Principal Java Developer
Role: Principal Java Developer
- Initial Contract Length: 12 Months (likely to be extended)
- Work Location: 100% Remote
- IR35 Status: Inside IR35
- Industry: Public Services
- Interview Process: One Stage
- Security Clearance: Active SC Clearance required - don't apply if you don't have this active
- Start: ASAP, following clearance transfer
- Java and AWS Expertise mandatory
- Team management, Technical Direction mandatory
We are working alongside a leading consultancy provider to deliver a critical programme for a major public sector client, seeking a Principal Java Developer to act as the front-facing technical authority across a product family driving design, delivery and technical direction across multiple teams.
Key Responsibilities:
- Act as the technical authority across the product family, arbitrating complex technical decisions and ensuring standards are maintained across all delivery teams
- Represent the technical view in design forums, working closely with architects, security specialists and other stakeholders to shape and validate design decisions
- Lead the technical delivery of large-scale, cloud-native systems on AWS, using distributed and event-driven architectures and resilient microservices
- Set technical direction across multiple teams, aligning delivery with a shared vision alongside product and architecture leads
- Pioneer new software architecture, build and integration approaches, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy
- Implement effective testing and quality assurance practices across teams and systems, ensuring resilience and observability
- Support production, incident management and live service operations, contributing hands-on when required
- Communicate clearly and confidently across audiences explaining technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and understanding and responding to questions from both technical and business colleagues
- Maintain up-to-date technical documentation to support governance and delivery
What We're Looking For:
- Active SC Clearance
- Significant modern Java development experience (Spring Boot, Maven, Docker Compose, REST/SOAP) on complex systems operating at scale, handling hundreds of millions of transactions annually
- Experience with AWS distributed and asynchronous systems, including S3, SQS, SNS, Step Functions, EventBridge and event sourcing, plus containerised applications using Docker and Kubernetes
- Proven experience leading multiple teams, including technical governance and architectural input
- A strong track record acting as a front-facing technical authority comfortable in technical design forums and equally able to communicate with non-technical stakeholders
- Experience of production support, incident management and live service operations
Desirable:
- Python, Bash, Node.js and TypeScript
- LocalStack, Terraform, Helm
- AWS AppConfig, API Gateway, Lambda Authorizer
- Kafka/AWS MSK
- Secrets management, authorisation, authentication and certificate management
Security Clearance: Active SC Clearance is required for this role; candidates must hold current SC. Non-SC candidates will not be considered.