Lead Software Engineer (Java) - Contract

Very is a fully distributed technology firm focused on creating efficient, scalable solutions. The Lead Software Engineer will serve as the key technical architect for multiple client engagements, ensuring alignment of technical strategy with business goals while maintaining high standards of engineering excellence.

Responsibilities:

• Lead architecture reviews, ensuring technical integrity, maintainability, and security
• Partner with Product Managers and Technical Leads to translate client needs into technical plans and deliverables
• Contribute high-quality, production-ready code, modeling best practices for implementation and testing
• Ensure adherence to Very’s standards for code quality, testing, and documentation
• Create and maintain automated tests across all layers of the stack
• Develop and manage deployments, CI/CD pipelines, logging, monitoring, and alerting
• Support project health through proactive technical risk identification and mitigation
• Participate in code reviews, offering constructive feedback that improves overall quality
• Contribute to recruitment, onboarding, and development of engineering talent
• Represent Very in client meetings and at industry events as a subject-matter expert
• Lead junior engineers on client programs through development and 24/7 on-call rotation and assist in diagnosing and resolving production issues

Requirements:

• BS or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of professional software development experience
• 4+ years of experience developing Java based backend applications
• 3+ years in a technical leadership role overseeing cross-functional engineering teams
• Proven success delivering full-stack systems from concept to production
• Demonstrated ability to maintain public facing production systems at scale
• Experience leading complex projects involving platform, backend and frontend development
• Strong client-facing communication and executive presentation skills
• Deep expertise in multiple backend frameworks especially Django and Dropwizard
• Strong front-end experience in React, Expo, Vite, TypeScript
• Skilled in relational and non-relational data modeling
• Extensive knowledge in building from scratch and supporting event driven cloud platforms in AWS and Azure including security, logging, monitoring, observability and performance at scale
• AWS service expertise: Lambda, ECS, Fargate, RDS, CloudFront, CloudWatch, SNS, SQS
• Highly proficient in CI/CD automation (GitHub Actions) and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform or Pulimi)
• Must be US-based
• US Citizen (required)
• Client Obsessed: Keeps the client's success front and center. Measures technical choices by their business impact
• Communicates Effectively: Expert communicator who informs, engages, and aligns diverse audiences
• Sets the Bar: Holds themselves and others to exceptionally high technical and delivery standards
• Thrives in the Grind: Finds energy and satisfaction in complex, high-stakes work — and helps others do the same
• Leads Through Complexity: Brings clarity and direction when projects are messy, high-pressure, or uncertain
• Professional services or consulting experience strongly preferred