Lead Software Engineer

RibbitZ LLC; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

RibbitZ LLC is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to drive the design, development, testing, and deployment of a state-of-the-art digital platform hosted on AWS. The role leads a team delivering REST APIs and microservices, with focus on security, scalability, and reliability.

You will collaborate across product, UI, architects, and partner teams, guiding engineering best practices and end-to-end ownership from design through production support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent; 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• Proven track record delivering enterprise REST APIs and microservices.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of enterprise-scale REST APIs and microservices using Java 21+ and Spring Boot.
• Architect API-first solutions; define contracts, payloads, and OpenAPI specs.
• Lead decomposition of requirements into technical designs, user stories, and tasks.
• Guide secure service-to-service integrations using OAuth 2.0, JWT, and entitlement models.
• Serve as technical lead for complex initiatives; drive architecture reviews and code reviews.
• Collaborate with product, UI, architects, and partner teams for delivery.
• Establish engineering best practices for reliability, scalability, observability, security, maintainability.
• Drive quality engineering: automated, performance, load testing; production readiness.
• Lead troubleshooting and resolution of production issues.
• Create technical docs, runbooks, and engineering standards.
• Own end-to-end software delivery from design to deployment and support.

Skills

Java 17+ & Spring Boot

Apigee API Gateway

AWS & Cloud Deployment

JUnit & Mockito Testing

Event-Driven Architecture

Datastores: PostgreSQL/MySQL/Oracle

NoSQL: MongoDB/Cassandra/DynamoDB

Elasticsearch

Caching: Redis

Vector Databases

CI/CD: Azure DevOps/Jenkins/GoCD

Agile/Scrum

OAuth 2.0 & JWT Security

Technical Leadership

Soft Skills: decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

10+ years software engineering experience

Tools

Terraform

Job description

Estimated Start Date: 7 September 2026. Duration: 12 months (potential for extension not indicated). Location: Chicago office (Hybrid – 2 days in office: Monday and Wednesday). Only local from Chicago.

Required Education

• Degree: Bachelor's degree or equivalent (implied by "Degree + 10+ years' experience")
• Years of Experience: 10+ years of professional software engineering experience

Required Skills

• Programming Language: Extensive experience with Java 17+ and Spring Boot for RESTful API development.
• API Management: Experience with API gateways and management platforms, specifically Apigee (or similar).
• Cloud Platforms: Proficiency deploying and maintaining software in public cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP); AWS preferred given the platform context.
• Testing: Proven ability to write comprehensive automated tests (unit, integration, end-to-end) using frameworks like JUnit and Mockito.
• Architecture: Experience designing and implementing Event-Driven Architectures using message streaming solutions (e.g., AWS Kinesis, SQS, SNS, Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, Azure Event Hub).
• Datastores: Deep understanding of multiple datastore types:
  • Relational: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, AWS RDS/Aurora
  • NoSQL: MongoDB, Cassandra, AWS DynamoDB
  • Search: Elasticsearch
  • Caching: Redis
  • Vector databases
• CI/CD: Hands‑on experience configuring and deploying software via CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GoCD).
• Agile: Demonstrated success working within an Agile/Scrum framework.
• Security: Knowledge of secure service-to-service integrations using OAuth 2.0, JWT, and entitlement-based authorization models.
• Soft Skills: Strong decision‑making, critical thinking, and technical leadership abilities.

Preferred/Nice-to-Have

• Familiarity with AI‑assisted coding companions (GitHub Copilot, Cursor).

Lead Software Engineer provides technical leadership in the design, development, testing, and deployment of state‑of‑the‑art digital platform hosted on AWS. This role will build a world‑class platform to host a wide range of digital applications.

Key Responsibilities

• 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.