Job Specifications
Senior Software Engineer (Java/AWS)
Location: Chicago, IL (Hybrid, 3 days ONSITE)
Job Type: Contract (12 months, ongoing)
Expected hours per week: 40 hours per week
Schedule: Mon-Fri, 1st shift
Pay Range: $80-88 per hour
Job Description
We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to provide deep technical leadership in the design and implementation of Java-based, cloud-native systems on AWS. This role will lead architecture and development across microservices, event-driven systems, and distributed platforms, ensuring scalability, availability, security, and long-term maintainability.
The Lead Engineer will define service architectures, data flows, and integration patterns while guiding best practices around AWS-native services, CI/CD automation, observability, resiliency, and infrastructure-as-code. This position is highly hands-on and will play a critical role in driving architectural decisions, reducing technical debt, and enabling teams to scale features and throughput efficiently.
This is a new headcount supporting key backend platforms and services within the company’s technology organization.
Responsibilities
Hands-on Development: Design and build backend services using Java (and/or Kotlin) and AWS cloud-native patterns, including RESTful and event-driven APIs.
Production Support & Reliability: Investigate and resolve defects, performance issues, and production incidents while improving system stability and resiliency.
Code Reviews & Technical Design: Lead architectural discussions, review pull requests and define implementation and engineering standards.
Cross-Team Collaboration: Partner with other engineering teams on APIs, integrations, and shared cloud architecture.
Agile & Technical Ceremonies: Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, stand-ups, retrospectives, and architecture reviews.
Team & Work Environment
Works closely with backend engineers, product owners, and engineering managers
High collaboration across teams for shared services and integrations
Hybrid environment – 3 days onsite in the Chicago office required
Required Skills
Strong AWS expertise designing and operating highly available distributed systems
Advanced Java (and/or Kotlin) in production environments
Spring Boot (Spring Web/MVC, dependency injection, configuration, actuator/health checks)
Microservices and distributed systems architecture (resiliency, fault tolerance, service ownership)
RESTful API design & documentation (OpenAPI/Swagger)
SQL & relational databases (data modeling, performance tuning)
NoSQL databases (e.g., DynamoDB, MongoDB, Cassandra)
CI/CD pipelines and build/deploy automation
Event-driven and asynchronous messaging (e.g., Kafka)
Observability and production troubleshooting (logging, metrics, tracing)
Strong technical communication skills; able to explain complex designs and tradeoffs
Proven technical leadership and ownership of complex engineering problems
Collaborative mindset across teams and shared architectures
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, especially in production environments
Ability to balance technical excellence with delivery and business priorities
Comfortable in Agile environments while remaining primarily hands-on
Education & Experience Requirements
Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field preferred
10+ years of professional experience in software engineering
3+ years of technical or team leadership experience preferred
#INDOEM
About the Company
Why Choose Epitec?
Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Southfield, Mich., with regional hubs in Chicago, Central Illinois, and Dallas, Epitec is dedicated to making staffing personal. Our customers include Fortune 500 companies across the United States, providing you access to high demand career opportunities.
What Makes Epitec Different?
Our flexible workforce model is designed with you in mind. Whether you're looking for contract-to-hire, direct hire, or other employment options, we tailor our services to fit your career...
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