Senior Java Backend Engineer Utrecht

Your job: Senior Java Backend Engineer Utrecht

• Do you want to shape a next-generation core platform in a domain with serious business logic, scale and uptime demands?
• Do you enjoy solving non-trivial backend problems like event-driven architectures, consistency, idempotency and zero-downtime releases?
• Would you like the stability of a long-established, cash-rich product company and the momentum of a multi-year modernisation journey with some of the best JVM specialized backend engineers?
• Do you say yes to earning up to €90.000 per year, a royally fully paid pension, 3 days working from home and an annual workcation in the tropics?

Then read on!

The Organisation: Product company in full-scale transformation

This Utrecht-based product company has been a trusted name for decades and is now in the middle of an ambitious modernisation journey. Their SaaS platform is the backbone for an essential industry and is used daily and impacts millions of people in the Netherlands. With clear plans to expand throughout Europe.

The scale and demands are high: multi-tenant architecture, millions of transactions every day, strict availability and security requirements, and intricate business logic that has to be correct down to the last detail. This is not about building simple features, but about designing and running a system that is auditable, resilient and performant at scale.

To secure the next decades, they are rebuilding their flagship platform from the ground up, while the proven legacy platform continues to serve customers in production. That means working in a true parallel-run environment where strangler patterns, zero-downtime releases and large-scale data migrations are everyday challenges.

Inspiring new (tech) management have joined, combined some of the best software engineering from leading tech companies, so the foundation is set for success: a very modern agile engineering culture.

The Role: Senior Java Backend Engineer — take a complex domain from A to better

As a Senior Java Backend Engineer you’ll step into one of the agile product teams with a DevOps mentality. Together you’ll work on the new platform that will define the company’s success for decades to come.

Here, your work is never trivial. You’ll deal with deep domain logic, long-running workflows, strict consistency requirements and the need for zero downtime. Typical challenges you’ll sink your teeth into:

• Design and build event-driven services with RabbitMQ, resilient messaging, retries and observability.
• Model complex business rules where DDD is not theory but necessity—making tough trade-offs between strong and eventual consistency, ensuring idempotency and handling large-scale transactions.
• API-first development: stable contract design, versioning, and secure integrations used by hundreds of partner organizations.
• Operate what you build: Docker-based delivery, AWS-native infrastructure, zero-downtime deployments, monitoring and tracing at scale.
• Parallel rebuild patterns: migrate functionality from legacy to the new platform using strangler approaches without disrupting business operations.
• Integrate AI into the platform itself: for example for anomaly detection, optimising data flows or smart automation for customers. This way, you’ll make an impact with AI on two fronts: your own productivity and the future of the platform.
  

You’ll collaborate with highly experienced JVM specialize software engineers who joined from some of the better SE companies, and you’ll have the chance to influence technical standards, tooling, and architecture.

Beyond project work, you’ll be able shape the engineering culture itself: from knowledge sessions to defining coding standards and choosing which conferences the team attends.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience in Java backend development
• Experience with Java 11+ (preferably Java 17 or 21) and Spring Boot
• Knowledge of cloud environments (AWS is a plus) and containerisation (Docker)
• Understanding of architecture design is a big plus (microservices, event-driven etc.)
• Experience with CI/CD and test automation is second nature to you
• Interest in AI applications is a strong plus
• Experience in mentoring or coaching colleagues
• Solid understanding of API-first design and security practices
• Affinity with DDD and working within complex, rule-heavy domains
• Pragmatic engineer who values clean code, testing and reliabilityBonus: experience with or
• Bonus: experience with migration strategies, strangler patterns or mentoring.

What’s Offered

• Salary €75.000–€90.000 depending on experience and impact.
• Premium-free pension (100% employer contribution).
• Hybrid: up to 3 days/week remote; flexible hours.
• 27 vacation days + travel allowance.
• Annual workation abroad.
• MacBook or Lenovo of your choice.
• Training budget & conference attendance; active internal knowledge sharing.
• Daily healthy office lunch.
• A stable, well-funded environment with true engineering momentum: build the platform that will carry this business for the next decades.

Ready to engineer a high-impact platform where modern Java meets real-world complexity?