Senior Software Engineer

The Senior Software Engineer (Java) delivers complex backend features and components with full technical ownership, influences the team's engineering practices, and begins to mentor junior engineers. The role has deep expertise in Java and the Quarkus (or Spring Boot) ecosystem, leads the technical design of moderately complex services and integrations, and is a reliable point of technical advice for cross-functional stakeholders. It requires strong command of microservices architecture, RESTful API design, data persistence, and the security requirements applicable to lottery and gaming platforms operating in international markets.

The candidate will have responsibilities across the following functions:

Software Development:

• Lead the design and end-to-end implementation of complex Java backend services, REST APIs, and integration components within the team's product portfolio.
• Translate requirements into well-structured, scalable solutions using Quarkus and the team's established microservices architectural standards.

Software Maintenance:

• Own defect resolution and root-cause analysis for complex issues in Java components.
• Deliver software patches and ensure ongoing technical health of the codebase through proactive identification of technical debt and maintainability improvements.

Architecture and Design:

• Make component-level design decisions within the team's architectural guidelines.
• Evaluate technical options and trade-offs for assigned features.
• Contribute to API design standards, data modelling, and integration patterns across the team's product area.

Quality and Security:

• Champion engineering quality by delivering clean, well-tested, secure, and performant Java code across the team.
• Apply secure-coding principles and OWASP best practices to protect lottery transaction data, player accounts, and system integrity in regulated environments.

Stakeholder Support and Mentoring:

• Support Sales, Account Management, and Customer Support with effort estimates and technical advice on escalated matters.
• Mentor Associate and Software Engineers through code reviews, pair programming, and internal technical sessions.

Authorities:

• Propose and champion improvements to Java engineering standards, tooling, and architectural practices within the team.
• Provide effort estimates and technical feasibility assessments for complex backend changes.
• Make component-level design decisions within the team's architectural guidelines.
• Mentor Associate and Software Engineers; provide informal feedback to support their development.

Key Tasks:

• Design and implement complex Java backend services and REST APIs end-to-end using Quarkus JPA, following microservices architectural standards.
• Lead technical design for moderately complex features spanning multiple services; document design decisions, API contracts, and data models.
• Design and optimise data access patterns using Quarkus Data JPA, Hibernate, and relational databases (Oracle) for transactional lottery systems.
• Estimate development effort for substantial backend changes; contribute to sprint planning and release scoping.
• Lead code reviews for junior and mid-level engineers; uphold Java coding standards, security guidelines, test coverage, and performance expectations.
• Drive root-cause analysis for production incidents; implement preventive improvements and document findings.
• Mentor Associate and Software Engineers through pair programming, code reviews, and knowledge-sharing sessions.
• Support Sales and Account Management with effort estimates and technical feasibility assessments for complex or cross-cutting changes.
• Support Customer Support during major-incident investigations within the Java backend domain.
• Contribute to improvements of the team's CI/CD pipeline, build tooling (Maven/Gradle), and development practices.
• Provide on-call support during Scientific Games support hours as part of the team rota.
• Work abroad as required by projects, up to three times per year for a total of up to six weeks or as otherwise agreed.

General Tasks:

• Raise suggestions for improvements, novel approaches, and technical debt reduction.
• Report problems, blockers, or delays promptly to the team and line manager.
• Attend and actively participate in agile ceremonies (planning, stand-up, refinement, review, retrospective).
• Plan, organise, and report progress of own tasks using the team's tracking tools (e. g. Jira, Azure DevOps).
• Maintain good order in own working environment and follow the team's source-control and branching conventions.
• Designate a deputy when out of office and ensure adequate handover of in-progress work.
• Pursue continuous professional development, including self-study of relevant technologies and participation in internal knowledge-sharing sessions.
• Comply with Scientific Games' information security, data-protection, and responsible-gaming policies.
• Prepare and deliver internal technical presentations and demonstrations as required.
• Contribute to onboarding documentation and knowledge-base articles for the team's products.
• Support pre-sales and bid activities by providing accurate effort estimates and technical input as requested.
• Represent the team or company in external technical forums, customer workshops, and partner engagements where appropriate.
• Actively contribute to recruitment and interviewing processes for engineering roles when requested.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement, psychological safety, and engineering excellence within the team.
• Participate in cross-functional working groups, architecture forums, and company-wide technical initiatives.

Skills

Java, Quarkus, Spring Boot, microservices