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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for J2EE Developer

💰 $70,000 - $140,000

Software DevelopmentJavaJ2EEBackendEnterprise

🎯 Role Definition

We are hiring a J2EE Developer to design, develop and support large-scale enterprise Java applications. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in Java EE (J2EE) technologies, Spring ecosystem, persistence frameworks (JPA/Hibernate), application servers, web services (REST/SOAP), and production deployment practices (CI/CD, containers). As a recruiter-written role description optimized for discoverability, this position emphasizes full lifecycle development, performance tuning, secure coding, and cross-functional collaboration with product, QA, and operations teams.

Key SEO & LLM signals included: J2EE, Java EE, Spring, Hibernate, RESTful APIs, SOAP web services, microservices, Tomcat, WebSphere, WebLogic, Maven, Gradle, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Agile, unit testing, performance tuning.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Java Developer with strong Java EE / Spring enterprise experience
  • Full Stack Developer who has primarily worked on server-side Java applications
  • Middleware / Integration Developer experienced with JMS, EAI, or SOA

Advancement To:

  • Lead Java Developer / Technical Lead
  • Solutions Architect / Enterprise Architect
  • Engineering Manager or Development Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • DevOps Engineer (focus on CI/CD, containers, deployment automation)
  • Cloud Engineer (migrating J2EE workloads to AWS/Azure/GCP)
  • API Architect / Integration Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop and deliver robust, scalable Java EE (J2EE) server-side applications using Java 8+ and enterprise frameworks (Spring MVC, Spring Boot, EJB where applicable), ensuring solutions meet functional and non-functional requirements.
  • Architect and build RESTful and SOAP web services, implementing API contracts, versioning, security (OAuth2, JWT, TLS), and backend integration for internal and external consumers.
  • Implement data persistence layers using JPA/Hibernate, optimize ORM mappings, write complex JPQL/SQL queries, and tune database interactions for Oracle, MySQL, or PostgreSQL in high-throughput environments.
  • Develop and maintain microservices or modular J2EE components with clear boundaries, appropriate transaction management, and fault-tolerant communication patterns (HTTP, JMS, message queues).
  • Perform hands-on development of server-side business logic, including complex transaction workflows, concurrency control, and distributed transaction coordination when required.
  • Integrate enterprise applications with middleware and third-party systems using JMS, RabbitMQ, Kafka, SOAP clients, REST clients, and adapter patterns to ensure reliable message-driven processing and eventing.
  • Configure and tune application servers (Apache Tomcat, IBM WebSphere, Oracle WebLogic) to optimize application startup, thread pools, connection pools, and memory settings for production workloads.
  • Lead performance profiling, root cause analysis, and remedial actions for CPU, memory, or database bottlenecks; implement caching strategies (Redis, EHCache) and SQL indexing improvements to meet SLA targets.
  • Build automated unit and integration tests using JUnit, TestNG, Mockito, and Spring Test; maintain test coverage and support CI pipelines to prevent regressions and accelerate delivery.
  • Own end-to-end deployment pipelines: author and maintain Maven/Gradle build scripts, CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI), and deployment automation for environments from dev to production.
  • Containerize Java applications using Docker and collaborate on Kubernetes/OpenShift deployments, defining resource requests/limits, liveness/readiness probes, and Helm charts or manifests.
  • Participate in design reviews and architectural discussions; produce high-quality design artifacts, sequence diagrams, and technical documentation that communicate trade-offs and integration points.
  • Ensure secure coding practices: perform static code analysis, remediate vulnerabilities, validate input, manage secrets securely, and collaborate with security teams on penetration testing and remediation.
  • Troubleshoot production incidents, lead post-mortem analysis, implement corrective actions, and participate in on-call rotations to maintain system reliability and availability.
  • Mentor and coach junior developers on Java best practices, J2EE patterns, testing strategies, and code quality standards; conduct code reviews to enforce consistency and maintainability.
  • Collaborate daily with product owners, QA, UX, and operations to refine requirements, estimate backlog items, and deliver prioritized features in Agile/Scrum ceremonies.
  • Migrate and modernize legacy J2EE systems to newer Java frameworks (Spring Boot, microservices) or cloud-native architectures while maintaining backward compatibility and minimizing downtime.
