Backend Java Developer (SME)

District Partners is supporting a specialized consulting group leading a major technology modernization initiative for a federal agency. This is a mission-critical environment where backend engineering directly impacts operations and system reliability at scale. The work is fast-paced, deeply technical, and spans distributed systems, microservices, cloud-native patterns, and high-volume data processing.

Engineers who excel here typically bring a strong academic grounding from accredited US universities and professional experience within well-known federal contracting or enterprise engineering environments (Leidos, SAIC, CACI, BAE, Boeing, RTX, etc.). The expectations are high, collaboration is tight, and the problems are complex.

What You'll Do:

• Lead design and development of enterprise-scale, data-driven backend applications
• Build, optimize, and maintain microservices and RESTful APIs using modern Spring frameworks
• Partner with architects, data engineers, and data scientists to deliver end-to-end solutions
• Refactor legacy components, strengthen performance, and harden system reliability
• Document workflows, user stories, and technical decisions
• Mentor junior developers and support engineering best practices
• Participate in design reviews, solutioning sessions, and milestone planning

What You'll Have:

• 12+ years' experience with a BS degree, or senior-level equivalent (20+ HS, 18+ AA, 9+ MS, 7+ PhD)
• Strong Java 8+ development experience; OOP fundamentals; XML/JSON
• Spring Framework (Microservices, REST APIs), Hibernate ORM
• Relational DB experience: Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL; advanced SQL skills
• Application servers: Tomcat, WebLogic, WildFly, JBoss
• Containers: Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift
• AWS (EC2, RDS, S3) or similar cloud experience
• Build & source control: Maven, Gradle, Bamboo, Git/Bitbucket
• Distributed systems exposure: Hadoop, Spark, Impala, Elasticsearch, Solr, MySQL
• NoSQL: MongoDB, Cassandra, DynamoDB
• CI/CD tools: Jenkins, Bamboo
• Unix/Linux scripting
• Agile/Scrum delivery experience; Jira/Confluence; IDEs such as Eclipse, Jupyter, Zeppelin

This program offers long-term stability, complex engineering challenges, and immediate openings for senior-level backend developers who can operate independently and lead from the front.

Location: Ashburn, VA (Onsite 5 days a week for the first year; hybrid available thereafter)

Compensation: $70/hr-$75/hr, depending on experience (1099/C2C)

Duration: Multi-year federal modernization program

Clearance: Must be able to obtain a Public Trust

Citizenship: US Citizen

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