Remote Lead Software Engineer — Microservices & Kafka

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 114,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision, and life ins.

401(k) with company match

Tuition reimbursement up to $5,250 per

Casual attire (jeans allowed)

Generous paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to drive design and delivery of scalable software solutions for the Finance & Insurance space, with a focus on microservices, real-time streaming, and top-tier engineering practices.

You will mentor engineers, shape technical strategy across the full development lifecycle, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure secure, reliable software delivery. This remote US-based role offers a competitive compensation package and growth opportunities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree required.
• 7+ years of professional software development experience.
• 2+ years in a lead or mentorship role.
• Strong expertise in Java 17 or later.
• Solid hands-on experience with Spring, Spring Boot, and RESTful web services.
• Proven experience building real-time streaming applications with Apache Kafka.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of microservices-based architectures using Spring and Spring Boot.
• Architect and build real-time streaming applications using Apache Kafka.
• Define technical strategy and oversee the full software development lifecycle, from requirements through deployment.
• Mentor and guide engineers, conducting design and code reviews to maintain high standards.
• Champion TDD and BDD practices to support code quality and maintainability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver secure, reliable, and scalable software.
• Drive adoption of best practices in system design, testing, DevOps, and CI/CD pipelines.

Skills

Java 17

Spring / Spring Boot

RESTful web services

Real-time streaming

Mentorship / leadership

DevOps / CI/CD

TDD / BDD

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Apache Kafka

Job description

Ladders is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to drive design and delivery of scalable software solutions for the Finance & Insurance space, with a focus on microservices, real-time streaming, and top-tier engineering practices.

You will mentor engineers, shape technical strategy across the full development lifecycle, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure secure, reliable software delivery. This remote US-based role offers a competitive compensation package and growth opportunities.