About the Opportunity Our client is a global leader in enterprise API management and digital integration — a product company whose platform is used by banks, telcos, and government agencies to connect, secure, and govern their API ecosystems at scale. They are building a new Eastern European engineering team and are specifically looking for engineers who bring both technical depth and genuine ownership to their work.
This is a long-term B2B contractor engagement (1-year contract, renewable), embedded within an Agile product team that values engineering discipline, proactive problem-solving, and clear communication.
About the Position We are looking for a Senior Java Developer to join a cross-functional pod delivering core components of a cloud-native API orchestration and integration platform. You will work closely with a Technical Lead, Product Owner, and QA Engineer — contributing at both the design and implementation level, and helping shape a new team from the ground up.
This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who takes ownership, writes code they’re proud of, and consistently looks beyond the ticket in front of them. If you have a background in API management or integration-focused products, that’s a meaningful advantage.
Working Hours This role operates on Ireland/Dublin business hours: 09:00–18:00 GMT (winter) / 08:00–17:00 GMT (summer). Candidates should be fully comfortable aligning their working day to this schedule with some flexibility.
Responsibilities * Backend Development — Design, build, and maintain backend microservices and APIs on a cloud-native platform. Produce clean, well-tested, and maintainable code aligned with established engineering standards. * Architecture Contribution — Collaborate with the Technical Lead and architects on technical roadmap decisions, system design reviews, and long-term scalability planning. * Platform Engineering — Work within a Kubernetes-based environment, supporting containerised service deployment and microservice lifecycle management. * Quality & Testing — Coordinate with QA engineers to maintain strong test coverage across unit, integration, and load levels. Participate in code reviews and uphold quality standards throughout the development cycle. * Team Collaboration — Work closely with the Product Owner, DevOps, and cross-functional stakeholders to deliver features aligned to business objectives and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement. * Monitoring & Optimisation — Implement observability practices (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry) to track system health and performance. Identify bottlenecks and tune services for improved latency, throughput, and resource efficiency.
RequirementsTechnical Expertise * 5+ years of experience in backend or platform engineering, with a strong focus on distributed systems and API development * Strong proficiency in Java, including multithreading, memory management, and performance tuning * Solid experience with API design (REST, gRPC) and integration patterns; background in API management or integration-focused products is a meaningful advantage * Hands-on experience with Valkey (or Redis), MongoDB, and PostgreSQL, including query optimisation and data modelling * Strong working knowledge of Kubernetes, containerisation, and cloud-native deployment practices
Quality & DevOps * Experience with observability and monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry) * Familiarity with CI/CD practices and test automation
Collaboration & Communication * Fluent English (B2+), essential for daily collaboration with an international client team * Proactive working style — you identify problems and propose improvements without waiting to be asked * Strong problem-solving and debugging skills * Experience working effectively in cross-functional Agile teams * A consistent track record of sustained contributions at previous employers
