Principal Java Engineer

RE Partners; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

RE Partners seeks a hands-on Senior Java Principal Engineer to join an emerging Deployment Security & Software Reliability Engineering team. You will work with development teams to speed up, secure, and stabilize software releases, focusing on Java, CI/CD, dependency modernization, automated testing, and software supply-chain security.

The role is highly technical, requiring strong Java expertise, experience with Spring Boot, and the ability to implement modern release automation and security

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with Java.
• Strong Java/Spring Boot expertise for enterprise apps.
• Hands-on in CI/CD, release processes, and automation.
• Experience with Gradle or Maven and dependency management.
• Security-focused with software supply-chain knowledge (SBOM, SCA).

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and troubleshoot enterprise Java services.
• Collaborate with teams to remove barriers to rapid, safe releases.
• Modernize apps via dependency upgrades and automated transforms.
• Improve CI/CD, release branching, and deployment automation.
• Support containerized deployments with Kubernetes and related tooling.
• Improve code quality gates and security scanning integration.
• Address issues across code, builds, config, and deployments.
• Contribute to reusable engineering practices across teams.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

CI/CD

Software reliability

Kubernetes

Application security

SAST/SCA tooling

SBOM/CycloneDX

Static analysis

Tools

Gradle

Maven

Snyk

Black Duck

Checkmarx

OpenRewrite

Renovate

CycloneDX

Job description

Senior Java Principal level Engineer - Deployment Security & Software Reliability

We are seeking an experienced, hands‑on Senior Java Engineer to join a newly established Deployment Security and Software Reliability Engineering team supporting one of the world’s largest financial institutions.

This is not a traditional development, support, or operations role. You will work directly with development teams to make software releases faster, safer, and more secure, identifying what is preventing teams from releasing effectively and helping solve those problems hands‑on.

The role is highly hands‑on, with a focus on Java, CI/CD, dependency modernization, automated testing, software supply‑chain security, containerization, release automation, and vulnerability remediation.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, troubleshoot, and improve enterprise Java applications and services.
• Work directly with development teams to identify and resolve technical barriers to safe and rapid software delivery.
• Improve and modernize applications through dependency upgrades and automated code transformation, using tools such as Renovate and OpenRewrite.
• Improve CI/CD build and release processes, including release branching, cascading merges, semantic or calendar versioning, and deployment automation.
• Build and improve automated, local, and smoke testing.
• Work with build and package ecosystems including Gradle, Maven, npm, and related tooling.
• Integrate and improve static code analysis, code quality gates, and application security scanning.
• Support integrations with tools such as Snyk, Black Duck, and Checkmarx.
• Work with SARIF, SBOM tooling, and CycloneDX to improve software supply‑chain visibility and security.
• Support and improve containerized and Kubernetes‑based application deployments.
• Troubleshoot complex issues across application code, dependencies, builds, configuration, testing, and deployment processes.
• Contribute to reusable engineering practices and automation that can be adopted across development teams.

Required Skills & Experience

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with strong hands‑on expertise in Java.
• Strong experience designing, developing, troubleshooting, and improving enterprise applications.
• Strong understanding of modern Java / Spring Boot development and architecture.
• Hands‑on experience with CI/CD, build pipelines, and software release processes.
• Experience with Gradle and/or Maven and dependency management.
• Experience with automated testing and improving release confidence.
• Experience with dependency upgrades and application modernization.
• Understanding of application security, vulnerability remediation, and software supply‑chain security.
• Experience with static analysis, code quality gates, SAST/SCA tooling, or platforms such as Snyk, Black Duck, or Checkmarx.
• Familiarity with SBOM concepts, CycloneDX, or SARIF.
• Experience with containerized applications and Kubernetes environments.
• Ability to work across application code, configuration, builds, testing, and deployment processes.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with development teams to understand problems and drive solutions through implementation.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Renovate and OpenRewrite.
• Experience with semantic versioning, calendar versioning, release branches, or cascading merges.
• Experience across additional ecosystems such as Node.js/npm, Python/PyPI, .NET/NuGet, or Go.
• Experience with Shell, Bash, PowerShell, or Pkl.
• Experience working in Software Reliability Engineering, DevSecOps, Platform Engineering, or deployment engineering environments.
• Experience helping teams modernize existing applications and software delivery practices.
• Experience working within large, complex engineering organizations.
• Financial services or banking experience is beneficial but not required.

Hybrid: 2-3 days on-site, London

NO VISA SPONSORSHIP.

60-minute interview with RE Partners founders/executives