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    Open rolePosted 3 September 2026

    Lead Backend Engineer / Team Lead (Platform Modernization)

    We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Backend Engineer to take technical ownership of a live, revenue-generating enterprise platform during a critical modernisation phase. The system currently processes high volumes of data end-to-end but requires immediate architectural remediation to dismantle technical debt, establish automated testing, and eliminate security vulnerabilities without disrupting production traffic.

    • Work arrangement: Fully remote

    About the role

    Key Responsibilities

    • Dismantle Monoliths: Lead the architectural strategy to apply the Strangler pattern, breaking apart legacy monolithic APIs into scalable, domain-specific microservices.

    • Database & Library Decoupling: Architect the extraction of service-specific data from heavily coupled shared databases and untangle monolithic shared libraries to enable independent service deployments.

    • Security Remediation: Drive the patching of severe backend vulnerabilities, replace end-of-life dependencies, and enforce secure credential and identity management across containerised environments.

    • Establish Automated Testing: Build a culture of quality by designing and implementing unit, integration, and API contract test frameworks from scratch for legacy services currently lacking test coverage.

    • Framework Modernisation: Plan and execute the upgrade path for outdated backend technologies, migrating legacy Java applications and deprecated frameworks to current, supported LTS releases.

    • Pipeline Resilience: Maintain and scale async message-queue pipelines while ensuring that microservices gracefully handle network timeouts, component failures, and connection recoveries.

    Required Experience & Qualifications

    • Senior Backend Expertise: 8+ years of software engineering experience with deep, hands-on knowledge of the Java ecosystem and modern enterprise architecture.

    • Framework Mastery: Extensive experience with Spring Boot, Spring Security, and navigating complex major-version upgrades across large codebases.

    • Legacy Refactoring: Proven track record of dismantling distributed monoliths, isolating shared databases, and safely refactoring live production systems.

    • Test-Driven Leadership: Demonstrated ability to establish automated testing standards in environments with low or zero coverage, utilising characterisation tests to lock down legacy behaviour before altering code.

    • Security-First Mindset: Strong understanding of OWASP principles, with practical experience remediating insecure cryptography, SQL injection vectors, and access control misconfigurations.

    • Team Mentorship: Experience leading, mentoring, and shielding a team of engineers through high-pressure, complex technical transformations.

    Requirements

    Required Experience & Qualifications

    • Senior Backend Expertise: 8+ years of software engineering experience with deep, hands-on knowledge of the Java ecosystem and modern enterprise architecture.

    • Framework Mastery: Extensive experience with Spring Boot, Spring Security, and navigating complex major-version upgrades across large codebases.

    • Legacy Refactoring: Proven track record of dismantling distributed monoliths, isolating shared databases, and safely refactoring live production systems.

    • Test-Driven Leadership: Demonstrated ability to establish automated testing standards in environments with low or zero coverage, utilizing characterization tests to lock down legacy behavior before altering code.

    • Security-First Mindset: Strong understanding of OWASP principles, with practical experience remediating insecure cryptography, SQL injection vectors, and access control misconfigurations.

    • Team Mentorship: Experience leading, mentoring, and shielding a team of engineers through high-pressure, complex technical transformations.

    How it works for you

    1. Apply once

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    2. Record your interviews

      Answer questions on camera when it suits you: first about how you work, then on your stack, with a short timed test.

    3. A short live call

      Once your interviews pass, we meet you on a quick video call.

    4. Matched to client work

      We put you forward for every role that fits, not only the one you applied to, and tell you when there is no current match.

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