Sr. Backend Developer (Java & Kafka)

Seeking a Senior Backend Developer (Java & Kafka) for a premier client in the Washington, D.C. area to drive the development of enterprise-grade backend services powering critical logistics, scheduling, and yard management workflows. In this high-impact role, you will lead backend development efforts using Java and Spring Boot, architecting resilient, event-driven integrations with Apache Kafka and deploying cloud-native applications within an AWS environment. As a senior member of the engineering team, you will champion technical excellence, mentor junior developers, and collaborate closely with product owners and architects to deliver highly scalable, secure solutions that keep supply chains moving., * Backend & API Development: Design, develop, and maintain performant, enterprise-grade Java and Spring Boot backend services and REST APIs supporting mission-critical operational workflows (yard, equipment, and consist management).

• Event-Driven Architecture: Lead the design and implementation of Kafka-based event-driven integrations, managing topics, partitions, consumer groups, producers, and messaging workflows.
• System Integration & Batch Processing: Build scalable integration patterns for internal and external systems using modern messaging, batch processing, data pipelines, and data synchronization patterns.
• Database Optimization: Design and optimize PostgreSQL database models, complex queries, indexing strategies, and data access patterns for high-throughput applications.
• Cloud & DevOps: Deploy and support cloud-native applications using AWS services (ECS/Fargate, Lambda, API Gateway, S3) and contribute to CI/CD automation pipelines.
• Technical Leadership: Perform rigorous code reviews, mentor developers, promote engineering best practices, and ensure strict adherence to security, compliance, and observability standards.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Product Owners, Architects, UX designers, and business stakeholders in an Agile/Scrum environment to refine requirements and troubleshoot production issues.

• Experience: 8 years of hands-on experience developing enterprise applications using Java, with 5 years focused on Spring Boot, REST APIs, and microservice architectures.
• Kafka Expertise: 3 years of deep, hands-on experience building, deploying, and troubleshooting Apache Kafka solutions, including a strong grasp of event-driven and domain-driven design patterns.
• Database Skills: Proven track record with PostgreSQL (or similar relational databases) database design, advanced SQL optimization, and query tuning.
• AWS Cloud: Solid experience with core AWS services, including ECS/Fargate, Lambda, S3, CloudWatch, Secrets Manager, and infrastructure tooling like CloudFormation or CodePipeline.
• DevOps & Tooling: Familiarity with modern CI/CD and DevOps workflows using Git, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Jira, and SonarQube.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Bonus Points (Preferred): Prior experience in the transportation, railroad, or logistics industries; familiarity with frontend architectures like Angular; experience with Schema Registry/Avro; or hands-on enterprise security knowledge (OAuth2/OIDC, Azure Entra ID).