Senior Backend Engineer: Java, Kafka & AWS + AI

Kelly Services; Pasadena (CA); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental & Orthodontia Benefits

Vision Benefits

HSA

401(k) including match

Paid Sick Time

Pre-tax Commuter Benefit

Job summary

Kelly Services is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer in Pasadena to own design and delivery of scalable backend services. You will work with Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, and AWS in a hybrid onsite role, leading technical efforts and mentoring peers.

The role emphasizes cloud-based architectures, high-throughput data pipelines, and AI-assisted development with a strong testing mindset. Pasadena onsite presence is required three days weekly.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of backend development experience with focus on scalable systems.
• Designing and building distributed backend applications and services.
• Hands-on Java 17/21 development and Spring Boot.
• RESTful services, Kafka data pipelines, and AWS cloud usage.
• Experience with SQL/NoSQL databases and testing.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver scalable backend applications and services.
• Build RESTful services using Java and Spring Boot.
• Develop high-volume, low-latency data pipelines with Kafka.
• Design AWS-based cloud solutions using Lambda, ECS/Fargate, API Gateway.
• Lead engineering efforts and mentor teammates.
• Create and maintain unit/integration tests for quality.
• Support AI-assisted development workflows.

Skills

Java 17/21

Spring Boot

Apache Kafka

AWS

Python

RESTful APIs

SQL

NoSQL

Distributed systems

AI tools / LLMs

Unit tests

Leadership

Pasadena onsite

Tools

Databricks

Job description

Kelly Services is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer in Pasadena to own design and delivery of scalable backend services. You will work with Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, and AWS in a hybrid onsite role, leading technical efforts and mentoring peers.

The role emphasizes cloud-based architectures, high-throughput data pipelines, and AI-assisted development with a strong testing mindset. Pasadena onsite presence is required three days weekly.