Senior Software Engineer - Java

Job Brief:
We are looking for a self-driven Senior Software Engineer - Java who is excited to learn and continuously improve their skillset in the ever-evolving world of Java and modern software engineering. The ideal candidate brings deep backend expertise, a strong engineering mindset, and the curiosity to harness AI-powered tools and practices to build better software, faster.
In today's AI-augmented development landscape, we expect our engineers to be fluent with AI coding assistants, understand how to critically evaluate generated code, and actively integrate these tools into daily workflows — from architecture and code review to documentation and testing.

VentureDive Overview:
Founded in 2012 by veteran technology entrepreneurs from MIT and Stanford, VentureDive is the fastest-growing technology company in the region that develops and invests in products and solutions that simplify and improve the lives of people worldwide. We aspire to create a technology organization and an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region that is recognized as second to none in the world.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering & Delivery

• Be responsible for enhancing and maintaining a highly transactional Java platform and build new Microservices.
• Design and produce performant, scalable, highly transactional software that adheres to functional and non-functional requirements, and be able to explain them to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proactively identify technical debt, optimize platform performance, and introduce operational efficiencies.
• Estimate, prioritize, and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment, both independently and through pair programming.
• Support the execution of production deployments and go-lives.

Collaboration & Agile Delivery

• Work in an Agile, fast-paced environment where requirements can evolve overnight — getting things done by making a case and leading the charge.
• Work as part of a high-performing team of like-minded engineers with a can-do attitude.
• Contribute to sprint planning, backlog grooming, and engineering discussions with actionable insight.
• Leverage AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or equivalent) to accelerate development, code reviews, and test generation.
• Apply AI tools to rapidly explore framework choices, prototype solutions, and produce technical documentation and runbooks.
• Critically evaluate AI-generated code for correctness, security vulnerabilities, and alignment with architectural standards before merging.
• Contribute to team norms around responsible AI tool usage — including prompt engineering best practices and review workflows.
• Stay current with AI-driven advances in Java tooling, cloud-native development, and testing automation.

Qualifications & Experience

Core Technical Requirements

• 5+ years of commercial Java development experience.
• Strong knowledge of object-oriented design and development best practices.
• Proven experience with Spring Framework — including Spring Boot, Spring Security, and Spring Data.
• Experience developing and designing RESTful APIs.
• Experience with relational databases (MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL) and ideally NoSQL databases.
• Test-Driven Development (TDD) is your bread and butter. Without it, there's just jam.
• Working knowledge of Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, UNIX-based operating systems, and Microservices.
• Familiarity with application security, cryptography, and security best practices.
• Experience with Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
• Experience working with Agile teams or in startup environments.
• Ability to choose the right technology for the task — whether the latest framework or a well-proven one.

AI Fluency Requirements

• Demonstrated use of AI coding assistants (Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, or equivalent) in a professional or project setting.
• Ability to write effective prompts for code generation, refactoring, test creation, and documentation tasks.
• Strong judgment in reviewing, debugging, and validating AI-generated code — knowing when to trust it and when to override it.
• Awareness of AI-related security risks in code generation (e.g., prompt injection, insecure suggestions) and how to mitigate them.
• Interest in or experience with AI/ML integration patterns in Java applications is a plus.

Education

• BSc or MSc in Computer Science or a related discipline from a recognised university.
• Supplementary learning in cloud-native development, AI tool