Java Developer/Architect

Position Overview

Discover Financial Services is seeking a Java Lead Engineer to join the Core Payments Backend team. This role requires a hands-on technical leader with deep expertise in Java, Spring-based microservices, and distributed systems within a high-volume, mission-critical payments environment.

The Lead Engineer will drive technical design, modernization efforts, delivery quality, and system reliability, while mentoring engineers and collaborating across enterprise teams. This role combines hands-on development with technical leadership and architectural influence.

The team follows Agile methodology with 2-week sprints, and engineers are responsible for end-to-end delivery, automated testing, and production readiness.

Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Architecture

Act as technical lead for backend payment services, guiding design and implementation decisions.

Lead design and code reviews to ensure adherence to enterprise architecture and engineering standards.

Drive modernization of legacy components into scalable, cloud-ready microservices.

Partner with architecture and platform teams to define long-term technical direction.

Software Engineering

Design, develop, and maintain backend services using Java, Spring Boot, and Hibernate.

Own complex user stories and epics from requirements through production deployment.

Ensure code quality, security, resiliency, and performance standards are consistently met.

Review and approve pull requests; enforce best practices and coding standards.

Quality, CI/CD & Automation

Champion test-driven development and automation-first practices.

Ensure strong test coverage using JUnit, Cucumber, and integration testing frameworks.

Lead CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Nexus, and related tools.

Collaborate with DevOps teams on deployment, monitoring, and release readiness.

Reliability, Performance & Production Support

Own stability and performance of assigned services in production.

Lead root cause analysis and drive permanent fixes for production issues.

Implement caching, performance tuning, and resiliency patterns.

Improve observability and monitoring to proactively detect system issues.

Mentorship & Collaboration

Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews, technical guidance, and coaching.

Support sprint planning, backlog refinement, and delivery commitments.

Collaborate closely with Product, QA, DevOps, and Security teams.

Contribute to engineering communities and knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Required Technical Skills
Programming & Frameworks

Strong experience with Java, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Hibernate/JPA

Experience leading microservices-based architectures

Infrastructure / Cloud

Linux

AWS

OpenShift

VMware

CI/CD & Automation

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

Chef

Ansible

Nexus

Databases & Messaging

PostgreSQL or similar RDBMS

Kafka or other event-driven platforms

Redis, Memcached, or similar caching technologies

Testing & Performance

JUnit

Cucumber

JMeter or equivalent performance testing tools

Candidate Requirements

Prior experience as a Java Lead / Senior Backend Engineer in enterprise or financial services environments

Strong communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills

Must be available 3 days onsite in Chicago, IL

Only strong consultants with excellent interview skills

C2C only | Rate: Max $55–$60/hr

If you want, I can also:

Shorten this into a vendor blast version

Create Java Lead screening questions for Discover

Add payments-domain keywords to increase resume match

Provide a rate justification script for candidates