IT Software Engineer 5 / Lead Java Backend Developer
Chicago, United States | Posted on 09/02/2026
Job Title: IT Software Engineer 5 / Lead Java Backend Developer
Location:
Chicago, IL preferred but the role can be 100% remote butthere will be travel involved when needed.
Duration:
12 months contract. Position's Contributions to Work Group: Provides technicalleadership and delivery ownership for a team of software engineers building andoperating scalable cloud-native applications on AWS.Drives architecturedecisions, engineering best practices, and solution design across Spring Bootmicroservices, OpenSearch platforms, CI/CD, observability and AWSinfrastructure. Collaborates withproduct, architecture, and platform teams to deliver secure, resilient, andhigh-performing solutions while mentoring engineers, improving developmentprocesses, and ensuring successful execution of business objectives. Typical task breakdown: Leads softwareengineers in delivering business-critical applications. Establishestechnical direction and architectural standards. Drives AWS cloudadoption and modernization initiatives. Ensures solutionscalability, performance, security, and reliability. Promotes DevOps, CI/CD, automation, and AI-assisted development practices. Supports incidentresolution, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. Interaction with team: Mentors' engineersand develop technical talent. Partners with Product Owners, Architects, and stakeholders to align technology investments withbusiness goals. Education & Experience Required:10+ years'experience in this capacity with 5+ years in a lead role.
Required Technical Skills:
- Java (latest would be ideal), Spring Boot, Microservices, REST APIs, AWS (ECS/Fargate, IAM, ALB, RDS, CloudWatch, Secrets Manager), OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, Docker, CI/CD, GitHub, Distributed Systems, Cloud
- Architecture, Observability, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, SQL/NoSQLdatabases, Event-Driven Architecture, API Integration, Performance
- Optimization, and AI-assisted Development Tools.
- Soft Skills:
Strong technical leadership, communication, stakeholder management, mentoring and coaching, collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, ownership, conflict resolution, adaptability, and the abilityto influence cross-functional teams while driving successful delivery ofcomplex cloud-native solutions.