JAVA Developer Lead (IDIT)

Hollard Insurance; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance provider in Johannesburg seeks a JAVA Developer Lead to oversee complex IT platform development. The successful candidate will lead a team, ensuring technical excellence and project delivery. Responsibilities include guiding development processes, integrating external systems, and maintaining compliance with regulations. Ideal applicants should have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and significant experience in Java programming and leadership.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years in Java Enterprise Edition programming with 3 years in a leadership role.
• Experience with unit testing and mocking frameworks.
• Strong Object-Oriented design principles.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of Java developers, providing technical guidance.
• Oversee design and delivery of customer projects.
• Ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

Skills

Java Enterprise Edition programming

Leadership

Spring Boot

Microservices architecture

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Tools

MSSQL

Spring Framework

WebLogic

Job description

Job title : JAVA Developer Lead (IDIT)

Job Location: Gauteng, Johannesburg

Deadline: December 31, 2025

Overview

Java Team Lead will be responsible for overseeing the development of complex IT platform using Java Enterprise Edition, specifically the IDIT platform. This role includes leading a development team, driving end-to-end project delivery, ensuring technical excellence, and fostering collaboration across business and IT stakeholders. The successful candidate will provide both hands-on coding expertise and leadership in architecture, design, and implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a team of Java developers, providing technical guidance, mentorship, and performance management. Self-starter who takes accountability for the team’s delivery
• Oversee the design and delivery of end-to-end customer projects, including UI, SQL data models, and business logic implementation.
• Architect and develop integrations with external systems (web services, APIs, and other technologies).
• Collaborate with business analysts, architects, and project managers to translate requirements into robust technical solutions.
• Review and approve technical designs, code quality, and adherence to best practices.
• Drive process improvements and adoption of modern development methodologies.
• Ensure project timelines, quality standards, and budgetary requirements are met.

Application Development

• Develop and maintain Java-based modules for policy, claims, billing, and customer management.
• Customize IDIT metadata, workflows, and UI components to meet business requirements.
• Ensure scalability, performance, and maintainability of all developed components.
• Integration & Interoperability
• Architect and implement integrations with third-party systems (e.g., payment gateways, CRM, regulatory platforms).
• Design and manage APIs (REST / SOAP) for seamless data exchange across platforms.

Requirement Analysis & Solution Design

• Collaborate with business analysts, product owners, and stakeholders to gather and refine requirements.
• Translate business needs into technical specifications and actionable development plans.
• Provide strategic input into product roadmap and platform enhancements.

Testing & Quality Assurance

• Oversee unit, integration, and regression testing strategies.
• Ensure automated testing coverage and CI / CD pipeline integration.
• Conduct code reviews and mentor developers on best practices.

Platform Configuration & Customization

• Deeply understand and leverage IDIT’s metadata-driven architecture.
• Optimize system performance, troubleshoot complex issues, and implement enhancements.
• Stay current with IDIT platform updates and industry trends.

Documentation & Governance

• Maintain comprehensive technical documentation and design artifacts.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory standards (e.g., POPIA, FSCA).
• Support audit and governance processes through traceable development practices

Performance Tuning & Optimization

• Monitor application performance and identify bottlenecks.
• Optimize database queries, caching strategies, and service calls.
• Implement logging and monitoring tools to ensure system reliability.

Security & Compliance

• Ensure applications adhere to data protection regulations (e.g., POPIA in South Africa).
• Implement authentication, authorization, and encryption mechanisms.
• Support audit and compliance reporting features within the platform.

Team Collaboration & Mentorship

• Lead and mentor a team of developers, fostering growth and knowledge sharing.
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies (stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives).
• Promote a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Required Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum 10 years in Java Enterprise Edition programming, with at least 3 years in a leadership or team lead capacity.
• Unit testing and mocking frameworks
• Proven experience in translating complex business requirements into detailed technical designs.
• Strong Object-Oriented design principles
• Strong hands-on experience with Spring Boot, Java 11+
• Solid understanding of Microservices architecture
• Proficiency with application servers (WebLogic / WebSphere / JBoss – Advantage).
• Experience with MSSQL.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, system integration, and performance optimization.
• End to end implementation of customer projects, including UI, SQL data model and business logic implementation
• Development of interfaces with external systems (web services, other technologies)

Required Knowledge and Skills

• Strong understanding of short-term insurance products and lifecycle
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.
• EJB, SQL, Hibernate – Must; strong understanding of complex data and domain models with large-scale DB tables.
• Agile / Scrum, SDLC, CI / CD pipelines
• Ability to translate functional requirements into technical design and development tasks
• Analytical thinking, communication, problem-solving, stakeholder engagement
• Experience with application server : WebLogic / WebSphere / JBoss – Advantage
• Experience working with Oracle, DB2, MSSQL (all or one of them) – Advantage
• Team player with excellent communication skills
• Spring Framework

On the job training / familiarisation time

• 3 months

Educational Requirements

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

Deadline: 31st December,2025

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