Senior Software Engineer – (Java / Spring / AWS)

About the role

<h1>Senior Backend Java Engineer</h1> <h2>Build software that matters. Shape the future of engineering.</h2> <p class="isSelectedEnd">We're looking for an experienced Senior Backend Java Engineer who is passionate about building scalable, high-quality software and helping teams grow. This is more than a hands-on engineering role—you'll influence technical direction, mentor other engineers, drive architectural decisions, and help us embed AI and automation into the way we deliver value for our clients.</p> <p class="isSelectedEnd">You'll thrive here if you enjoy solving complex problems, challenging assumptions, collaborating openly, and taking pride in delivering software that makes a real business impact.</p> <h2>What You'll Do</h2> <p class="isSelectedEnd">As a Senior Backend Java Engineer, you will:</p> <ul data-spread="false"> <li>Design, build and maintain scalable, secure and resilient backend systems using modern Java and the Spring ecosystem.</li> <li>Build and maintain cloud-based solutions within AWS environments.</li> <li>Lead technical design and architectural discussions, ensuring solutions are maintainable, performant and aligned with best practices.</li> <li>Develop and evolve RESTful APIs with a focus on security, versioning, performance and reliability.</li> <li>Champion engineering excellence through clean code, automated testing, documentation and code reviews.</li> <li>Drive delivery across multiple initiatives while balancing speed, quality and commercial value.</li> <li>Mentor engineers through coaching, pairing and constructive feedback, helping raise capability across the team.</li> <li>Collaborate with cross-functional teams to solve problems together and deliver outstanding outcomes for clients.</li> <li>Research and evaluate emerging technologies, frameworks and AI capabilities that improve how we build software.</li> <li>Promote automation wherever possible, removing repetitive work so teams can focus on solving meaningful problems.</li> <li>Contribute to a culture of continuous learning, innovation and technical excellence.</li> </ul> <h2>What You'll Bring</h2> <h3>Technical Expertise</h3> <p class="isSelectedEnd">You'll have strong commercial experience with:</p> <ul data-spread="false"> <li>Modern Java (Java 8+) including Streams, Lambdas and Optional</li> <li>Spring Boot and the wider Spring ecosystem</li> <li>AWS and building cloud-based applications</li> <li>Spring Data JPA / Hibernate</li> <li>Spring Security including OAuth2 and JWT</li> <li>REST API design and implementation</li> <li>Microservices and distributed system design</li> <li>SQL databases with strong query optimisation skills</li> <li>NoSQL databases</li> <li>Docker and containerised application development</li> <li>CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins or GitLab CI</li> <li>Git and modern software development workflows</li> <li>Observability tooling including logging, metrics and distributed tracing</li> <li>Comprehensive testing across unit, integration and functional layers</li> <li>Maven or Gradle</li> <li>Java concurrency and JVM performance fundamentals</li> </ul> <p class="isSelectedEnd">Experience with the following would be advantageous:</p> <ul data-spread="false"> <li>Datadog</li> <li>Messaging technologies such as Kafka</li> <li>Spring Cloud, WebFlux or reactive programming</li> <li>The ability to travel to Edinburgh occasionally when required would also be beneficial.</li> </ul> <h2>What Success Looks Like</h2> <p class="isSelectedEnd">You'll demonstrate:</p> <h3>Technical Excellence &amp; Craft Mastery</h3> <ul data-spread="false"> <li>Write clean, maintainable and highly optimised code.</li> <li>Set high standards for quality, testing and documentation.</li> <li>Coach others in engineering best practices and modern development techniques.</li> </ul> <h3>Architectural Leadership</h3> <ul data-spread="false"> <li>Design scalable, resilient and secure systems.</li> <li>Make thoughtful architectural decisions tha

Skills