Java Technical Lead

Java Technical Lead - Modernisation & Cloud Engineering

Wembley, London (5 days on-site)
Up to £85,000 per annum

The Opportunity

We're partnering with a well-established, multinational organisation embarking on a major transformation-rebuilding its digital engine from the ground up.

They are looking for a Modernisation Engineering Lead who breathes engineering excellence.

If you're a 10+ year Java/Spring Boot expert who is tired of bloated, unmaintainable systems and wants the authority to "fix it properly", this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact.

You will work directly with the Head of Architecture, turning high-level designs into verifiably stable, scalable, cloud-native solutions-with real ownership, influence, and autonomy.

What You'll Own

Engineering Sovereignty

• Define and enforce Java and Node.js engineering standards across the platform
• Set the benchmark for:
  • Robust exception handling
  • Binary stream processing
  • Structured logging (Application Insights)
  • Security-first development
• Drive a culture of clean, maintainable, production-grade code

Cloud-Native Excellence

• Ensure all systems are built for Azure Container Apps from day one
• Own best practice implementation across:
  • Stateless architecture
  • Health check endpoints
  • Secure secret management (Azure Key Vault)
  • Containerisation standards and deployment readiness

The Integration Engine

• Lead API and integration strategy, including:
  • RESTful API design
  • OAuth2 authentication flows (including FusionAuth)
  • Event-driven systems via Azure Service Bus
  • Transactional email logic via SendGrid (DMARC compliant)

Mentorship & Code Leadership

• Act as a hands-on technical mentor, not just a lead
• Run structured code reviews to eliminate technical debt before production
• Elevate team capability and enforce engineering discipline at every level

Architecture to Reality

• Work side-by-side with the Principal/Head of Architecture
• Translate high-level designs into deliverable implementation plans
• Ensure developers understand not just what to build-but why

Quality & DevOps Mindset

• Embed a non-negotiable automated testing culture:
  • Unit
  • Integration
  • Contract testing
• Operate with a strong understanding of:
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Docker
  • GitHub Actions (YAML workflows)
• Build software that is deployment-aware and production-ready from day one

What We're Looking For

Experience

• 10+ years Java development, with deep expertise in:
  • Spring Boot
  • Microservices architecture
• Proven production ownership of scalable systems

Cloud & Integration

• Hands-on experience with Azure-native services, including:
  • Azure Key Vault
  • Azure Service Bus
  • Azure Storage APIs
• Strong experience building event-driven, distributed systems

DevOps Mindset

• Comfortable working with:
  • Docker
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • GitHub Actions
• Able to write code with full awareness of how it is built, tested, and deployed

Engineering Discipline

• Strong advocate of automated testing and quality-first development
• Passion for eliminating technical debt and improving Legacy systems

Why This Role?

• Join a business where you will genuinely shape the engineering landscape
• Work directly with senior architecture on strategic modernisation
• Take ownership of how software is built, delivered, and maintained
• Be empowered to fix long-standing technical problems properly-not patch them