TEKsystems
Java Lead Engineer
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Tier 1 Financial Services Company
Development Lead (Kotlin/Java)
Location: Sheffield (2 days per week in the office)
Contract Type: Contract
Working Pattern: Full Time
About the Project
The Developer Platforms, Standards and Controls team is building a platform that enables control owners and development teams to manage and view their compliance with a range of software development standards and controls.
You will work across Kotlin and Java-based in-house web applications and APIs. We are hiring across 2-3 applications and proof-of-concepts, with allocation depending on experience and fit. The solutions include both microservice architectures and monoliths built using modern engineering practices.
What You'll Be Doing
- Provide day-to-day technical leadership for an agile engineering team, supporting the overall Tech Lead to deliver outcomes at pace and with quality.
- Lead technical input into backlog refinement, breaking epics and features into well-defined user stories, clarifying acceptance criteria, identifying dependencies, and ensuring work is delivery-ready.
- Support sprint planning by shaping technical approaches, identifying spikes, and helping the team size work appropriately.
- Design, develop and implement primarily back-end features, including Kotlin/Java APIs and services, with a small element of UI work using a simple UI framework.
- Build and evolve APIs and microservices, applying consistent engineering patterns such as error handling, logging, resilience, and security-by-design.
- Contribute to architectural and design decisions alongside the Tech Lead, documenting key decisions and trade-offs where required.
- Design, build and deliver in-house solutions end-to-end, from initial ideas and requirements through development, testing, and ongoing support.
- Coach and develop team members in engineering best practices, including clean code, test-driven development, secure coding, and maintainable design.
- Drive effective peer reviews and engineering standards to ensure code quality, readability, and attention to detail.
- Work within an agile CI/CD environment, promoting automation and quality gates while delivering rapid iterations at a sustainable pace.
- Collaborate with developers, testers, and the wider organization to build, run, and improve products.
- Engage proactively with customers and users to resolve issues, respond to feature requests, and reduce recurring operational challenges.
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Skills & Experience Required
- Strong Kotlin experience, or significant Java experience with a willingness to learn Kotlin.
- Experience leading or acting as a senior engineer within an agile delivery team.
- Proven ability to refine and decompose work, manage dependencies, and remove technical blockers.
- Strong experience in microservices and API development.
- Experience with asynchronous messaging technologies such as Kafka or similar event-driven platforms.
- Experience in at least two or three of the following:
- API development
- SQL/Databases
- HTML/JavaScript
- Strong technical and analytical troubleshooting skills, including a production support mindset.
- Experience with developer collaboration tools such as GitHub, Bitbucket, Jira, and Confluence.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong interpersonal skills and a collaborative approach to working across engineering, testing, product, and control owner teams.
- Proactive attitude with ownership of end-to-end delivery, including resolving blockers and prioritising work.
Technologies Used
- Kotlin
- Java
- Microservices
- REST APIs
- SQL/Databases
- HTML/JavaScript
- Kafka and event-driven architecture technologies
- GitHub
- Jira
- Confluence
What We Offer
- Exposure to leading IT technologies available in the market.
- Internal training events and workshops.
- In-house seminars with leading industry experts.
Job Title: Java Lead Engineer
Location: Sheffield, UK
Rate/Salary: 400.00 - 600.00 GBP Daily
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Job Type: Contract
Trading as: TEKsystems. Allegis Group Limited, Maxis 2, Western Road, Bracknell, RG12 1RT, United Kingdom. No. 2876353. Allegis Group Limited operates as an Employment Business and Employment Agency as set out in the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. TEKsystems is a company within the Allegis Group network of companies (collectively referred to as "Allegis Group"). Aerotek, Aston Carter, EASi, Talentis Solutions, TEKsystems, Stamford Consultants, and The Stamford Group are Allegis Group brands.
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