Backend Developer (Contract) Start Date: ASAP Contract Length: 12 months Rate: Up to £522 per day inside IR35. Location: Mostly remote, with occasional travel to Croydon Clearance: SC Clearance (existing clearance preferred but not essential) About the Role We're looking for an experienced Backend Developer to join a high-impact project delivering scalable, reliable backend services. You'll work with modern Java-based technologies in a collaborative, delivery-focused environment, contributing to systems that are critical, secure, and built to scale. This is a contract role offering long-term stability, flexibility through remote working, and the opportunity to work on meaningful, production-grade systems. Key Responsibilities Design, build, and maintain robust backend services using Java Develop and integrate event-driven systems using Kafka Build and consume REST APIs to support internal and external services Collaborate closely with product owners, architects, and other engineers Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code Support system performance, scalability, and reliability Contribute to code reviews and best-practice engineering standards Must-Have Skills Strong commercial experience with Java Hands-on experience with Kafka in production environments Experience building and consuming RESTful APIs Solid understanding of backend engineering principles Nice-to-Have Skills Spring ecosystem (Spring Framework, Spring Boot, Spring Data) Postgres or other relational databases OpenSearch / Elasticsearch Node.js Wiremock or other API mocking/testing tools Experience working in cloud-based or distributed systems All profiles will be reviewed against the required skills and experience. Due to the high number of applications we will only be able to respond to successful applicants in the first instance. We thank you for your interest and the time taken to apply!