Software Engineer (Java 21, Spring Boot, Kafka, PostgreSQL) Experience: 3-5 Years Employment Type: Full-Time Role Overview We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Software Engineer with 3-5 years of experience in backend application development using Java and modern enterprise technologies. The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on expertise in Java 21, Spring Boot, Apache Kafka, and PostgreSQL, along with experience building scalable microservices and event-driven applications. The candidate is expected not only to contribute as an individual developer but also to take ownership of the delivery lifecycle by driving Jira stories, collaborating with cross-functional teams, clarifying requirements, resolving technical challenges, and ensuring timely delivery of high-quality solutions. This role requires a strong engineering mindset, excellent problem-solving capabilities, and the ability to work effectively in Agile development environments. Key Responsibilities Design, develop, test, and maintain scalable backend applications using Java 21 and Spring Boot. Build robust microservices and RESTful APIs following industry best practices and design principles. Develop and maintain event-driven solutions using Apache Kafka, including producers, consumers, retry mechanisms, and dead-letter queue implementations. Design, optimize, and troubleshoot PostgreSQL databases, queries, indexes, and transactions to ensure optimal application performance. Participate in application architecture discussions and contribute to technical solution design. Write clean, maintainable, reusable, and well-documented code adhering to coding standards and best practices. Collaborate closely with Product Owners, Business Analysts, QA teams, and DevOps teams throughout the software development lifecycle. Analyze production issues, perform root cause analysis, and provide sustainable solutions. Participate in code reviews and technical design reviews to ensure code quality and maintainability. Support deployment activities, production releases, and post-release monitoring. Agile Delivery & Jira Ownership Drive assigned Jira stories from requirement clarification through development, testing, deployment, and closure. Create, refine, estimate, and track user stories, tasks, defects, and technical debt items in Jira. Actively participate in sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. Provide timely updates on progress, risks, dependencies, and blockers. Coordinate with multiple teams and stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of sprint commitments. Ensure all development work includes adequate testing, documentation, and acceptance criteria compliance before story closure. Required Technical Skills Backend Development Strong hands-on experience with Java 21 (or Java 17+). Extensive experience with Spring Boot and related Spring ecosystem components: Spring MVC Spring Data JPA Spring Security Spring Actuator Spring Validation Event-Driven Architecture Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka: Producers and Consumers Consumer Groups Partitioning Strategies Offset Management Retry and Error Handling Dead Letter Queues (DLQ) Database Technologies Strong PostgreSQL development experience. Query optimization and performance tuning. Database design and normalization. Transaction management. Stored procedures and functions. Additional Technical Skills REST API Development Microservices Architecture JUnit & Mockito Git and Branching Strategies Linux/Unix Environment JSON and OpenAPI/Swagger Preferred Skills Docker and Kubernetes/OpenShift Redis Caching Kafka Streams CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps Monitoring and observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/OpenSearch Experience working in banking, fintech, payments, or transaction-processing platforms Desired Competencies Strong ownership and accountability mindset. Excellent analytical and troubleshooting skills. Ability to independently drive deliverables with minimal supervision. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills. Ability to work effectively in fast-paced Agile teams. Passion for continuous learning and adopting modern engineering practices. Educational Qualification Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline.