Senior Java AI Developer

Aquent; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Subsidized health, vision, and dental

Retirement plan with company match

Paid sick leave

Job summary

Aquent seeks a Senior Java AI Developer to shape AI-focused workflows across the SDLC. You will bridge Java engineering with GenAI-assisted delivery in a cloud-native, event-driven environment.

You will mentor engineers, drive scalable Java services, and establish responsible AI development practices while partnering with architects, product owners, and cross-functional teams to deliver high-impact solutions.

Qualifications

• Led design and implementation of scalable, event-driven Java apps with cloud-native architectures.
• Deep knowledge of distributed systems, high-availability designs, and observability patterns.
• RESTful services, microservices, asynchronous messaging, and integration for enterprise platforms.
• Experience mentoring teams on Java standards, architecture, and delivery ownership.
• Familiar with GenAI-assisted development and AI-powered tooling in SDLC workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of scalable, observable Java-based cloud-native apps.
• Modernize services using Spring Boot, messaging, REST APIs, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaborate with architects, product owners, and cross-functional teams on requirements.
• Champion GenAI-assisted development and responsible AI practices across teams.
• Drive code reviews, testing, observability, and production readiness.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Distributed Systems

Cloud-Native

GenAI tooling

Technical leadership

Agile methods

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Master’s degree in IT / CS / AI

Tools

Kafka

IBM MQ

Splunk

Jira

Confluence

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub Copilot

Job description

About the Opportunity

As a Senior Java AI Developer, you will be at the heart of transforming how intelligent systems are built and delivered. This is a pivotal role where your expertise will directly shape AI-focused workflows across the entire System Development Life Cycle. You will be instrumental in bridging Java engineering, event-driven architectures, and cloud-native platforms with the power of Generative AI-assisted delivery. Your work will empower the creation of intelligent, reliable systems that significantly enhance client experiences and expand business capabilities. If you’re passionate about pioneering AI in enterprise software and eager to make a tangible impact, this role offers an unparalleled opportunity to innovate and lead.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of highly scalable, resilient, observable, and performant Java-based, cloud-native, event-driven applications.
• Build and modernize services using core Java technologies, Spring Boot, messaging platforms, REST APIs, CI/CD pipelines, container platforms, and distributed system patterns.
• Collaborate closely with architects, developers, product owners, and cross-functional teams to translate complex business requirements into high-quality technical solutions.
• Leverage GenAI-assisted development tools to accelerate implementation, refactoring, unit testing, documentation, troubleshooting, modernization analysis, and overall engineering workflow improvements.
• Establish and champion responsible AI-assisted development practices, including reusable prompts, custom instructions, rigorous review expectations, validation standards, and team-level adoption patterns.
• Drive engineering quality through comprehensive code reviews, automated testing, robust observability, resiliency validation, performance tuning, and production readiness practices.
• Mentor and guide engineers on Java engineering standards, distributed architecture principles, cloud-native design, event streaming, and advanced AI-augmented SDLC practices.
• Contribute significantly to modernization initiatives, transitioning legacy capabilities toward distributed Java services, event-driven platforms, and cloud-native operating models.

Must-Have Qualifications

Core Technical Expertise

• Demonstrated experience leading the design and implementation of highly scalable, resilient, and event-driven applications using Java, Spring Boot, messaging platforms, and cloud-native architectures.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, stream processing, performance optimization, resiliency patterns, observability patterns, and high-availability application design.
• Experience designing and implementing RESTful services, microservices, asynchronous message flows, and integration patterns for high-volume enterprise platforms.
• Working experience with messaging platforms (e.g., Kafka, IBM MQ), observability tools (e.g., Splunk), JSON/XML, caching, performance analysis, profiling, and production troubleshooting.
• Experience being a technical lead for a team and/or project, including solution design, engineering standards, code review practices, and technical delivery ownership.

AI-Enabled Engineering Expertise

• Demonstrated hands-on experience using GenAI coding assistants across SDLC workflows, including implementation, refactoring, unit testing, regression support, code reviews, scripting, automation, troubleshooting, and documentation, while maintaining ownership for correctness, quality, and engineering validation.
• Practical familiarity with tools such as GitHub Copilot and/or Claude Code in IDE or CLI-based workflows, with the ability to apply AI assistance to reduce context switching and accelerate delivery beyond code generation.
• Working knowledge of agentic workflows, spec-driven development, custom instructions, and prompt engineering, with the ability to establish team-level practices for effective AI-assisted development.
• Ability to apply AI-assisted approaches responsibly for code generation, test generation, technical documentation, root-cause analysis support, modernization analysis, and development workflow optimization.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience developing scalable, high-performance Java, cloud-based, and web services applications that support high-volume transactions in highly available environments.
• 6+ years of experience building and deploying cloud-native applications using cloud platforms (e.g., GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, microservices, and CI/CD practices).
• Experience with cloud platforms and deployment environments such as PCF, AWS, or GCP.
• 2+ years of experience working with databases such as MongoDB, Aerospike, PostgreSQL, Oracle, or comparable relational and NoSQL platforms.
• 2+ years prior experience in IT transformation and system modernization initiatives from legacy platforms to distributed Java, cloud-native, and event-driven architectures.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience with AI/ML implementation, AI-assisted engineering practices, or production deployment of AI-enabled solutions.
• Hands-on experience or practical exposure to Large Language Models such as GPT, Claude, Gemini, or comparable enterprise AI platforms.
• Knowledge of Agile methodology and experience in an Agile working environment.
• Experience with Atlassian tool stack such as Jira and Confluence.
• Domain / Industry: Understands broker-dealer domain capabilities and operations, with preferred experience in the financial services industry.
• Communication: Communicates clearly and effectively, with proven ability to guide and collaborate with engineers in a team-oriented environment.
• Execution Focus: Brings a collaborative mindset and bias for action, effectively partnering with developers, architects, product owners, and adjacent teams to drive outcomes.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or a related degree, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience in Test Driven Development, Behavior Driven Development, QA automation, and quality engineering mindset and behaviors.
• Experience with Spring Cloud, Spring Security, reactive programming, API gateways, service mesh, or comparable Java ecosystem capabilities.
• Experience with performance engineering, reliability testing, resiliency testing, and operational readiness practices for high-volume distributed platforms.
• Proficient in creating architecture diagrams, design documentation, functional and technical specifications, automated test process documentation, runbooks, and production/test environment documentation.
• Familiarity with Retrieval-Augmented Generation, vector databases, AI orchestration patterns, agent-based workflows, or enterprise AI platform integration is a plus.

Please note: This position is available on a W-2 employment basis only and is not open to Corp-to-Corp (C2C) arrangements. The client is also unable to provide employment-based visa sponsorship or transfers for this role.

Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match.

Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.

We’re about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.