Job Description
Java Kafka Developer - Full-Time 📍 Ashburn, VA (Hybrid - 1 to 2 days onsite / 3 to 4 days remote) 🇺🇸 Must be a U.S. Citizen and currently reside in the Metro Washington, D.C. area We have an immediate opening for a Java Kafka Developer to join an Agile Scrum team supporting a federal program. This role focuses on backend development within an event-driven, microservices architecture, delivering releasable software in short sprint cycles. Key Responsibilities Design, develop, and implement custom software and database applications across legacy and modernized systems Build and support event-driven, distributed systems using Kafka-based architectures Collaborate within Agile Scrum teams to deliver high-quality software in short sprint cycles Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, testing, demos, retrospectives, and releases Analyze complex technical challenges and develop scalable, innovative solutions Ensure product quality, timeliness, and performance standards Contribute to engineering standards and architectural best practices Mentor junior developers and support team growth Required Qualifications U.S. Citizen able to pass a CBP background investigation: 3-year felony conviction check 1-year illegal drug use check 1-year misconduct check (e.g., theft or fraud) Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience) 7+ years of professional software development experience 5+ years of Java backend development 3+ years of hands-on Spring Boot experience Technical Expertise Deep expertise in Apache Kafka: Producer & Consumer APIs Kafka Streams Topics, partitions, consumer groups, offsets Schema Registry (schema evolution & governance) Strong experience implementing Kafka with Spring Framework Event-driven architecture and microservices design patterns Relational databases (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle) ORM frameworks (Spring Data JPA, Hibernate) Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and debugging skills Excellent communication and collaboration abilities Desired / Nice to Have Experience with Confluent Kafka NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Cassandra) or in-memory data stores (Redis) Data governance and data quality principles in event-driven systems Advanced DevOps / CI/CD automation experience