Lead Java Backend Engineer - 576

DSM-H Consulting; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

DSM-H Consulting is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to design and develop backend RESTful APIs and microservices using Java 21+ and Spring Boot. You will lead architecture decisions, guide engineers, and ensure secure, scalable deployments in AWS.

The role requires strong API-first mindset, OpenAPI specs, and experience with Apigee API gateway. Hybrid work with two in-office days in Chicago area.

Qualifications

• Lead design and development of enterprise REST APIs and microservices.
• Experience with Java 21+ and Spring Boot RESTful API development.
• Ability to define service contracts, payload schemas, and OpenAPI specs.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop backend RESTful services using a microservices architecture.
• Guide engineers on secure service-to-service integrations (OAuth 2.0, JWT).
• Lead architecture decisions, code reviews, and exploratory design sessions.
• Collaborate with product, UI, and partner teams for delivery success.
• Establish standards for reliability, observability, and security.

Skills

Java 21+ & Spring Boot REST

API design & OpenAPI/Swagger

OAuth 2.0 / JWT / entitlement-based

Apigee API gateway

AWS cloud services

Event-Driven Architecture (Kafka/SQS/2

CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps/Jenkins/

Agile/Scrum

JUnit/Mockito automated testing

Relational/NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL

Distributed systems & reliability

Education

Degree with 10+ years experience

Tools

Apigee

AWS

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

Elasticsearch

Redis

Kafka

JUnit/Mockito

Azure DevOps/Jenkins/GoCD

Job description

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will be responsible for designing and developing backend RESTful API web services using Microservices architecture

Typical task breakdown

• Lead the design and development of enterprise-scale REST APIs and microservices using Java 21+, Spring Boot, Apigee API Gateway, and AWS cloud services.
• Architect API-first solutions, define service contracts, payload schemas, and OpenAPI/Swagger specifications.
• Lead solution decomposition by breaking business requirements into technical designs, user stories, and implementation tasks.
• Guide engineers in developing secure service-to-service integrations using OAuth 2.0, JWT, and enterprise entitlement-based authorization models.
• Serve as the technical lead for complex initiatives, driving architecture decisions, design reviews, and code reviews.
• Collaborate with product owners, UI development teams, architects, and partner teams to ensure successful delivery of customer-focused solutions.
• Establish engineering best practices for reliability, scalability, observability, security, and maintainability.
• Drive quality engineering practices including automated testing, performance testing, load testing, and production readiness reviews.
• Lead troubleshooting and resolution of complex production issues.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, operational runbooks, and engineering standards.
• Drive end-to-end software ownership from design through deployment, monitoring, support, and continuous improvement.

Interaction with team

• New team: 12-13 folks ( lead engineers, Sr software engineers, etc)

Work environment

2 days in office

Education & Experience Required

• Degree with 10 + years’ experience

Required Technical Skills

(Required)

• Software Development: Knowledge of software development tools and activities; ability to produce software products or systems in line with product requirements.
• Software Product Design/Architecture: Knowledge of software product design; ability to convert market requirements into the software product design.
• Decision Making and Critical Thinking: Knowledge of the decision-making process and associated tools and techniques; ability to accurately analyze - situations and reach productive decisions based on informed judgment.

Top candidates will also have

• Extensive software development experience using Java 17+ and SpringBoot RESTful API development, including experience with API management and gateway platforms like Apigee.
• Proficiency in deploying and maintaining software within public cloud environments, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Proven ability to own the end-to-end software lifecycle, including writing comprehensive automated tests (unit, integration, and end-to-end) using frameworks like JUnit and Mockito.
• Experience designing and implementing Event-Driven Architectures using message streaming solutions (eg: AWS Kinesis, AWS SQS, AWS SNS, Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, Apache ActiveMQ, Azure Event Hub)
• Deep understanding of datastores, including relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, AWS RDS/Aurora), NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra, AWS DynamoDB), search engines (Elasticsearch), caching (Redis), and vector databases.
• Hands-on experience configuring and deploying software via CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GoCD.
• Familiarity with leveraging AI-assisted coding companions, such as GitHub Copilot or Cursor, to accelerate the software development lifecycle.
• Demonstrated success working within an Agile development framework, ideally Scrum.