Senior Backend Engineer – Kotlin/JVM

Project Description

Our client is transforming the way millions of people shop and eat around the world. The Shopping Platform team powers the checkout and cart experiences for all company customers. We are in the process of migrating from legacy PHP and Golang services to a modern Cart Service built in Kotlin on the JVM, running in a cloud-native microservices environment. This is a high-impact area where your work will directly influence customer satisfaction and business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the migration of existing PHP/Golang components to a new Kotlin-based Cart Service.
• Design, implement, and operate public and internal APIs supporting cart, pricing, promotions, and checkout.
• Ensure low-latency and high-availability service design with strong observability.
• Drive engineering excellence through DDD, TDD/BDD, and clean architecture practices.
• Collaborate closely in a cross-functional squad with product managers, frontend engineers, QA, and data specialists.
• Take full ownership of services, including architecture, development, testing, CI/CD pipelines, deployment, and on-call rotation.
• Mentor other engineers and contribute to technical direction across the Shopping Platform domain.

Skills Required

• 5+ years of backend engineering experience, with strong expertise in Kotlin (and Java).
• Hands-on experience building microservices at scale, ideally in an e-commerce or high-traffic environment.
• Experience with web frameworks. We use Ktor, but knowledge of other JVM frameworks (e.g., Spring Boot, Dropwizard, Guice) is also relevant. Ability to adapt quickly is valued.
• Solid hands-on experience with relational databases (we use PostgreSQL).
• Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, and event streaming platforms such as Kafka.
• Knowledge of caching solutions such as Redis is a plus.
• Familiarity with cloud-native development (we use AWS) is a plus.
• Familiarity with cloud-native development (we use AWS) and IaC (Terraform) is a plus.
• Experience designing and maintaining REST and/or gRPC APIs.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, resiliency patterns, and performance optimization.
• Solid grasp of CI/CD pipelines (we use GitHub Actions) and automated testing.
• Familiarity with legacy migration/refactoring, preferably PHP or Go services.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work in autonomous, cross-functional squads.

Engagement Model: Direct Independent Contractor (Please read carefully)

This is an independent contractor opportunity based on a direct contractual relationship between Zoolatech and the individual service provider.

To facilitate this direct partnership, we engage with professionals who are registered and operate as a sole proprietorship, private entrepreneur, or an equivalent self-employment status in your country.

Please note, our model does not accommodate contracts through third-party intermediaries such as agencies, incubators, or umbrella companies. The essential requirement is your ability to enter into a service agreement and invoice Zoolatech directly. This is not an offer of direct employment

Please note that only candidates whose profiles closely match our requirements will be contacted.