Backend Software Developer

Jobs to Be Done: Lead the Frontend Engineering Team: Manage, grow, and set the technical direction for all frontend engineers. Own hiring, code review standards, individual development plans, and the allocation of frontend capacity across squads and platform work. Feature Development: Implement backend features and REST APIs in Java (Spring Boot) for our SaaS products, from a defined ticket through to a running service in production. Testing as Part of the Work: Write unit and integration tests for everything you build. Tests are part of the deliverable, not a separate task to be done later. Code Review Participation: Submit small, reviewable pull requests and act on review feedback quickly. Review your peers' code and learn from theirs. Bug Fixing & Support: Investigate and fix defects in your squad's services, including reproducing issues from logs and traces, and supporting releases when your code is involved. Data Layer Work: Write and optimise SQL queries, design straightforward schemas and migrations, and work with the platform's persistence layer under guidance. Cloud-Native Delivery: Containerise and ship your services through the squad's existing CI/CD pipelines; understand what happens to your code after the merge. Collaboration: Work with the Product Manager to clarify requirements before coding, and with Data/AI Engineers when your services consume or expose data and model outputs. Documentation: Keep API contracts and technical notes current for the components you own. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Design System Adoption: Share of product UI built from design-system components rather than bespoke markup. Target: 85% Delivery Consistency: Assigned sprint items completed and merged within the sprint. Target: 85% Code Review Efficiency: Pull requests merged without major rework, and review feedback addressed promptly. Target: 80% merged without major rework Test Coverage Contribution: Test coverage of new and modified code in the squad's repositories. Target: 80% on new code Production Stability: Critical or high-severity defects in production traced to own delivered code. Target: Technical Growth: Progression against an agreed development plan set with the Senior Software Developer. Target: Reviewed quarterly

Requirements

• Minimum: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent verifiable hands-on software engineering experience
• Preferred: Relevant technical certification in software engineering or cloud platforms
• Licenses/Accreditations (nice to have): GCP or equivalent AWS/Azure certifications related to either Software Engineering / Solutions Architecting

Experience

3+ years of hands-on backend development, with Java as the primary language in a professional setting. Domain exposure: Building and running web or SaaS applications; REST API development; relational databases; working in a cloud environment (Google Cloud preferred, AWS/Azure acceptable); containerisation (Docker). Ways of working: Experience working in an agile squad with version control, pull-request-based review, and an automated build and deployment pipeline.

Nice to Have

• Exposure to multi-tenant applications, message queues or event-driven patterns, observability tooling, or basic Python
• Skills and Competencies Technical: Java (Java 17+, solid command of the language and its ecosystem) Must-have Spring Boot (REST controllers, dependency injection, configuration, data access) Must-have Automated Testing (JUnit, mocking, integration tests) Must-have SQL and Relational Data Modelling Nice-to-have Git and Pull-Request Workflow Must-have REST API Design & Implementation Nice-to-have (strongly preferred) Docker & Containerised Deployment Nice-to-have (strongly preferred) Cloud Platforms (GCP: Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, Pub/Sub, or equivalents on AWS/Azure) Nice-to-have Foundational Python (enough to read a data pipeline and collaborate with Data/AI engineers) Nice-to-have Behavioural: Ownership of assigned work through to production, willingness to ask early rather than stay blocked, receptiveness to code review, attention to detail, clear written English, and genuine curiosity about how the wider platform works
• Tools/Systems: Git, CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, Google Cloud Build, etc.), Docker, Jira, Confluence, relational and non-relational DB engines