IT Software Engineer 5 / Java Backend Developer

Zohorecruit; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Zohorecruit is seeking an IT Software Engineer 5 / Java Backend Developer for a 12-month contract (full-time). The role is 100% remote with travel as needed and centers on 90-100% backend development, driving AWS cloud adoption and modernization.

Ideal candidates have strong Java, Spring Boot, microservices, OpenSearch/Elasticsearch experience, and a track record of technical leadership, architecture direction, and mentoring engineers on scalable cloud-native solutions.

Qualifications

• Proven Java backend and Spring Boot experience with microservices design.
• Strong cloud and DevOps practices; focus on scalable, secure AWS deployments.
• Experience leading teams, mentoring engineers, and driving delivery of cloud-native solutions.

Responsibilities

• Provides technical leadership and delivery ownership for a team building scalable cloud-native applications on AWS.
• Drives architecture decisions, best practices, and solution design across Spring Boot microservices and AWS infrastructure.
• Collaborates with product, architecture, and platform teams to align investments with business goals while mentoring engineers.

Skills

Java Backend

Technical Leadership

Cloud Architecture

Spring Boot

Microservices

REST APIs

DevOps

CI/CD

OpenSearch

AWS

Tools

OpenSearch/Elasticsearch

Docker

GitHub

CI/CD tooling

AWS Cloud Services

Job description

Role: IT Software Engineer 5 / Java Backend Developer
Location: Chicago, IL / 100% remote, but travel will be required as needed.
Duration: 12-month contract /full-time

90-100% backend development, and drives AWS cloud adoption and modernization initiatives.

Automotive background, Java background, Lucid background, or OpenSearch.

NOTE: No full-stack roles with heavy front-end; Angular/React/TypeScript;

Position’s Contributions to Work Group:

• Provides technical leadership and delivery ownership for a team of software engineers building and operating scalable cloud-native applications on AWS.
  
• Drives architecture decisions, engineering best practices, and solution design across Spring Boot microservices, OpenSearch platforms, CI/CD, observability and AWS infrastructure.
  
• Collaborates with product, architecture, and platform teams to deliver secure, resilient, and high-performing solutions while mentoring engineers, improving development processes, and ensuring successful execution of business objectives.
  

Typical task breakdown:

• Leads software engineers in delivering business-critical applications.
  
• Establishes technical direction and architectural standards.
  
• Drives AWS cloud adoption and modernization initiatives.
  
• Ensures solution scalability, performance, security, and reliability.
  
• Promotes DevOps, CI/CD, automation, and AI-assisted development practices.
  
• Supports incident resolution, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
  

Interaction with team:

• Mentors engineers and develops technical talent.
  
• Partners with Product Owners, Architects, and stakeholders to align technology investments with business goals.
  

Required Technical Skills

• Java (latest would be ideal) , Spring Boot, Microservices, REST APIs, AWS (ECS/Fargate, IAM, ALB, RDS, CloudWatch, Secrets Manager), OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, Docker, CI/CD, GitHub, Distributed Systems, Cloud Architecture, Observability, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, SQL/NoSQL databases, Event-Driven Architecture, API Integration, Performance Optimization, and AI-assisted Development Tools.
  

Soft Skills

• Strong technical leadership, communication, stakeholder management, mentoring and coaching, collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, decision-making, ownership, conflict resolution, adaptability, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams while driving successful delivery of complex cloud-native solutions.
  

Skill set

90-100% backend development, and drives AWS cloud adoption and modernization initiatives.Automotive background, Java background, Lucid background, or OpenSearch.