Java Engineering Manager

Java Engineering ManagerLocation: Menlo Park, CA or San Francisco Bay area — Hybrid, onsite 3 days/week minimum(This position requires candidates to be local to the San Francisco Bay Area, preferably Menlo Park, CA, and able to work onsite at least 3 days per week. The onsite requirement may increase to 4 days depending on client needs.)Contract: Long term contractStart Date: ImmediateInterview Process: 2–3 roundsJob OverviewWe are seeking an experienced Java Engineering Manager / Senior Backend Engineer to join the Middle Office Core Platform organization supporting a major financial services client.The ideal candidate is a hands-on technology leader with strong expertise in Java, Spring, microservices, distributed systems, and cloud technologies. This role will focus on product development, platform modernization, scalable backend solutions, and delivering high-quality technology solutions that drive business outcomes.The successful candidate will be comfortable participating in technical architecture discussions, leading design initiatives, solving complex engineering problems, and working closely with global engineering and business teams.Key Responsibilities:Lead the design and development of backend applications, services, and platform components using Java and Spring.Participate in architecture and technical design discussions and communicate solutions through whiteboarding and technical presentations.Design scalable interfaces and information exchange between application modules and services.Develop and maintain highly available, scalable, and distributed systems.Drive engineering best practices including clean code, unit testing, code reviews, automation, and quality engineering.Analyze application performance and implement design and coding improvements to optimize scalability and reliability.Work closely with product managers, architects, engineers, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.Understand the broader product architecture while maintaining deep expertise in assigned components and services.Support build, release, deployment, and production processes.Identify technical risks, customer-impacting issues, and opportunities for modernization.Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and knowledge sharing across engineering teams.Work effectively with globally distributed teams and support an Agile development environment.Evaluate and adopt new technologies and open-source frameworks where they provide meaningful business value.Required Qualifications:Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or another STEM discipline.7+ years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent experience with an advanced degree.Strong hands-on experience with Java and the Spring Framework / Spring Boot.Strong understanding of object-oriented design, design patterns, and software engineering principles.Extensive experience developing microservices and RESTful backend services.Experience working with relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Sybase.Strong knowledge of data structures and algorithms.Experience designing and developing scalable, highly available distributed systems.Strong understanding of application performance, scalability, and optimization techniques.Experience with software development lifecycle, including testing, build, release, deployment, and production support.Experience working in an Agile software development environment.Strong communication and problem-solving skills.Ability to lead technical discussions and communicate complex technical concepts clearly.Preferred Qualifications:Experience with AWS or Azure and cloud-native application development.Hands-on experience with Kubernetes and container technologies.Experience with Service Mesh technologies.Experience with Python scripting.Experience with modern open-source frameworks and cloud technologies.Experience working with highly distributed enterprise platforms.Financial services, banking, capital markets, or middle-office technology experience.Experience working with global engineering teams and senior stakeholders.Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and influence technical direction.