Senior Java Developer 6-Month Contract

Location: Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Industry: Banking / Financial Services
Contract: 6 Months
Level: Senior
We are recruiting an experienced Senior Java Developer for a 6-month contract opportunity with a prominent organisation in the South African banking sector, based in Stellenbosch.
This is a hands-on backend development role suited to a strong Java engineer who has worked on complex, high-volume enterprise systems and is comfortable operating in a fast-paced Agile development environment.

Please only apply if you meet the core requirements below.

Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years' professional Java development experience, preferably at Senior Developer level.
• Strong hands-on experience with Java and Spring Boot.
• Solid experience developing backend services and REST APIs.
• Experience working within a microservices architecture.
• Strong understanding of object-oriented programming, design principles and clean coding practices.
• Good working knowledge of SQL and relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL.
• Experience with Kafka or similar event-driven/messaging technologies.
• Exposure to AWS or another enterprise cloud platform.
• Experience with Docker and/or Kubernetes.
• Experience with Git and CI/CD environments.
• Strong understanding of the full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
• Experience working within an Agile/Scrum engineering environment.
• Relevant tertiary IT/Computer Science qualification would be advantageous.

Key Responsibilities

The successful developer will:

• Design, develop and maintain scalable Java backend applications.
• Develop new services and enhance existing backend functionality.
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs and integrations.
• Develop solutions using Java and Spring Boot.
• Work within distributed and microservices-based environments.
• Integrate applications using messaging/event-driven technologies such as Kafka.
• Work with relational databases and write efficient SQL queries.
• Participate in solution design and technical discussions.
• Write clean, maintainable and testable production-quality code.
• Perform unit testing, debugging and troubleshooting.
• Participate in peer code reviews.
• Investigate and resolve production issues.
• Work closely with developers, architects, QA, product teams and other technical stakeholders.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of development standards and engineering practices.

Technology Environment

Candidates should ideally have experience across several of the following:
Java | Spring Boot | REST APIs | Microservices | Kafka | PostgreSQL | SQL | AWS | Docker | Kubernetes | Git | CI/CD | Agile

Important Before Applying

This is a 6-month contract, not a permanent position.
Candidates must be comfortable working in a Stellenbosch-based banking environment and should only apply if they have recent, hands-on Java backend development experience.
Your CV must clearly show:

• Your Java development experience and years of experience.
• Spring Boot experience.
• Backend/API development.
• Microservices experience.
• Technologies used on your most recent projects.
• Your current location.
• Current/most recent salary or contract rate.
• Expected rate.
• Notice period / availability.

Applications that do not demonstrate strong Java/Spring Boot backend development experience will not be considered.