Staff Java Engineer (Contract)

We are looking for a Staff Engineer with deep experience in Java and payment processing to join us on a three month rolling contract that sits outside IR35. You must be able to work onsite at the client office two days a week. The client office is located in Paddington, London.

What does the role involve?

Technical Leadership & System Architecture:

• Lead the design and delivery of scalable, resilient systems that integrate with Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
• Own and drive architectural decisions and influence engineering best practices across teams on multiple projects.
• Guide and work across teams on system design patterns, event-driven architecture, and secure development practices.
• Lead technical deep dives and knowledge sharing in the teams, anticipating challenges and proposing solutions
• Start influencing product and business decisions

Hands-on Software Development:

• Write high-quality Java code using frameworks such as Spring Boot or Micronaut.
• Build robust services that support secure, high-volume payment transactions.
• Develop integrations with acquiring banks, payment gateways, and fraud detection tools.

Cloud & DevOps Practices:

• Build and support cloud-native systems on the cloud (preferably Azure) using Terraform and Kubernetes.
• Manage CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and ensure smooth delivery to production.
• Own monitoring, alerting, and observability, using tools like OpenTelemetry and Dynatrace.

Security & Compliance:

• Ensure systems are compliant with PCI DSS, PSD2, and SCA.
• Champion secure coding practices and data protection across services.

Collaboration & Mentoring:

• Work closely with product owners, engineering leads, and other stakeholders to shape technical solutions.
• Mentor and support more junior/mid/senior engineers, driving technical excellence across the board.
• Help establish and promote best practices around code review, testing, delivery, and operational support.

Continuous Improvement:

• Continuously improve platform reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency.
• Stay up-to-date with technology trends and proactively identify innovation opportunities.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a Staff or Lead Engineer in backend-heavy environments in teams having multiple levels of engineering.
• Strong experience in Java 17+, ideally with experience in using Spring Boot or Micronaut.
• Hands-on knowledge of Kafka, event-driven architecture, enterprise integration patterns and microservices.
• Solid understanding of payment systems and PSP integrations, including fraud, tokenisation, and settlement flows.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (Azure preferred), CI/CD, and Kubernetes.
• Working knowledge of regulatory and compliance standards (PCI DSS, SCA, PSD2).
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical concepts to a range of audiences.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum teams with a DevOps culture and test-driven mindset.

Benefits

• Play a pivotal role in transforming the payment experience at scale for a leading UK retailer. 
• Influence how millions of customers interact with the brand across digital and in-store channels. 
• Work with autonomy in a supportive, agile, delivery-focused environment.
• Collaborate with high-calibre engineers and commercial teams to deliver measurable impact.

About Mindera

At Mindera we use technology to build products we are proud of, with people we love. Software Engineering Applications, including Web and Mobile, are at the core of what we do at Mindera. We partner with our clients, to understand their product and deliver high performance, resilient and scalable software systems that create an impact in their users and businesses across the world. You get to work with a bunch of great people, where the whole team owns the project together. Our culture reflects our lean and self-organisation attitude. We encourage our colleagues to take risks, make decisions, work in a collaborative way and talk to everyone to enhance communication. We are proud of our work and we love to learn all and everything while navigating through an Agile, Lean and collaborative environment.

Check out our Blog: http://mindera.com/ and our Handbook: http://bit.ly/MinderaHandbook

Mindera is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender including gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other protected status. All matters related to employment are decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business needs.