Staff Backend Tech Lead - Kotlin/Java, AWS & Kubernetes

DRS IT Solutions; California; On-site; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

DRS IT Solutions is seeking a hands-on Staff Backend Engineer/Technical Lead to own and operate a production backend service. You’ll design, develop, deploy, and operate across application, infra, security, and product teams.

Ideal candidates have strong Kotlin/Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, distributed systems, MongoDB, Kafka, AWS, and Kubernetes experience, plus testing and observability skills. This is a senior, hands-on IC role with end-to-end ownership.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and operating production-grade backends.
• Strong knowledge of Kotlin or Java/JVM and Spring Boot.
• Experience with distributed systems, data models, and concurrency.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, deploy, and operate a production backend service.
• Collaborate with application, infra, security, and product teams.
• Drive cross-functional work with minimal supervision and lead initiatives.
• Ensure scalability, reliability, and safe rollback strategies.

Skills

Kotlin/Java/JVM

Spring Boot

REST APIs

Distributed systems

MongoDB/DocumentDB

Kafka/Schema Registry

AWS/Kubernetes/CI-CD

IAM/Vault/secrets

Testing (Testcontainers)

Observability & incident response

Technical leadership

Job description

DRS IT Solutions is seeking a hands-on Staff Backend Engineer/Technical Lead to own and operate a production backend service. You’ll design, develop, deploy, and operate across application, infra, security, and product teams.

Ideal candidates have strong Kotlin/Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, distributed systems, MongoDB, Kafka, AWS, and Kubernetes experience, plus testing and observability skills. This is a senior, hands-on IC role with end-to-end ownership.