Senior Java Backend Engineer: Kafka & REST APIs

Horizontal Talent; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 68,000 - 117,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

competitive compensation and benefits

Job summary

Horizontal Talent is seeking a senior backend engineer for a high-impact platform modernization. This contractor role focuses on pricing workflows, REST APIs, and Kafka-based event processing, with collaboration across the United States and India.

You'll build scalable services, optimize REST endpoints, design Kafka solutions, and contribute to both new architecture and existing production systems. Expect to work across time zones and align with Minneapolis/Central Time business hours.

Qualifications

• Senior-level Java backend experience.
• Production Kafka experience with producers and consumers.
• Experience building high-volume RESTful APIs.
• Relational DB experience (Oracle/PostgreSQL) and Cassandra familiarity.
• Ability to ramp up quickly on a large codebase and collaborate across time zones.

Responsibilities

• Build and enhance backend services for high-volume pricing workflows and price publishing.
• Develop, support, and optimize REST APIs used in enterprise-scale applications.
• Design and implement Kafka producer and consumer solutions for event-driven processing.
• Contribute to both a modernized platform and an existing production codebase.
• Work with relational and distributed databases to support reliable performance.
• Troubleshoot issues, write quality code, and deliver production-ready solutions.
• Collaborate with engineering partners across multiple locations and time zones.
• Participate in meetings during Minneapolis/Central Time business hours.

Skills

Java backend development

Kotlin readiness

Apache Kafka

RESTful APIs

Oracle/PostgreSQL

Cassandra

UX problem solving

Communication

Job description

Horizontal Talent is seeking a senior backend engineer for a high-impact platform modernization. This contractor role focuses on pricing workflows, REST APIs, and Kafka-based event processing, with collaboration across the United States and India.

You'll build scalable services, optimize REST endpoints, design Kafka solutions, and contribute to both new architecture and existing production systems. Expect to work across time zones and align with Minneapolis/Central Time business hours.