Lead Java Engineer

Mindera; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology firm in the United Kingdom is seeking a Lead Backend Engineer with expertise in Java and Kotlin for a six-month contract. Candidates should be familiar with building cloud-native applications, and have a strong background in leading complex projects and fostering team collaboration. The role focuses on developing secure payment services and influencing business decisions. Strong communication and problem-solving skills are key to success in this position, which requires in-office work three days a week.

Benefits

Competitive Rates

Possibility of contract extension

Friendly team environment

Opportunity with leading UK retailers

Qualifications

• Lead technical deep dives and knowledge sharing in teams.
• Write high-quality Java code using frameworks like Spring Boot.
• Build and support cloud-native systems, preferably on Azure.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering projects and influence product decisions.
• Develop integrations with payment gateways and fraud detection tools.
• Champion secure coding practices and data protection across services.

Skills

Kotlin

Java

Problem-solving

Communication

Agile

Education

Proven experience as a Lead Java Engineer

Tools

Kafka

Terraform

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

Job description

At Mindera, we craft software with people we love.

We’re looking for a Lead backend engineer with a background in Kotlin or Java. Familiarity with Micronaut (or similar frameworks such as Spring Boot). Experience working in Identity teams (authentication, authorisation, SSO/OAuth). Proven track record of leading complex engineering projects. Strong problem-solving and communication skills.

Nice to Have: Experience with IAM platforms (Okta, Auth0, Keycloak, ForgeRock). Knowledge of identity/security standards such as OpenID Connect, JWT, SAML, MFA. Cloud platform experience (Azure, AWS, or GCP). Exposure to DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.

Please note: This is a six month contract that sits outside IR35. You will be required to work in Paddington 3 days a week.

What does the role involve?

• Lead technical deep dives and knowledge sharing in the teams, anticipating challenges and proposing solutions
• Start influencing product and business decisions

Hands-on Software Development:

• Write high-quality Java code using frameworks such as Spring Boot or Micronaut.
• Build robust services that support secure, high-volume payment transactions.
• Develop integrations with acquiring banks, payment gateways, and fraud detection tools.

Cloud & DevOps Practices:

• Build and support cloud-native systems on the cloud (preferably Azure) using Terraform and Kubernetes.
• Manage CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and ensure smooth delivery to production.
• Own monitoring, alerting, and observability, using tools like OpenTelemetry and Dynatrace.

Security & Compliance:

• Champion secure coding practices and data protection across services.

Collaboration & Mentoring:

• Work closely with product owners, engineering leads, and other stakeholders to shape technical solutions.
• Mentor and support more junior/mid/senior engineers, driving technical excellence across the board.
• Help establish and promote best practices around code review, testing, delivery, and operational support.

Continuous Improvement:

• Continuously improve platform reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency.
• Stay up-to-date with technology trends and proactively identify innovation opportunities.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Lead Java Engineer in backend-heavy environments in teams having multiple levels of engineering.
• Strong experience in Java 17+, ideally with experience in using Spring Boot or Micronaut. Kotlin experience is a bonus. If the applicant does not have experience they must show willingness to learn Kotlin.
• Hands-on knowledge of Kafka, event-driven architecture, enterprise integration patterns and Microservices.
• Solid understanding of payment systems and PSP integrations, including fraud, tokenisation, and settlement flows.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (Azure preferred), CI/CD, and Kubernetes.
• Working knowledge of regulatory and compliance standards (PCI DSS, SCA, PSD2).
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical concepts to a range of audiences.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum teams with a DevOps culture and test-driven mindset.

Nice to Have

• Experience with IAM platforms (Okta, Auth0, Keycloak, ForgeRock). Knowledge of identity/security standards such as OpenID Connect, JWT, SAML, MFA.
• Cloud platform experience (Azure, AWS, or GCP). Exposure to DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.

Benefits

• Competitive Rates
• Six month contract outside IR35 with possibility of extension
• Friendly and welcoming team
• Opportunity to work with one of the UK's leading Retailers

At Mindera we use technology to build products we are proud of, with people we love.

Software Engineering Applications, including Web and Mobile, are at the core of what we do at Mindera. We partner with our clients, to understand their product and deliver high performance, resilient and scalable software systems that create an impact on their users and businesses across the world.

You get to work with a bunch of great people, where the whole team owns the project together. Our culture reflects our lean and self‑organisation attitude. We encourage our colleagues to take risks, make decisions, work in a collaborative way and talk to everyone to enhance communication.

We are proud of our work and we love to learn all and everything while navigating through an Agile, Lean and collaborative environment.

Check out our Blog and Handbook

Mindera around the world: Porto, Portugal | Aveiro, Portugal | Coimbra, Portugal | Leicester, UK | San Diego, USA | San Francisco, USA | Chennai, India | Bengaluru, India | Blumenau, Brazil | Cluj-Napoca, Romania | Valencia, Spain | Casablanca, Morocco & Remote.