Join a high-impact engineering team working on a major platform modernization that powers fast, accurate price updates through REST APIs and Kafka-based event processing. This senior contractor role offers the chance to contribute to both a new architecture and an established production system while collaborating with teams across the U.S. and India.

Responsibilities

• Build and enhance backend services that support high-volume pricing workflows and timely price publishing
• Develop, support, and optimize REST APIs used in enterprise-scale applications
• Design and implement Kafka producer and consumer solutions for event-driven processing
• Contribute to both a modernized platform and an existing production codebase
• Work with relational and distributed databases to support reliable application performance
• Troubleshoot issues independently, write quality code, and deliver production-ready solutions
• Collaborate with engineering partners across multiple locations and time zones
• Participate in meetings during Minneapolis/Central Time business hours

Skills

• Strong senior-level experience in Java backend development
• Working knowledge of Kotlin or the ability to become productive quickly in Kotlin
• Hands-on experience with Apache Kafka in production, including both producers and consumers
• Experience building and supporting high-volume RESTful APIs
• Experience with relational databases such as Oracle and/or PostgreSQL
• Familiarity with distributed NoSQL databases such as Cassandra
• Ability to ramp up quickly on a large existing codebase with minimal guidance
• Strong communication, collaboration, and independent problem-solving skills

Preferred Skills

• Experience with modular monorepo architectures
• Experience working in framework-light or framework-free Java environments
• Familiarity with RocksDB
• Experience supporting high-throughput, event-driven, or large-scale distributed systems
• Background in retail, pricing, or eCommerce platforms
• Experience contributing to architecture, design, or technical ownership in enterprise applications

Horizontal is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where everyone feels respected, valued, and empowered to contribute. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage you to apply if you’re excited about the opportunity and meet the core qualifications.

By applying for this position, you acknowledge and agree that Horizontal Talent may contact you regarding your application using automated technology, including phone calls, SMS/text messages, or email, which may be delivered by our virtual AI recruiter, Alex.