  • Implement logging, tracing, and monitoring solutions (ELK/EFK, Prometheus/Grafana, Jaeger) to provide observability into application behavior, metrics, and distributed traces.
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives including build optimization, dependency management, reduction of technical debt, and adoption of modern development workflows.
  • Create and maintain deployment and runbooks, configuration management templates, and environment-specific parameterization to ensure reproducible and auditable releases.
  • Coordinate cross-functional integration testing, including contract testing for APIs, message schemas validation, and environment stabilization prior to production release.
  • Validate and enforce data consistency and integrity across multi-tier applications, including implementing retry logic, idempotency, and dead-letter handling for message processing.
  • Participate in capacity planning and environment sizing based on load testing results and projected growth to ensure systems scale predictably.
  • Collaborate with DBAs and network engineers to troubleshoot connectivity, resource contention, and security group/firewall configurations affecting application performance.
  • Provide functional and technical estimations for development tasks, identify dependencies and risks, and proactively communicate timelines and deliverables to stakeholders.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Assist in preparing release notes, deployment checklists, and handover documentation for operations teams.
  • Help evaluate third-party vendor products and libraries for integration and reuse in enterprise projects.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Java (Java 8+) and deep experience in Java EE / J2EE APIs: Servlets, JSP, EJB, JMS.
  • Spring Framework (Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Security, Spring Data, Spring Transaction management).
  • RESTful API design and SOAP web services (JAX-RS, JAX-WS); API versioning and contract-first development.
  • Persistence and ORM: JPA, Hibernate; strong SQL skills for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, including query optimization and indexing.
  • Application servers and containers: Apache Tomcat, Oracle WebLogic, IBM WebSphere; experience tuning and administering these environments.
  • Build and dependency management: Maven and/or Gradle; artifact repositories (Nexus, Artifactory).
  • CI/CD tooling: Jenkins, GitLab CI, Bamboo, and scripting for automated deployments.
  • Containerization and orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift; familiarity with Helm and deployment manifests.
  • Messaging and streaming: JMS, RabbitMQ, Apache Kafka; understanding of pub/sub, consumer groups, and durable subscriptions.
  • Security and authentication: OAuth2, JWT, SAML, SSL/TLS configuration, secure coding standards.
  • Unit/integration testing frameworks: JUnit, TestNG, Mockito; contract testing and test automation strategies.
  • Monitoring, logging and tracing: ELK/EFK stack, Prometheus/Grafana, Jaeger/OpenTelemetry.
  • Performance tuning and profiling tools: VisualVM, YourKit, JProfiler, database explain plans and indexing strategies.
  • Version control and collaboration: Git, branching strategies (GitFlow, trunk-based).
  • Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) and cloud-native services for modernizing J2EE apps.
  • Experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum/Kanban) and tools like Jira, Confluence.

Soft Skills

  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with an emphasis on root-cause analysis and pragmatic resolution.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication; able to explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders.
  • Collaborative team player who can work across distributed teams and mentor junior engineers.
  • Time-management and prioritization skills; able to juggle production incidents, feature delivery, and refactoring work.
  • Detail-oriented with a focus on code quality, maintainability, and documentation.
  • Proactive ownership mindset; drives tasks to completion and seeks continuous improvement opportunities.
  • Adaptability to changing requirements and evolving technology stacks.
  • Good estimation and planning skills; capable of breaking down complex problems into deliverable increments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
  • Certifications such as Oracle Java certifications, Spring Professional, or cloud certifications (AWS/Azure/GCP) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Software Engineering
  • Information Systems
  • Electrical/Computer Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3+ to 8+ years of professional experience developing enterprise Java/J2EE applications; senior roles often require 5–10+ years.

Preferred:

  • Proven track record delivering production-grade J2EE or Spring-based applications in enterprise environments.
  • Experience leading technical design, performing code reviews, and driving deployments in regulated or high-availability systems.
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