Java Engineer

GradBay; Wallingford; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

GradBay is seeking an experienced Principal Java Engineer to shape the technology strategy for its core SaaS products. You will be a senior individual contributor reporting to the CTO, defining architectural direction and high engineering standards while guiding development teams through complex challenges.

You will combine hands-on Java expertise with architectural thinking to build secure, scalable software, working across Product, Data, Operations, DevOps and QA without people-management

Qualifications

• Extensive commercial experience developing Java software and architectural scope.
• Strong knowledge of Java including JVM behavior and modern language features.
• Experience with Spring Boot, Hibernate/JPA and enterprise-scale design.

Responsibilities

• Define technology strategy and architecture for products and services.
• Design, develop and review Java applications, APIs, and integrations.
• Lead technical direction and ensure secure, reliable production services.
• Coach engineers and translate business requirements into robust designs.
• Improve development processes and engineering standards.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Hibernate/JPA

Microservices

REST APIs

OpenAPI

CI/CD

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Node.js

OWASP Security

Education

Computer Science degree

Tools

IntelliJ IDEA

GitLab Pipelines

Jenkins

OpenAPI Tools

Job description

We are looking for an experienced Principal Java Engineer to shape the technology and engineering direction of our clients core SaaS products.

This is a senior individual-contributor role with significant technical influence. Reporting to the CTO, you will be responsible for setting architectural direction, raising engineering standards and helping development teams solve complex technical challenges. You will work across Product, Data, Operations, DevOps and QA, providing technical leadership without having formal people-management responsibility.

You will combine hands‑on engineering expertise with architectural thinking, helping teams build software that is secure, dependable, maintainable and capable of scaling with the organisation.

What you will be responsible for

Technology strategy and architecture

• Establish and evolve the technical architecture across our products and services.
• Make informed architectural decisions that support both immediate requirements and longer‑term growth.
• Design, develop and review Java applications, APIs, integrations and full‑stack solutions.
• Identify and address performance, capacity, availability and resilience challenges.
• Champion secure engineering practices, including vulnerability management and secure SDLC principles.
• Work closely with Data, DevOps, Operations and QA to ensure technical decisions translate effectively into reliable production services.

Technical leadership and delivery

• Act as a senior technical authority across several Agile engineering teams.
• Turn product objectives and business requirements into practical, robust technical designs.
• Help engineering teams plan and deliver complex roadmap initiatives.
• Identify technical dependencies and obstacles early, working with teams to resolve them.
• Reduce technical delivery risk through effective planning, design and engineering guidance.
• Coach and mentor engineers, sharing knowledge and encouraging strong technical decision‑making.

Engineering quality and standards

• Establish and promote consistent engineering practices across development teams.
• Define architectural guidelines and principles that support maintainable, secure and scalable software.
• Participate in architecture, design and code reviews.
• Improve development processes, standards and ways of working where opportunities are identified.
• Encourage a culture of technical ownership, continuous improvement and high‑quality delivery.
• Provide ongoing technical guidance to engineers at different stages of their careers.

Reliability and production engineering

• Take a leading role in investigating difficult or recurring production problems.
• Drive structured root‑cause analysis and ensure corrective actions are implemented.
• Improve monitoring, logging, metrics and wider system observability.
• Ensure services are engineered to meet agreed expectations around availability, reliability and performance.
• Work alongside Operations, DevOps and QA to maintain dependable production environments.
• Encourage preventative engineering practices that reduce incidents and improve operational maturity.

Technology environment

You will work with a modern technology stack that includes:

• Spring Framework 6 and Spring Boot 3.5
• Hibernate ORM 6.6+ and JPA
• IntelliJ IDEA
• AI-assisted development tools such as Claude, Codex and GitLab Duo
• RESTful services, OpenAPI and microservice architectures
• Docker, containers, AWS and Linux
• CI/CD using GitLab Pipelines and Jenkins
• Application logging, metrics, monitoring and observability tooling
• MySQL and Apache Solr
• Modern web technologies, including frameworks such as Angular

What they're looking for

You will be someone who can operate comfortably at both strategic and technical levels. You should be able to understand the wider implications of architectural decisions while remaining close enough to the technology to provide practical engineering guidance.

Personal attributes

• Able to think beyond individual applications and consider systems as a whole.
• Strong communicator who can work effectively with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable influencing decisions through expertise, credibility and collaboration rather than formal authority.
• Pragmatic, proactive and focused on achieving measurable outcomes.
• Enjoys developing the skills and confidence of other engineers.
• Committed to high standards of software engineering and continual improvement.
• Able to act as a trusted technical partner and adviser.
• Thorough and attentive to technical detail.

Experience and technical expertise

• A degree in Computer Science or a comparable level of professional experience.
• Extensive commercial experience developing Java software, combined with substantial experience in a senior technical or architectural capacity.
• Advanced knowledge of Java, including JVM behaviour, performance considerations and modern Java language capabilities.
• Strong practical experience with Spring Boot, Hibernate/JPA and enterprise‑scale application design.
• Experience designing distributed systems and addressing scalability, availability, resilience and performance challenges.
• Familiarity with cloud‑based application architectures, Docker, Kubernetes and automated CI/CD.
• Good understanding of application security, OWASP guidance and secure software engineering.
• Experience working with a modern Node‑based front‑end technology or framework.

Their purpose is to help students navigate the world of work and make informed choices about their futures. They use technology, content and practical tools to connect young people with opportunities and help them build the confidence and skills they need.

They work with students alongside employers, universities, schools and technology partners, creating connections that benefit both sides of the recruitment process.