Software Engineer

Ford Motor; Basildon; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading automotive finance company in the UK is seeking a Java Software Engineer to join their Originations and Risk team. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in transitioning legacy systems into a modern microservices architecture while participating in the development and maintenance of high-performance Java services. Ideal candidates should have 3+ years' experience in Java and familiarity with Spring Framework, cloud infrastructure, and banking systems. This role is hybrid with flexible office attendance.

Benefits

Diversity and equality commitment

Flexible work arrangements

Opportunity to work on impactful projects

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional Java development experience.
• Strong proficiency in Java 17+.
• Solid experience with Spring Boot, Spring Data, and Spring Security.

Responsibilities

• Analyze existing services and work to refactor into a modern microservices architecture.
• Build and maintain high-performance Java services for credit applications.
• Ensure stability of core financial services during peak hours.

Skills

Java proficiency

Spring Framework

Refactoring skills

Microservices architecture

Tools

Google Cloud Platform

Kafka

MongoDB

Job description

Role Summary

Ford Credit Europe is the financial heart of our business, enabling millions of customers to drive away in their dream vehicles. We are seeking a Java Software Engineer to join our Originations and Risk team.

This is a pivotal time for FCE. You won't just be maintaining systems; you will be a key player in rationalizing our existing service landscape. You will help us decompose legacy logic and migrate it into a modern, supportable, cloud-native architecture. If you enjoy the challenge of untangling complex business logic and rebuilding it using modern patterns, this role is for you.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications and Skills

• Experience: 3+ years of professional Java development experience, ideally within a regulated industry like Finance, Fintech, or Insurance.
• Java Expertise: Strong proficiency in Java 17+ (we work with v21).
• Spring Framework: Solid experience with Spring Boot, Spring Data, and Spring Security.
• Refactoring Skills: Proven ability to read and understand existing codebases and a passion for "leaving the camp site cleaner than you found it."
• Architecture Patterns: Understanding of Microservices, RESTful API design, and Event-Driven architecture.

Preferred Skills

• Financial Domain: Understanding of credit originations, credit bureau integrations, or risk-weighting engines.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Messaging: Experience with Kafka for handling asynchronous financial events.
• Database Knowledge: Experience with MongoDB.

Additional Information

The Company is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity for all and is opposed to any form of less favourable treatment or harassment on the grounds of race, religion or belief, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age, sexual orientation, gender re‑assignment or disability.

This position is based in Dunton, and it is expected the successful candidate will be able to attend the Dunton office for typically 4 days a week and remain flexible on the days they are required to attend the office according to business requirements.

As part of our pre‑employment checks process, successful candidates will be required to undergo a criminal record check. This will be conducted in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and applied only to unspent convictions.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Architectural Rationalization: Analyse existing services within the Originations and Risk domains. Work to refactor, decouple, and migrate these into a modern microservices architecture.
• Backend Development: Build and maintain high-performance Java services that handle credit applications, risk scoring, and financial contract generation.
• Operational Excellence: Participate in a 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM coverage rota (5 days per week) to ensure the stability and availability of our core financial services during peak business hours.
• Quality Assurance: Ensure the high level of precision required for financial systems by writing rigorous unit, integration, and contract tests.
• Collaboration: Work closely with Product Managers in the Originations and Risk domains to translate complex requirements into clean, executable code.