Job Title: Full Stack Software Engineer Associate
Location: Dallas/Jersey/Tampa Hybrid
Duration: 6 + Months (Possible Extension)
Shift Schedule: Monday Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Employment Type : CTH (Contract to hire)
Job DescriptionOverall Experience & Mindset- Early career to developing engineer with ~2 4 years of hands on experience in full stack application development.
- Demonstrates strong fundamentals, willingness to learn standards, and the ability to grow with guidance from senior engineers.
- Comfortable working in Agile teams, taking ownership of assigned stories and tasks.
- AI tool exposure like Github copilot is a plus but not required.
Technical ExpectationsBackend Development (Primary)- Solid understanding of Java and Spring Boot fundamentals.
- Experience building or modifying RESTful APIs.
- Basic knowledge of microservices concepts (service boundaries, configuration, logging).
- Familiarity with messaging concepts (Kafka/JMS) is a plus, but deep expertise is not required at this level.
- Uses structured logging and understands basic error handling.
Frontend Development- Working knowledge of Angular or React (components, services, state basics).
- Ability to build simple UI features and integrate them with backend APIs.
- Understanding of basic UI/UX principles and accessibility awareness (at least at a conceptual level).
Database & SQL- Ability to write basic to intermediate SQL queries:
- SELECT, JOINs
- WHERE clauses
- GROUP BY / ORDER BY
- Understands relational database concepts (tables, indexes, primary/foreign keys).
Development Practices & Tools- Comfortable using an IDE (IntelliJ, VS Code, or Eclipse).
- Familiar with Git (branching, pull requests, resolving conflicts).
- Exposure to unit testing (JUnit / Jest or similar).
- Basic understanding of CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows.
- Willingness to follow engineering standards, security guidelines, and compliance requirements once onboarded.
Cloud & Platform (Baseline Awareness)- General familiarity with cloud environments (AWS or similar).
- High level understanding of containers (Docker) and platform concepts (OpenShift/Kubernetes) is sufficient.
- No expectation to design infrastructure independently at this level.
Interview & Hiring Expectations (Important)Must be able to:
- Explain actual project work they have contributed to (academic, personal, or professional).
- Walk through code they have written .There should be sample projects in their IDE and should be good enough to showcase his/her skills. A Helloworld program is not acceptable.
- Answer basic Java, SQL, and frontend questions without relying on memorized answers.
Should be prepared for:
- Screen sharing
- Demonstrating problem solving using an IDE
- Deep system design is not expected, but clarity of thought and fundamentals are required.
Behavioral & Professional Expectations- Communicates clearly with team members and mentors.
- Open to feedback and actively incorporates suggestions.
- Understands the importance of quality, security, and reliability in a regulated financial environment.
- Shows accountability for deliverables and timelines, even for smaller assignments.
What Is Not Expected at Associate Level- Designing complex distributed systems independently.
- Owning architectural decisions end to end.
- Advanced Kafka tuning, cloud cost optimization, or complex performance engineering.
- Leading squads or mentoring others formally.