Lead API Developer

Job Title: Lead API Developer Location: Remote (client location is Cincinnati, OH) Duration: Long Term Contract Job Summary: • We are seeking a Software Engineer - API Developer V to design, build, and optimize high-performing applications and APIs for enterprise-scale systems. • The role involves end-to-end software development, distributed systems design, and ensuring reliability and observability across platforms. Key Responsibilities: • Lead full lifecycle application development, including design, coding, debugging, and deployment. • Perform software, code, requirements, and risk analysis, ensuring reliability and scalability. • Apply Object-Oriented Design and Analysis (OOA/OOD) for building distributed and real-time processing systems. • Design and develop APIs, messaging, and event-driven solutions (MQ, Kafka, etc.). • Implement availability engineering practices, including SLAs, failover, and graceful degradation. • Enhance system observability using OpenTelemetry, Grafana, and Splunk. • Drive performance tuning, optimization, automation, and usability improvements. • Support and maintain existing software, ensuring standards compliance. • Evaluate new technologies and recommend solutions for implementation. • Collaborate with cross-functional teams in Agile/iterative environments. Required Skills: • Core Expertise: Java (concurrency, memory management, performance tuning). • System Design: Distributed systems, real-time processing, API design. • Messaging/ Eventing: MQ, Kafka, or similar platforms. • Availability Engineering: SLAs, failover strategies, system degradation handling. • Observability Tools: OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Splunk. • Strong background in software testing, QA, and integration. Qualifications: • Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field. • 10-20 years of professional software engineering experience.