Senior Java Backend Developer - API & Microservices Modernisation Location: Telford - minimum 2 days per month onsite, remaining time remote Contract Length: 12 months Rate: £550 per day IR35: Inside IR35 Start Date: Candidates must be available to start w/c 4 January 2027 Client: Central Government The Role We are looking for an experienced Senior Java Backend Developer to join a major application modernisation programme within Central Government. You will be responsible for designing, developing, testing and deploying Java-based RESTful APIs and microservices, with a strong focus on scalability, resilience, maintainability and integration with existing systems. Essential Skills Java - Strong backend development experience. Spring Boot - RESTful API and microservices development. Microservices Design - Experience designing scalable, resilient and loosely coupled microservices, including service-to-service communication. API Design - Strong RESTful API design skills, including API contracts, versioning and integration patterns. JUnit - Automated unit testing. JSON - Experience working with API data structures and formats. Docker - Containerisation of microservices. Kubernetes - Hands-on experience deploying and managing microservices. Git / CI/CD - Version control and automated build and deployment pipelines. Desirable Skills JPA / Hibernate Kibana Maven / Gradle Mockito AWS GitLab Helm OpenAPI / Swagger SQL Shell scripting AI-Assisted Development The programme is actively embracing modern AI-assisted development practices. Candidates should be comfortable using approved AI tools and agents throughout the backend development lifecycle, including: Analysis and technical design Code generation Automated testing Debugging Code review and refinement