Java Kafka Developer (Hybrid)

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