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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Java Software Developer

💰 $90,000 - $150,000

Software DevelopmentJavaBackend EngineeringCloudMicroservices

🎯 Role Definition

As a Java Software Developer you will design, implement, test, and maintain high-quality backend systems and APIs using modern Java technologies (Java 8/11/17+), Spring ecosystem, and cloud-native patterns. You will collaborate with product managers, QA, DevOps, and other engineers to deliver reliable, performant, and secure services in a microservices architecture. This role requires strong software engineering fundamentals, an ownership mindset for delivery and operations, and the ability to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions optimized for scale and maintainability.

Keywords: Java Developer, Spring Boot, Microservices, REST APIs, Hibernate, JPA, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, CI/CD, performance tuning, backend engineer, cloud-native Java.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Java Developer / Software Engineer I
  • Computer Science or Software Engineering graduate with internship experience
  • Backend Engineer or Application Developer (other OO languages)

Advancement To:

  • Senior Java Developer / Software Engineer II
  • Tech Lead / Lead Developer
  • Software Architect / Principal Engineer
  • Engineering Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Full Stack Developer (Java + Frontend frameworks)
  • DevOps / SRE Engineer (CI/CD, cloud ops)
  • Cloud Engineer / Platform Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and RESTful APIs using Java (8/11/17+), Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Data, and Spring Security, ensuring clean architecture and adherence to SOLID principles.
  • Implement microservices-based solutions that integrate via well-documented REST/JSON or gRPC interfaces, support API versioning, and enable independent deployment and scaling.
  • Write high-quality, maintainable, and tested code using unit tests (JUnit, TestNG), mocking frameworks (Mockito), and integration tests; aim for strong code coverage and continuous testing practices.
  • Collaborate closely with product owners, business analysts, and UX designers to translate functional requirements into technical designs, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
  • Participate in code reviews to maintain code quality, share best practices, and mentor junior engineers by providing constructive feedback and pair programming when needed.
  • Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions) to automate build, test, and deployment processes, and to support frequent, reliable releases to staging and production.
  • Containerize applications with Docker and manage deployments using Kubernetes/OpenShift, ensuring robust configuration, secrets management, and scalable resource allocation.
  • Implement and maintain database schemas and data access layers using JPA/Hibernate, JdbcTemplate, and optimize SQL queries for relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle) and NoSQL stores (MongoDB, Cassandra).
  • Integrate with messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ) and event-driven architectures to build asynchronous, resilient processing pipelines and decoupled service communication.
  • Apply observability practices: implement logging (SLF4J/Logback), distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry/Zipkin), and metrics (Prometheus/Grafana) so services are monitorable and diagnosable in production.
  • Troubleshoot production incidents, perform root cause analysis, and implement long-term fixes; contribute to on-call rotations and incident post-mortems to improve system reliability.
  • Drive performance profiling and capacity planning, using tools and techniques to identify bottlenecks, optimize GC/heap settings, reduce latency, and scale services efficiently.
  • Ensure application security by applying secure coding practices, performing threat modeling, validating inputs, enforcing authentication/authorization (OAuth2/JWT), and working with security teams on audits and vulnerability remediation.
  • Design and implement integration with third-party APIs and external systems, ensuring robust error handling, retry logic, and contract testing to avoid breaking changes.
  • Lead or contribute to architectural reviews, proof-of-concepts, and technology evaluations to adopt best-fit patterns and frameworks for product and platform needs.
  • Maintain backward compatibility and migration strategies when evolving APIs and data models; implement feature flags and canary releases to reduce deployment risk.
  • Create and maintain clear technical documentation, runbooks, API docs (OpenAPI/Swagger), and design diagrams to support knowledge sharing and onboarding.
  • Collaborate with QA and automation engineers to define acceptance criteria and automate end-to-end and regression test suites for continuous delivery.
  • Participate actively in Agile ceremonies (daily stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives), estimate work, and help the team deliver predictable increments of value.
  • Refactor legacy systems and undertake incremental modernization projects (monolith-to-microservices, modularization), balancing risk, cost, and business priorities.
  • Advocate for and implement DevSecOps practices: integrate static code analysis (SonarQube), SCA, and security scanning into CI pipelines and remediation workflows.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc technical investigations, spike solutions, and exploratory prototyping to evaluate new libraries, frameworks, or architectural changes.
  • Contribute to the engineering roadmap and platform vision by proposing improvements in observability, scalability, developer productivity, and cloud cost optimization.
  • Assist business stakeholders in translating product requirements into technical user stories and acceptance tests; help prioritize technical debt versus feature work.
  • Participate in cross-functional squads or guilds to share knowledge about Java best practices, microservices design, and cloud-native patterns.
  • Help maintain release notes, deployment guides, and environment configuration standards across staging and production clusters.
  • Mentor and onboard new engineers, create learning materials, and run brown-bag sessions to raise the overall skill level of the team.
  • Work with compliance, governance, and privacy teams to ensure applications meet regulatory and data protection requirements (e.g., GDPR, SOC2).
  • Automate repetitive operational tasks (runbook automation, deployment scripts) to reduce toil and accelerate delivery.
  • Collaborate with platform/DevOps teams to improve developer self-service capabilities (templates, service operators, CI templates).
  • Contribute to open-source initiatives, internal libraries, or shared components that accelerate development and standardize patterns across teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Java (8, 11, 17+) — deep knowledge of JVM internals, concurrency, memory management, and modern language features (streams, optionals, modules).
  • Spring Framework (Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Security, Spring Data) — building production-ready Java microservices and web applications.
  • RESTful API design and OpenAPI/Swagger — designing versioned, documented, and secure HTTP APIs.
  • Microservices architecture — service decomposition, service discovery, circuit breakers, and inter-service communication patterns.
  • Relational databases & SQL — schema design, indexing, query optimization, transactions (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle).
  • ORM and data access — Hibernate, JPA, and best practices for mapping, caching, and migrations (Flyway/Liquibase).
  • NoSQL databases — practical experience with document or key-value stores (MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra) where appropriate.
  • Messaging and event-driven systems — Kafka, RabbitMQ, or JMS for asynchronous processing and event streaming.
  • Containerization & orchestration — Docker, Kubernetes (deployments, services, stateful sets, helm charts).
  • CI/CD and build tools — Maven/Gradle builds, Jenkins/GitLab CI/GitHub Actions pipelines, artifact repositories.
  • Automated testing — JUnit, Mockito, integration testing, contract testing (PACT), and test automation strategies.
  • Cloud platforms — AWS/GCP/Azure cloud services for compute, storage, managed databases, IAM, and serverless where applicable.
  • Observability & monitoring — logging frameworks, distributed tracing, metrics, APM tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Jaeger).
  • Security & compliance — authentication/authorization (OAuth2/OpenID Connect), secure coding, and vulnerability scanning.
  • Version control & collaboration — Git workflows, branching strategies, pull request etiquette.

