Backend Java Developer - Birmingham • Hybrid • £50-65k • Not London

Backend Java Developer

Location: Birmingham (Hybrid)

Employment: Fixed Term Contract

Salary: £50,000 - £65,000 base (dependent on experience)

If your idea of backend engineering is more than CRUD APIs and microservices boilerplate - this role is for you.

We're building the core backend services of a Data Fabric platform that governs data access, entitlements, and query policy enforcement across distributed enterprise data systems.

This is platform engineering: deterministic rule engines, SQL planning/interception, and high-throughput services that sit on the critical path of data access.

This is deep backend + data infrastructure work.

What You'll Do

• Build core backend services in Java (17/21) for access control and query manipulation
• Implement deterministic policy / rule engines for data governance
• Work on SQL parsing, planning, validation, and transformation (e.g., Calcite or similar planners)
• Integrate with distributed data platforms / query engines (e.g., Starburst or similar)
• Own API contracts with living documentation in CI/CD
• Build production-grade, testable pipelines
• Drive observability, reliability, and performance
• Contribute to architecture decisions (modularity, DI, extensibility)

What You Bring (Must-Have)

• Strong hands-on experience in Java (17/21) + Spring
• Deep understanding of JDBC, SQL parsing/validation, query planning/optimization
• Experience with SQL planners or query transformation layers
• Strong grounding in data structures, algorithms, and backend performance
• Production-grade testing using JUnit 5, Mockito
• Experience with clean architecture, DI, modular design
• Comfortable owning CI/CD, code quality, observability
• Familiarity with Docker, Maven, Jenkins

Nice to Have

• Apache Calcite
• Starburst or federated query engines
• JVM performance tuning
• High-throughput service interfaces (REST/gRPC)
• Data governance or policy enforcement layers

This Role Is Ideal If You've Worked On

• Data platforms, governance layers, query engines, or SQL planners
• Backend/platform services that sit in the critical path of data access
• Systems where correctness, determinism, and performance matter