Staff Engineer - Java (hybrid)

GEICO GEICO · Insurance · Seattle, WA +2

This role is for a Staff Engineer focused on designing and implementing messaging and UI applications using Java and Open Source frameworks. The engineer will own the solution lifecycle, collaborate on system architecture, and act as a technical leader for domains like Messaging, GraphQL API, or data streaming. Responsibilities include ensuring scalability, fault tolerance, performance optimization, implementing monitoring and logging, leading design sessions, and mentoring junior team members. The role requires strong Java skills, experience with microservices, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and real-time event-streaming platforms like Kafka.

What you'd actually do

  1. Focus on a few key areas and provide leadership to the engineering teams.
  2. Own complete solution across its entire life cycle.
  3. Design and implement messaging and UI applications using the Java platform and Open Source frameworks.
  4. Collaborate with engineering team to define the overall system architecture, ensuring scalability, fault tolerance, and performance optimization.
  5. Act as a technical and thought leader for domains like Messaging, GraphQL API, or data streaming.

Skills

Required

  • Fluency and Specialization with modern languages such as Java, including object-oriented design.
  • Experience in building products using micro-services oriented architecture and extensible APIs.
  • Experience building the architecture and design (architecture, design patterns, reliability, and scaling) of new and current systems.
  • Experience containerizing applications using Docker or Kubernetes (AKS preferred)
  • Experience designing and implementing performance testing with tools such as JMeter or LoadRunner
  • Hands-on experience with real-time event-steaming platforms such as Apache Kafka
  • Familiarity with NoSQL and Graph databases
  • Experience writing unit tests using common testing frameworks and actively contributing to code quality
  • Strong problem-solving ability

Nice to have

  • Familiarity with continuous delivery and infrastructure as code.
  • Experience in leveraging Powershell scripting
  • Understanding of Monitoring Portals such as Splunk or Application Insights
  • Understanding of Security Protocols & Products: Active Directory, Windows Authentication, SAML, OAuth
  • Strong familiarity with GraphQL web services
  • Experience and passion for documentation and mentoring junior developers
  • Understanding of CI/CD tooling like Jenkins, Gradle, and Artifactory
  • Ability to excel in a fast-paced, startup-like environment
  • Knowledge of developer tooling across the software development life cycle (task management, source code, building, deployment, operations, real-time communication)

What the JD emphasized

  • Accountable for the quality, usability & performance of the solutions.
  • Implement monitoring and logging solutions to track system performance and troubleshoot issues.
  • Lead in design sessions and code reviews to elevate the quality of engineering across the organization.