Snr Java Developer (API Development)

Senior Java Backend Developer - API & Microservices Modernisation

Location: Telford - minimum 2 days per month onsite, remaining time remote

Contract Length: 12 months

Rate: £550 per day

IR35: Inside IR35

Start Date: Candidates must be available to start w/c 4 January 2027

Client: Central Government

The Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Java Backend Developer to join a major application modernisation programme within Central Government.

You will be responsible for designing, developing, testing and deploying Java-based RESTful APIs and microservices, with a strong focus on scalability, resilience, maintainability and integration with existing systems.

Essential Skills

Java - Strong backend development experience.

Spring Boot - RESTful API and microservices development.

Microservices Design - Experience designing scalable, resilient and loosely coupled microservices, including service-to-service communication.

API Design - Strong RESTful API design skills, including API contracts, versioning and integration patterns.

JUnit - Automated unit testing.

JSON - Experience working with API data structures and formats.

Docker - Containerisation of microservices.

Kubernetes - Hands-on experience deploying and managing microservices.

Git / CI/CD - Version control and automated build and deployment pipelines.

Desirable Skills

JPA / Hibernate

Kibana

Maven / Gradle

Mockito

AWS

GitLab

Helm

OpenAPI / Swagger

SQL

Shell scripting

AI-Assisted Development

The programme is actively embracing modern AI-assisted development practices. Candidates should be comfortable using approved AI tools and agents throughout the backend development lifecycle, including:

Analysis and technical design

Code generation

Automated testing

Debugging

Code review and refinement