Principal Java Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 21, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 19, 2026.
We are looking for a highly experienced Principal Java Engineer to lead the design and development of scalable, secure, and high-performance enterprise applications. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Java, Spring Boot, microservices architecture, cloud technologies, and distributed systems, along with strong technical leadership and architectural decision-making skills.
Key Responsibilities
Lead the architecture, design, and development of complex, enterprise-grade applications using Java and Spring Boot.
Define and implement scalable, reliable, and secure microservices and distributed systems.
Drive technical strategy, architecture standards, coding best practices, and engineering guidelines.
Provide technical leadership and mentorship to senior engineers and development teams.
Review code, guide design discussions, and ensure high standards of code quality, performance, and maintainability.
Design and optimize RESTful APIs and system integrations.
Lead database design, query optimization, and data-access strategies.
Drive performance tuning, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis for complex production issues.
Collaborate with Product, Architecture, DevOps, QA, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
Lead cloud-native application development and deployment on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Establish and improve CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, monitoring, and observability practices.
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to the engineering ecosystem.
Required Skills & Qualifications
10+ years of professional software engineering experience, primarily in Java-based application development.
Strong expertise in Java 17+ and modern Java features.
Extensive hands-on experience with Spring Boot, Spring Framework, and Spring Security.
Strong experience designing and implementing microservices and distributed systems.
Expertise in REST APIs, API security, and enterprise system integrations.
Strong understanding of object-oriented programming, design patterns, SOLID principles, and clean architecture.
Experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Oracle, and familiarity with NoSQL databases.
Hands-on experience with messaging technologies such as Kafka or RabbitMQ.
Strong understanding of concurrency, multithreading, JVM internals, memory management, and performance optimization.
Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Familiarity with CI/CD tools, automated testing frameworks, and application observability.
Strong understanding of security, scalability, resilience, and fault-tolerant system design.
Excellent communication, problem-solving, and technical leadership skills.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with event-driven architecture and domain-driven design (DDD).
Familiarity with infrastructure as code and cloud-native development practices.
Experience with high-volume, low-latency systems and large-scale enterprise platforms.
Knowledge of system design principles, architecture documentation, and technical governance.
Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments.
Seniority & Expectations
Experience: 8+ years
Role Type: Individual contributor with technical leadership responsibilities
Focus: Hands-on engineering, system architecture, technical strategy, and mentorship