Java Software Engineer

Ascendion; Town of Poland (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascendion is seeking a skilled Java developer in New York to build and maintain Spring Boot microservices. You will write clean, testable code and manage builds with Maven or Gradle while integrating unit and integration tests.

You will support CI/CD pipelines, automate workflows, and troubleshoot across code, deployment, and cloud environments. Collaboration with distributed teams and participation in Agile ceremonies are essential.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Java development experience.
• Experience with Spring Boot to build microservices.
• Experience with Maven or Gradle for builds.
• Strong fundamentals: clean coding, debugging, source control, and code reviews.
• Experience writing unit and integration tests.
• Knowledge of CI/CD concepts and platforms (GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps).
• Experience with Azure or other public clouds.
• Familiarity with microservices, REST APIs, logging, and deployment.
• Basic containerization understanding.
• Excellent collaboration across distributed teams.
• Agile software delivery practices.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Java-based applications and microservices using Spring Boot.
• Build clean, efficient, testable, and maintainable code.
• Work with Maven/Gradle to manage dependencies and builds.
• Create and maintain unit and integration tests.
• Support build, deployment, and release activities via CI/CD platforms.
• Automate development, testing, deployment, and operational workflows.
• Work with Azure to support deployment and runtime operations.
• Troubleshoot issues across code, config, build, deployment, and cloud environments.
• Collaborate with senior engineers and platform teams to improve reliability and observability.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and backlog refinement.
• Contribute to technical docs and runbooks.
• Adopt DevOps/SRE principles and AI-assisted engineering tools as appropriate.
• Drive continuous improvement in code quality, tests, and productivity.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Maven/Gradle

Unit tests

CI/CD

Azure

Debugging

Agile

Communication

Tools

GitLab CI/CD

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Azure DevOps

Job description

• Develop and maintain Java-based applications and microservices using Spring Boot.
• Build clean, efficient, testable, and maintainable code aligned with engineering standards.
• Work with build systems such as Maven or Gradle to compile, package, test, and manage application dependencies.
• Create and maintain unit tests and integration tests to ensure software quality and reduce production risk.
• Support application build, deployment, and release activities using CI/CD platforms.
• Contribute to automation of development, testing, deployment, and operational workflows.
• Work with public cloud platforms such as Azure to support application deployment and runtime operations.
• Assist with troubleshooting application issues across code, configuration, build, deployment, and cloud environments.
• Collaborate with senior engineers and platform teams to improve reliability, observability, and operational readiness.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and regular engineering discussions.
• Contribute to technical documentation, runbooks, troubleshooting guides, and knowledge-base updates.
• Learn and apply DevOps/SRE principles including automation, monitoring, incident awareness, and production support practices.
• Support continuous improvement across code quality, testing coverage, deployment reliability, and developer productivity.
• Use AI-assisted engineering tools where appropriate to help with code analysis, test generation, documentation, troubleshooting, and workflow automation.

Required Skills & Experience

• Hands-on experience with Java development.
• Experience building applications or services using Spring Boot.
• Experience with Java build tools such as Maven or Gradle.
• Strong understanding of software development fundamentals, including clean coding, debugging, source control, and code reviews.
• Experience writing and maintaining unit tests and integration tests.
• Knowledge of CI/CD concepts and experience working with CI/CD platforms such as GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or similar tools.
• Experience with at least one public cloud platform such as Azure
• Familiarity with microservices concepts, REST APIs, application configuration, logging, and service deployment.
• Basic understanding of containerization and cloud-native application practices.
• Ability to troubleshoot technical issues using logs, metrics, build output, test results, and application behavior.
• Good understanding of Agile software delivery practices.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively with globally distributed teams.
• Ability to work as an individual contributor while taking ownership of assigned development, testing, and support tasks.

Desired Skills

• Exposure to Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, or container-based deployment platforms.
• Experience with observability or monitoring tools such as DataDog, Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk, ELK/OpenSearch, or similar platforms.
• Exposure to secure software development practices, secrets management, vulnerability scanning, or cloud security controls.
• Python development experience, including designing and implementing reusable Python packages, shared libraries, automation utilities, or internal developer tools.
• Experience with agent development, including building, configuring, testing, and deploying AI agents or workflow automation agents.
• Exposure to deploying and operating custom AI/ML models in cloud environments, including model packaging, runtime configuration, monitoring, and integration with application workflows.
• Understanding of agentic development principles and best practices, including prompt design, tool/function calling, guardrails, observability, evaluation, testing, versioning, and responsible use of AI-enabled automation.
• Experience using AI-assisted tools to improve developer productivity, generate tests, analyze code, automate operational workflows, accelerate incident diagnosis, or enhance observability.

Critical Thinking & AI-Enabled Engineering

We value engineers who think critically, ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions respectfully, and use data to understand problems before proposing solutions.

Experience using data-driven insights and AI-assisted tools to improve observability, automate operational workflows, accelerate incident diagnosis, generate tests, support code analysis, or improve developer productivity is highly valued.

You do not need to be an AI specialist. Curiosity, a learning mindset, and the practical application of AI-enabled engineering practices are most important.