Lead Software Engineer - Drools

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Kforce has a client that is seeking a Lead Drools Engineer in Evansville, IN.

Summary:
We are seeking a Lead Drools Engineer to design, build, and maintain business rules for a large-scale underwriting and decisioning platform. This role focuses on translating complex credit and risk policies into high-performance, explainable Drools rules that power real-time decisions.

Key Responsibilities:
* Design, develop, and maintain Drools (KIE) rules using DRL, Decision Tables, and Rule Templates to implement complex underwriting, eligibility, and policy logic
* Optimize rule execution for low latency and high throughput, including management of rule salience, agenda groups, rule flows, and conflict resolution
* Ensure decisions are deterministic, explainable, and auditable, meeting regulatory and audit requirements
* Contribute to the overall decisioning and rules architecture, designing rule sets for reusability, versioning, and controlled rollout
* Participate in design reviews and technical discussions related to rule design and platform evolution
* Develop unit tests and scenario-based tests to validate rule behavior across multiple decision paths
* Troubleshoot production issues related to rule execution and support deployments across development, QA, and production environments
* Act as a subject-matter expert for Drools and business rules best practices, mentoring junior engineers
* Establish and enforce standards for rule authoring, documentation, testing, and maintainability

What Success Looks Like:
* Business policies are accurately captured as maintainable Drools rules
* Decisions are fast, consistent, and explainable
* Rule changes can be made confidently without impacting platform stability
* The rules layer is reliable, scalable, and regulator-ready

REQUIREMENTS:
* 7+ years of software engineering experience
* 4+ years hands-on experience with Drools/KIE
* Strong proficiency in Java and Spring/Spring Boot

Deep experience with:
* DRL, Decision Tables, Rule Templates
* Stateless and stateful KIE sessions
* Rule performance tuning and debugging
* Experience building or supporting policy-driven or decisioning systems
* Strong understanding of business rules management systems (BRMS)
* Exposure to cloud platforms and CI/CD pipelines

* Experience in building a lightweight orchestration layer using Apache Pekko is a plus
* Experience with building solution on Python, JavaScript, NodeJS is a plus

The pay range is the lowest to highest compensation we reasonably in good faith believe we would pay at posting for this role. We may ultimately pay more or less than this range. Employee pay is based on factors like relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, location, performance, union contract and business needs. This range may be modified in the future.

We offer comprehensive benefits including medical/dental/vision insurance, HSA, FSA, 401(k), and life, disability & ADD insurance to eligible employees. Salaried personnel receive paid time off. Hourly employees are not eligible for paid time off unless required by law. Hourly employees on a Service Contract Act project are eligible for paid sick leave.

Note: Pay is not considered compensation until it is earned, vested and determinable. The amount and availability of any compensation remains in Kforce's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified in its discretion consistent with the law.

This job is not eligible for bonuses, incentives or commissions.

Kforce is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.

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