Agile Programming Methodologies, Ansible, Application Programming Interface (API), Atlassian JIRA, Best Practices, Cloud Applications, Cloud Computing, Code Reviews, Coding Standards, Continuous Deployment/Delivery, Continuous Improvement, Continuous Integration, DevOps, Enterprise Protection, JSON, Java, Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE/J2EE), Maintain Compliance, Microservices, Microsoft Windows Azure, PHP Scripting Language (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor), People Management, Process Improvement, Product Lifecycle, Production Support, Quality Monitoring, REST (Representational State Transfer), Resource Management, Scalable System Development, Scrum Project Management and Software Development, Software Administration, Software Development, Technical Leadership, Validation Testing, nginx Web Server
Java Backend Lead (Azure and PHP) – Job Description
Position Summary
The Java Backend Lead (Azure and PHP) provides hands-on technical leadership for a mission-critical, enterprise-scale application platform. This role works closely with the Technical Manager to drive application development, cloud infrastructure design, and operational reliability across Azure-hosted environments.
This is a highly technical, execution-focused role, with 75%+ of time spent on hands-on coding. In addition, the Lead Developer provides direction to senior developers, ensuring adherence to coding standards, architecture best practices, and high-quality delivery.
The role requires a balance of software engineering expertise, cloud infrastructure knowledge, and leadership skills, with a strong focus on scalability, stability, and maintainability.
Location: Dearborn, MI (Hybrid – Onsite Tue–Thu)
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Oversight
- Act as the technical lead for the platform
- Collaborate with Technical Manager on architecture, design, and standards
- Provide guidance and oversight to senior developers and teams
- Lead and participate in code reviews (quality, security, standards)
- Establish and enforce best practices across development lifecycle
- Drive continuous improvement and modernization initiatives
Hands-On Development (Primary – 75%+)
- Actively contribute to the codebase
- Design, develop, and maintain backend applications & APIs
- Build scalable, secure, high-performance systems
- Identify and resolve technical debt and performance issues
- Ensure high-quality delivery through testing and validation
Code Quality & Engineering Practices
- Use SonarQube (or similar tools) for code quality monitoring
- Promote secure coding and strong test coverage
- Improve code health and reduce technical debt
Cloud Infrastructure & DevOps
- Work with Technical Manager on Azure environments
- Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform & Ansible
- Manage cloud resources (compute, storage, networking)
- Build and optimize CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps
- Ensure scalability, reliability, and enterprise-grade security
Technical Skills (Must-Have)
- Strong experience in Java / J2EE backend development
- PHP (Required) – production support & enhancements
- Experience with REST APIs, JSON, microservices
- Strong database skills: SQL Server & MySQL (performance tuning, modeling)
- Experience with Azure-hosted applications
- Hands-on with Terraform & Ansible (IaC)
- Experience with NGINX configuration
- Agile/Scrum environment experience
- Proficiency in:
- JIRA (Agile tracking)
- Azure DevOps (CI/CD, repos, deployments)
- SonarQube or equivalent