applications.

Preferred:

5+ years of Android development experience, demonstrable ownership of published apps on Google Play, strong Kotlin and Jetpack Compose expertise, and experience operating in an Agile product organization.