Soft Skills

  • Strong problem-solving and analytical mindset with the ability to break down complex systems into manageable components.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication — able to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and produce clear documentation.
  • Collaboration and teamwork — experience working in Agile cross-functional teams and contributing positively to team culture.
  • Ownership and accountability — takes end-to-end responsibility for features from design through production support.
  • Mentorship and knowledge sharing — ability to coach junior engineers and advocate best practices.
  • Adaptability and continuous learning — keeps up with evolving Java ecosystem and cloud-native patterns.
  • Time management and prioritization — balances feature development, technical debt, and operational work.
  • Attention to detail with a strong focus on code quality, testing, and production readiness.
  • Customer-first mindset — understands and aligns technical decisions with user and business needs.
  • Resilience and calm under pressure — able to lead incident response and drive remediation under tight SLAs.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience and demonstrated software engineering proficiency.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Computer Science or related discipline or equivalent advanced professional certifications (Oracle Java Certification, AWS/GCP cloud certifications).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Software Engineering
  • Information Systems
  • Applied Mathematics / Electrical Engineering (with software focus)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3 - 7 years of hands-on professional experience developing backend applications in Java. (Mid to Senior level expectations)

Preferred:

  • 5+ years building production Java microservices with Spring Boot, experience with cloud deployments (AWS/Azure/GCP), container orchestration (Kubernetes), and proven track record of delivering scalable, secure, and observable systems. Experience mentoring peers, leading small teams or owning service-level architecture is a strong plus.
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