Backend & Event Streaming Engineer

eTeam Workforce Limited; Northampton; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

eTeam Workforce Limited in Northampton is seeking an experienced Backend & Event Streaming Engineer to design, develop, and support scalable Java-based microservices and event-driven platforms. The role is Northampton/2-3 days a week onsite.

You will own the full software life cycle, work with Kafka, Spring Boot, REST, Docker, and GitLab CI/CD, and apply TDD and observability practices. Collaboration with product, security, and platform teams is essential.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain production-grade Java-based microservices and event-driven applications.
• Build and optimize Kafka producers and consumers with effective partitioning, offset management, retries, and exactly-once semantics.
• Implement event-driven patterns including idempotent processing, replay, state reconstruction, and multi-topic state aggregation.
• Develop secure RESTful and event-driven integrations following best practices.

Job description

We are a Global Recruitment specialist that provides support to the clients across EMEA, APAC, US and Canada. We have an excellent job opportunity for you.

Role Title: Backend & Event Streaming Engineer
Location: Northampton/2-3 days a week onsite
Duration: 31/05/2027

Role Description

• We are seeking an experienced Backend & Event Streaming Engineer to design, develop, and support highly scalable Java-based microservices and event-driven platforms.
• The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Apache Kafka, and modern DevOps practices, with a strong focus on building resilient, observable, and high-performance Back End systems.
• This role involves ownership of the full software life cycle, from development and testing through deployment and production support.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain production-grade Spring Boot microservices, APIs, and event-driven applications.
• Build and optimize Kafka producers and consumers, including partitioning strategies, offset management, retries, compaction, dead-letter queues, and exactly-once processing.
• Implement advanced event-driven patterns including idempotent processing, event replay, state reconstruction, snapshot management, and multi-topic state aggregation.
• Develop secure and scalable RESTful and event-driven integrations using industry best practices.
• Create comprehensive unit, integration, and component tests following a strict Test-Driven Development (TDD) approach.
• Ensure application observability through structured logging, metrics, distributed tracing, and proactive monitoring.
• Support production environments by troubleshooting and resolving issues in distributed systems.
• Develop and maintain Docker containers, CI/CD pipelines, and automated deployment processes using GitLab.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, product, security, and platform teams to deliver reliable and scalable solutions.
• Leverage AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly to improve development efficiency while maintaining code quality and governance.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong hands-on experience with Java and Spring Boot for enterprise-scale Back End and microservices development.
• Deep knowledge of Apache Kafka, including consumer groups, rebalancing, offset management, partitioning, compaction, lag monitoring, and exactly-once semantics.
• Experience in event sourcing and event-driven architectures, including replay-safe processing and state management.
• Strong understanding of REST APIs, JSON Schema, and secure service-to-service communication.
• Expertise in JUnit, Maven/Gradle, mocking frameworks, and disciplined TDD practices.
• Experience with Docker, Docker Compose, and GitLab CI/CD pipelines.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot and support distributed systems in production environments.
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent platforms.

Preferred Skills

• Knowledge of CloudEvents standards and event correlation patterns.
• Experience with gRPC and high-throughput service design.
• Familiarity with observability platforms such as OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, or Observe.
• Experience working within Identity & Access Management (IAM), Authorization, or Security-focused domains.
• Exposure to regulated industries such as Banking, Financial Services