Technical Lead - Java API / Web Services with Database Exp

We are seeking a Technical Lead with strong Java and database expertise to lead Web Services and API development initiatives. This is a contract position based in Denver, Colorado, with a duration of 6+ months. You will work closely with Database, QA, DevOps, and Product teams to drive end-to-end application delivery while ensuring scalability, reliability, security, and adherence to enterprise engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of Java and API developers, driving solution architecture and technical reviews.
• Ensure adherence to coding standards, security guidelines, and development best practices through code reviews and technical guidance.
• Own sprint commitments and delivery milestones, including backlog grooming, story estimation, sprint planning, and retrospectives.
• Lead resolution of critical production incidents and perform root cause analysis.
• Drive application performance tuning and scalability initiatives, optimizing APIs, backend services, and database interactions.
• Review and validate database design changes and work closely with database teams on schema modifications and query optimization.
• Coordinate deployments, hotfixes, and release activities to ensure system stability and operational excellence.
• Monitor JVM performance, memory utilization, thread management, and overall system health.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams during incident response, recovery, and production readiness activities.
• Act as the technical point of contact for critical project initiatives and demonstrate strong ownership and accountability.

Qualifications

• Required

• 8-15+ years of hands-on software development experience

• Minimum 2+ years in a Technical Lead or Module Lead role

• Proven experience supporting enterprise-scale applications and production environments

• Experience leading Agile teams and driving delivery commitments

• Strong stakeholder and client management skills

• Java 8, 11, or 17

• Spring Boot and Microservices Architecture

• RESTful API Design, Development, and Integration

• Event-Driven Architecture using Kafka

• API Security, Authentication, and Authorization mechanisms

• API Performance Tuning and Scalability Optimization

• Git-based Source Control

• CI/CD Pipeline Implementation

• Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, or GitHub Actions

• Unit Testing using JUnit and Mockito

• Code Quality Management using SonarQube

• Design Reviews, Code Reviews, and Release Governance

• Incident Management and Root Cause Analysis

• Production Deployment and Release Support

• Application Monitoring and Troubleshooting

• Service Reliability and Availability Management

• Strong working knowledge of database design and performance engineering

• PostgreSQL

• Oracle Database

• Advanced SQL Development and Query Optimization

• Database Schema Design and Data Modeling

• Indexing Strategy and Performance Tuning

• Stored Procedures, Functions, and Packages

• Database Deployment and Migration Scripts

• Data Migration and Remediation Activities

• Database Health Monitoring and Troubleshooting

• Understanding of Replication, Backup, Recovery, and Failover Concepts

• Lock Analysis, Query Performance Monitoring, and Capacity Planning

• Excellent communication and analytical problem-solving capabilities

• Ability to mentor and develop engineers

• Proactive risk identification and mitigation

• Ability to work effectively in high-pressure production environments

• Preferred

• Banking and Financial Services domain experience

• Customer Profile Management (CPM) experience