Java Lead Engineer

TEKsystems

Sheffield

Hybrid

GBP 74,000 - 111,000

Full time

4 days ago

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Job summary

Tier 1 Financial Services Company in Sheffield is seeking a Development Lead (Kotlin/Java) to provide technical leadership for an agile team. The role focuses on back-end features, API/microservices, and collaboration across engineering and product teams.

Hybrid working pattern with office presence two days per week. You will shape technical approaches, refine backlogs, and ensure delivery-ready work while mentoring engineers in best practices and secure coding.

Qualifications

Strong Kotlin experience, or significant Java experience with willingness to learn Kotlin.
Experience leading or acting as a senior engineer within an agile delivery team.
Proven ability to refine and decompose work, manage dependencies, and remove blockers.
Strong experience in microservices and API development.
Experience with asynchronous messaging technologies such as Kafka or similar event-driven platforms.
Experience in API/SQL/HTML/Databases.
Strong problem-solving and production support mindset.
Experience with GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira and Confluence.
Excellent written and verbal communication; collaborative across teams.
Proactive ownership of end-to-end delivery.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day technical leadership for an agile engineering team.
Lead backlog refinement, breaking epics into user stories and defining acceptance criteria.
Support sprint planning by shaping technical approaches and identifying spikes.
Design, develop and implement back-end features (Kotlin/Java) with some UI work.
Build and evolve APIs and microservices with consistent engineering patterns.
Contribute to architectural decisions with the Tech Lead.
Deliver end-to-end solutions from idea to ongoing support.
Coach team members in engineering best practices and clean code.
Drivеп peer reviews and engineering standards for quality and readability.
Work in an agile CI/CD environment promoting automation and quality gates.
Collaborate with developers, testers and the wider organisation.
Engage with customers/users to resolve issues and requests.

Skills

Kotlin

Java

Leadership

Agile delivery

API development

Microservices

Kafka

GitHub

Bitbucket

Jira

Confluence

SQL/Databases

HTML/JavaScript

Communication

Tools

GitHub

Bitbucket

Jira

Confluence

Job description

Tier 1 Financial Services Company

Development Lead (Kotlin/Java)

Location: Sheffield (2 days per week in the office)

Contract Type: Contract

Working Pattern: Full Time

About the Project

The Developer Platforms, Standards and Controls team is building a platform that enables control owners and development teams to manage and view their compliance with a range of software development standards and controls.

You will work across Kotlin and Java-based in-house web applications and APIs. We are hiring across 2-3 applications and proof-of-concepts, with allocation depending on experience and fit. The solutions include both microservice architectures and monoliths built using modern engineering practices.

What You'll Be Doing

Provide day-to-day technical leadership for an agile engineering team, supporting the overall Tech Lead to deliver outcomes at pace and with quality.
Lead technical input into backlog refinement, breaking epics and features into well-defined user stories, clarifying acceptance criteria, identifying dependencies, and ensuring work is delivery-ready.
Support sprint planning by shaping technical approaches, identifying spikes, and helping the team size work appropriately.
Design, develop and implement primarily back-end features, including Kotlin/Java APIs and services, with a small element of UI work using a simple UI framework.
Build and evolve APIs and microservices, applying consistent engineering patterns such as error handling, logging, resilience, and security-by-design.
Contribute to architectural and design decisions alongside the Tech Lead, documenting key decisions and trade-offs where required.
Design, build and deliver in-house solutions end-to-end, from initial ideas and requirements through development, testing, and ongoing support.
Coach and develop team members in engineering best practices, including clean code, test-driven development, secure coding, and maintainable design.
Drive effective peer reviews and engineering standards to ensure code quality, readability, and attention to detail.
Work within an agile CI/CD environment, promoting automation and quality gates while delivering rapid iterations at a sustainable pace.
Collaborate with developers, testers and the wider organisation to build, run and improve products.
Engage proactively with customers and users to resolve issues, respond to feature requests, and reduce recurring operational challenges.

Skills & experience Required

Strong Kotlin experience, or significant Java experience with a willingness to learn Kotlin.
experience leading or acting as a senior engineer within an agile delivery team.
Proven ability to refine and decompose work, manage dependencies, and remove technical blockers.
Strong experience in microservices and API development.
experience with asynchronous messaging technologies such as Kafka or similar event-driven platforms.
experience in at least two or three of the following:
- API development
- SQL/Databases
- HTML/JavaScript
Strong technical and analytical troubleshooting skills, including a production support mindset.
experience with developer collaboration tools such as GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira and Confluence.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Strong interpersonal skills and a collaborative approach to working across engineering, testing, product and control owner teams.
Proactive attitude with ownership of end-to-end delivery, including resolving blockers and prioritising work.