Senior Technical Lead - Java / Distributed Systems

Randstad is seeking a hands-on Senior Technical Lead - Java / Distributed Systems to drive the technical design, development, and delivery of core enterprise applications supporting large-scale workforce and operations modernization. In this role, you will go beyond routine API creation to architect and build reusable software frameworks, rules-driven engines, event-driven pipelines, and shared libraries that power business-critical services across multiple applications. Operating as a coding leader rather than an administrative manager, you will partner closely with Architects, Product Owners, and engineering teams to evaluate technical trade-offs, conduct code reviews, mentor engineers, and enforce modern distributed-system patterns using Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, and AWS., Lead Hands-On Development: Drive the design, implementation, and deployment of resilient, high-throughput microservices and shared enterprise components using modern Java and Spring Boot.

Build Reusable Frameworks: Design externalized, configuration-driven business rules engines, common SDKs, and shared libraries to standardize delivery and eliminate duplicate logic across teams.

Architect Event & Integration Streams: Develop reliable Kafka producers, consumers, and distributed messaging pipelines implementing patterns such as retries, circuit breakers, and dead-letter queues.

Data Modeling & Optimization: Design scalable relational and NoSQL data structures, author complex queries, and resolve database performance bottlenecks.

Deploy Cloud-Native Solutions: Build and maintain containerized applications within AWS (Lambda, S3, EC2, API Gateway, SQS/SNS) with Infrastructure as Code and DevSecOps-driven CI/CD pipelines.

Ensure Operational Observability & Security: Implement distributed tracing, metrics, centralized logging, secrets management, and robust API security standards (OAuth2, JWT).

Technical Mentorship & Governance: Lead code reviews, troubleshoot complex cross-environment defects, establish development best practices, and guide engineers through implementation trade-offs.

Education & Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience, paired with 10+ years of software engineering experience (including 8+ years of dedicated Java development).

Framework Mastery: 5+ years building enterprise microservices and services with Java, Spring Boot, and the broader Spring ecosystem.

Technical Leadership: 3+ years serving as a hands-on Senior Technical Lead, Lead Engineer, or Principal Engineer leading delivery while remaining actively engaged in the codebase.

Distributed Systems & Messaging: Proven expertise with Apache Kafka, event-driven architecture, domain-driven design, and fault-tolerant integration patterns.

Database & Cloud Skills: Strong relational/NoSQL database performance tuning, complex SQL authoring, and practical development experience with AWS core services.