Java Spark Engineer

Job Title: Java Spark EngineerLocation: Berkeley Heights, NJ (5 days onsite - flexibility to support weekends)Job Type: ContractExperience: 7+ years Java development; 5+ years Apache Spark in productionJob OverviewKey ResponsibilitiesArchitect and build scalable, fault-tolerant data pipelines using Apache Spark (Java)Drive performance tuning: partitioning strategy, memory management, shuffle/skew optimizationMentor mid-level and junior engineers; act as technical escalation pointPartner with product, analytics, and platform teams to translate requirements into scalable systemsOwn production reliability - incident response and root-cause analysis for pipeline failuresContribute to capacity planning and cost optimization for cluster infrastructureRequired Skills7+ years professional Java development experience5+ years hands-on Apache Spark in production environmentsExpert-level distributed systems knowledge: fault tolerance, data locality, shuffle mechanics, resource managementProven track record designing systems at terabyte+ scaleStrong SQL and deep familiarity with columnar storage formats: Parquet, ORC, Avro, Delta Lake/IcebergExperience with cluster managers: YARN, Kubernetes, cloud-managed SparkProficiency with Apache KafkaStrong grasp of CI/CD, containerization, and infrastructure-as-code practicesPreferred SkillsExperience with Apache Flink or other stream-processing frameworksFamiliarity with data governance, lineage, and quality frameworksExperience with workflow orchestration at scaleBackground in system design for multi-tenant or multi-region data platformsLocation & Work ModelBerkeley Heights, NJ - fully onsite, 5 days per week. Candidates must be flexible to support weekend operations when needed.Engagement Details5 openings available. Contract engagement. Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required.