Senior Legacy Code Modernization Specialist

DP Steel Services; Abu Dhabi; Remote; AED 240,000 - 480,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% remote work

Distributed-team collaboration

Modernization of critical apps

Continuous learning culture

Job summary

DP Steel Services in the United Arab Emirates is seeking a Senior Legacy Code Modernization Specialist to assess, refactor, and modernize mission-critical software while preserving business functionality. You will lead modernization roadmaps, decompose monoliths, implement API enablement, and improve build, test, and deployment pipelines across distributed teams.

Remote work enables collaboration with stakeholders worldwide while maintaining robust security and performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.
• 5–8 years of experience in software development, application modernization, refactoring, or enterprise systems engineering.
• Strong programming experience in languages such as Java, C#, C++, Python, JavaScript, or other relevant legacy and modern technologies.
• Experience analyzing and maintaining large, complex, or poorly documented codebases.
• Knowledge of software architecture, design patterns, clean code principles, and refactoring techniques.
• Experience with automated testing, continuous integration, version control, and regression testing.
• Familiarity with databases, APIs, system integrations, and legacy data migration.
• Understanding of application security, dependency management, performance optimization, and reliability engineering.
• Experience with cloud migration, containerization, microservices, or modular architecture is an advantage.
• Strong analytical, debugging, problem-solving, and technical documentation skills.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams remotely.

Responsibilities

• Assess legacy applications, identify technical debt, and develop modernization roadmaps.
• Refactor outdated codebases to improve readability, maintainability, performance, and testability.
• Modernize legacy applications using current languages, frameworks, libraries, and architectural patterns.
• Plan and execute incremental migrations, including monolith decomposition, API enablement, and service modernization.
• Analyze existing business logic, dependencies, data flows, and undocumented system behavior.
• Develop automated tests and regression testing strategies to preserve functionality.
• Identify security vulnerabilities, obsolete dependencies, and compliance risks.
• Collaborate with architects, developers, QA, DevOps, and stakeholders.
• Improve build processes, deployment pipelines, monitoring, and workflows.
• Establish coding standards, documentation practices, and code review guidelines.
• Support data migration, system integration, performance tuning, and production releases.
• Track modernization progress, risks, milestones, and quality improvements.

Skills

Software modernization

Java

C#

C++

Python

JavaScript

Refactoring

CI/CD

APIs

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Software Engineering/Information Technology

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Version control

Cloud platforms

Job description

Job Title: Senior Legacy Code Modernization Specialist

Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Work Arrangement: 100% Remote — Work From Home

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Legacy Code Modernization Specialist to assess, refactor, and modernize legacy software systems while preserving critical business functionality. The successful candidate will improve code quality, maintainability, security, and performance while supporting migration to modern architectures, frameworks, and development practices with minimal operational disruption.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess legacy applications, identify technical debt, and develop practical modernization roadmaps.
• Refactor outdated codebases to improve readability, maintainability, performance, and testability.
• Modernize legacy applications using current programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and architectural patterns.
• Plan and execute incremental migrations, including monolith decomposition, API enablement, and service modernization where appropriate.
• Analyze existing business logic, dependencies, data flows, and undocumented system behavior.
• Develop automated tests and regression testing strategies to preserve existing functionality during modernization.
• Identify security vulnerabilities, obsolete dependencies, unsupported components, and compliance risks.
• Collaborate with software architects, developers, QA engineers, DevOps specialists, and business stakeholders.
• Improve build processes, deployment pipelines, monitoring, and development workflows for modernized applications.
• Establish coding standards, documentation practices, and code review guidelines.
• Support data migration, system integration, performance tuning, and production releases.
• Track modernization progress, technical risks, delivery milestones, and measurable quality improvements.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.
• At least 5–8 years of experience in software development, application modernization, refactoring, or enterprise systems engineering.
• Strong programming experience in languages such as Java, C#, C++, Python, JavaScript, or other relevant legacy and modern technologies.
• Experience analyzing and maintaining large, complex, or poorly documented codebases.
• Knowledge of software architecture, design patterns, clean code principles, and refactoring techniques.
• Experience with automated testing, continuous integration, version control, and regression testing.
• Familiarity with databases, APIs, system integrations, and legacy data migration.
• Understanding of application security, dependency management, performance optimization, and reliability engineering.
• Experience with cloud migration, containerization, microservices, or modular architecture is an advantage.
• Strong analytical, debugging, problem-solving, and technical documentation skills.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams remotely.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation based on qualifications and professional experience.
• A 100% remote working arrangement with flexible coordination across distributed teams.
• Opportunities to modernize business-critical applications and improve long-term software sustainability.
• A collaborative environment that values technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning.