Lead Software Engineer - BackEnd ( Java )

About Growfin

Growfin is a fast-growing SaaS company providing financial management solutions for finance leaders, including Controllers, VPs of Finance, and CFOs. Our platform offers capabilities such as financial reporting, collections, cash application, and cash flow forecasting, designed to streamline financial operations and improve cash flow cycles.

Our mission is to help finance teams optimize their performance through an innovative, intuitive, and user-friendly platform. We take pride in our collaborative, dynamic, and growth-oriented culture, where engineers have the opportunity to solve meaningful problems and build impactful products.

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced Lead Backend Engineer with strong technical expertise in Java, Spring Boot, and distributed systems to drive backend engineering initiatives at Growfin.

In this role, you will own the technical direction of backend systems, lead architectural decisions, and drive the design and development of scalable, reliable, and high-performance applications.

Beyond hands-on development, you will lead and mentor a team of engineers, establish engineering best practices, drive technical excellence, and collaborate with Product and Engineering leadership to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end backend application lifecycle, including architecture, design, development, deployment, and ongoing maintenance.

• Lead backend engineering initiatives and drive the technical direction of applications and services.

• Architect, design, and develop scalable, secure, and high-performance distributed systems and microservices.

• Drive architectural decisions, technology evaluations, and engineering standards across backend development.

• Lead the development of complex backend systems using Java, Spring Boot, and modern engineering practices.

• Design scalable RESTful APIs, service integrations, and distributed system architectures.

• Collaborate closely with Product, Frontend, DevOps, and other Engineering teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions.

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of backend engineers, providing technical guidance and supporting their professional growth.

• Drive technical discussions, design reviews, code reviews, and engineering quality standards.

• Identify architectural bottlenecks, technical debt, and scalability challenges, and drive initiatives to address them.

• Ensure application performance, reliability, security, and scalability through effective monitoring and optimization.

• Establish and improve engineering processes, development workflows, CI/CD practices, and testing methodologies.

• Take ownership of critical production issues and guide the team in troubleshooting and resolving complex technical challenges.

• Work with Engineering leadership to define technical roadmaps, prioritize engineering initiatives, and align technical investments with business goals.

• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Requirements

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in backend software development, with strong expertise in Java and Spring Boot.

• At least 1-2 years of experience in a technical leadership, team leadership, or engineering management capacity.

• Proven experience leading and mentoring a team of backend engineers and driving technical deliverables.

• Strong experience designing and building large-scale, distributed systems and microservices-based applications.

• Deep understanding of Java, Spring Boot, object-oriented programming, design patterns, and software architecture principles.

• Strong expertise in RESTful API design, microservices architecture, and distributed system patterns.

• In-depth knowledge of relational databases such as MySQL, including data modeling, indexing, query optimization, and performance tuning.

• Hands-on experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms, including designing and deploying scalable cloud-based solutions.

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, monitoring, logging, and production deployments.

• Proven ability to drive architectural decisions, resolve complex technical challenges, and improve system performance at scale.

• Experience conducting technical design reviews, code reviews, and establishing engineering best practices.

• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to balance hands-on development, technical leadership, and team responsibilities.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively across Product and Engineering teams.

• Experience in a fast-growing SaaS or product-based organization is preferred.