Java Application Architect

Job Description:
We are looking for a highly experienced Java Application Architect III to lead the design, development, and continuous improvement of our enterprise-scale API gateway platform. This role is ideal for a technically deep engineer with extensive hands-on experience in API and gateway solutions, combined with strong architectural influence, standards enforcement, and best practice guidance across multiple teams.

Key Responsibilities:
Define and enforce API design standards, including RESTful principles, versioning, error handling, and backward compatibility.
Lead the architecture and implementation of scalable, secure, and observable API gateway solutions supporting high-throughput, business-critical services.
Drive the evolution of API management practices, including onboarding governance, lifecycle management, deprecation, and retirement strategies.
Implement and optimize gateway functionalities such as routing, transformation, traffic management, authentication, and policy enforcement.
Develop automation scripts and operational workflows using Python to improve platform reliability and efficiency.
Design and implement automated API testing frameworks covering functional, integration, regression, and performance validation.
Ensure comprehensive observability through metrics, logs, traces, alerting, and SLO-driven monitoring.
Integrate API gateways with enterprise identity providers and security platforms, ensuring compliance and security.

Requirements:
8+ years of overall software or platform engineering experience.
5+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and operating API platforms or gateway solutions in production environments.
Deep expertise in API design: RESTful APIs, versioning, backward compatibility, and error-handling patterns.
Strong experience with security protocols such as OAuth2, OpenID Connect, JWT, mTLS, and API key management.
Proven ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex issues in high-throughput, distributed systems.
Advanced proficiency in Java, with experience in API, gateway, or service-oriented architectures.
Strong Python skills for automation, tooling, and operational workflows.
Extensive experience with designing and implementing automated API testing (functional, integration, regression, performance).
Expertise in observability and telemetry, including metrics, logs, traces, alerting, and SLO-driven monitoring.
Hands-on experience with Git, code reviews, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code practices.