Java Full-Stack Lead Developer at Synechron, London, £Contract Rate

About Synechron:

Synechron is a leading digital transformation consulting firm dedicated to delivering innovative technology solutions within banking, financial services, and insurance. We thrive on engineering excellence, collaboration, and a passion for cutting-edge technologies.

Job Location: London (Hybrid - 3 days in the office)

About the role:

We are seeking a highly experienced (10+ years ) Java Full-Stack Lead Developer with strong system architecture expertise to lead the design and delivery of scalable, distributed systems. This is a hands-on leadership role where you will define architecture, guide a globally distributed engineering team, and ensure high standards in both Back End and Front End development.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture design of complex, scalable and high-availability systems

• Make critical decisions on system design, tech stack, and trade-offs

• Drive end-to-end development across Back End and Front End (hands-on coding required)

• Lead and coordinate a globally distributed team across different time zones

• Establish and enforce engineering best practices, coding standards, and design principles

• Conduct design reviews, code reviews, and architecture governance

• Optimize system performance, scalability, and reliability

• Troubleshoot and resolve complex production and distributed system issues

• Collaborate with product, design, and business stakeholders globally

Job Requirements

Architecture & System Design (Must-Have)

Proven experience designing large-scale distributed systems

Microservices architecture

Event-driven architecture

High concurrency and scalability patterns

Strong knowledge of:

System trade-offs (consistency vs availability, latency vs throughput)

API design and service boundaries

Fault tolerance and resilience design

Experience with system decomposition and domain modelling

Backend

Expert-level proficiency in Java (8/11/17+)

Strong experience with Spring Boot/Spring Cloud

Deep understanding of RESTful APIs and microservices

Experience with ORM frameworks (Hibernate, JPA)

Frontend

Strong hands-on experience with at least one:

React/Vue/Angular

Solid understanding of Front End architecture and state management

Ability to contribute to Front End system design (not just coding)

Data & Infrastructure

Strong experience with relational databases (Oracle/SQL Server/PostgreSQL)

Experience with:

Redis or distributed caching

Message queues (Kafka/RabbitMQ)

Familiar with:

Docker, Kubernetes

CI/CD and automated deployment pipelines

Excellent project management skills with a track record of successfully leading large-scale initiatives preferred

Nice to Have (Strong Differentiators)

Experience with cloud-native architecture (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Experience designing multi-region or global systems

Exposure to AI systems (LLM, RAG, vector databases)

Experience with observability (metrics, tracing, logging systems)

Diversity Statement

Synechron are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative Same Difference' is committed to fostering an inclusive culture - promoting equality, diversity and an environment that is respectful to all. We encourage applicants from across diverse backgrounds, race, ethnicities, religion, age, marital status, gender, sexual orientations, or disabilities to apply. We offer flexible workplace arrangements, mentoring, internal mobility, learning and development programmes to support our global workforce. Empowerment and collaboration are at the core of how we operate.

All employment decisions at Synechron are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to the applicant's gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.