Lead Full Stack Developer - Java

Team Summary

Staples Print is the online print and marketing solutions division of Staples. Our print technology systems team goes beyond traditional IT. We are a team of passionate, collaborative, agile, and customer-obsessed problem solvers who believe great print experiences start with great software. We are driven by a commitment to making it easy for businesses and individuals to bring their ideas to life from business cards and banners to custom marketing materials and beyond.

We are intellectually curious, embrace emerging technologies, and constantly seek ways to modernize and scale our platform. We anticipate the evolving needs of our customers and business partners and deliver reliable, high-performance technology solutions that power millions of print orders. We move fast, think big, and take pride in building experiences that are seamless, personalized, and delightful for every customer.

Role Summary

As a Lead Engineer - Full Stack (Java / React), you will drive the design, development, and reliability of Staples Print's enterprise Java-based microservices and React-powered frontend applications. You will build scalable backend systems using Java (Spring Boot, Spring MVC/WebFlux) and connect them to AI-backed APIs and LLM services integrating AI outputs into application workflows rather than building or owning AI models. You will own architectural decisions within your domain, lead code and design reviews, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate closely with product, data, and platform teams to deliver production-grade solutions.

Duties & Responsibilities

-Design, develop, and own enterprise-grade Java microservices and APIs using Spring Boot, Spring MVC/WebFlux, Spring Security, and Spring Data (JPA/Hibernate).

-Build and maintain React / TypeScript frontend experiences that consume backend microservices.

-Define and enforce microservices architecture patterns service decomposition, API contracts, inter-service communication, and resiliency strategies.

-Develop integrations with event-driven messaging platforms (Kafka, JMS, RabbitMQ) and RESTful API ecosystems.

-Integrate AI-backed APIs and LLM services into platform features such as personalization, intelligent search, and AI-assisted order workflows by connecting to established AI services and embedding their outputs into Java microservices and application logic.

-Design secure, scalable integration patterns for consuming AI/ML APIs and services (e.g., Azure OpenAI, OpenAI API, Azure Cognitive Services) within Java microservices and the application stack.

-Apply practical prompt engineering techniques, manage context windows effectively, and implement output validation to ensure LLM API responses are safe, relevant, and well-integrated into application workflows.

-Champion responsible AI practices include bias awareness, content moderation, rate limiting, cost controls, and auditability of AI-generated outputs.

-Use AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Azure AI) to accelerate delivery and promote their adoption across the engineering team.

-Lead design and code reviews; champion best practices in code quality, SOLID principles, design patterns, and test coverage.

-Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through pair programming, technical discussions, and structured feedback.

-Collaborate with architects, product managers, UX designers, and data teams to deliver high-quality solutions aligned to business goals.

-Drive CI/CD practices, automated testing (unit, integration, contract testing), and release quality across the team.

-Monitor and optimize production system performance JVM tuning, query optimization, and distributed system resiliency.

-Lead root-cause analysis for production incidents and implement durable fixes and preventive measures.

-Contribute to technical documentation, architecture decision records (ADRs), and engineering standards.

-Participate in Agile sprint ceremonies, estimation, and backlog refinement.

Years of Experience

Minimum of 4 years of experience in an eCommerce and engineering lead role.

Minimum of 4 years of experience working with high-traffic, large-scale distributed systems and cloud platforms.

Basic Qualifications

-Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

-6+ years of hands-on Java development experience (Java 17+ preferred; Java 11 minimum).

-Strong expertise in Spring Framework: Spring Boot, Spring MVC/WebFlux, Spring Security, Spring Data (JPA, Hibernate).

-3+ years of experience designing and building microservices-based or event-driven distributed systems.

-Experience with React / TypeScript for building production frontend applications.

-Strong command of relational databases (MS SQL, PostgreSQL, or MySQL) and SQL optimization.

-Experience with NoSQL databases (Couchbase, MongoDB, Cosmos DB, or Cassandra).

-Experience with messaging platforms (Kafka, JMS, or RabbitMQ) and event-driven architecture.

-Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities via APIs into application code such as calling LLM endpoints, inference services, or recommendation APIs whether in production or substantial project contexts.

-Familiarity with Azure OpenAI Service, OpenAI API, or equivalent Generative AI platforms.

-Awareness of AI integration patterns such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, and semantic search conceptual understanding is sufficient; practical experience is a plus.

-Awareness of responsible AI principles: rate limiting, cost governance, output validation, and auditability.

-Experience with unit testing (JUnit, TestNG), mocking frameworks (Mockito), and integration/contract testing.

-Experience with build tools (Maven, Gradle) and proficiency with Git and code review workflows.

-Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment practices.

-Experience running Java applications in Linux/Unix environments.

-Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

-Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field.

-Hands-on experience with cloud-native application development on Azure, including Azure App Service, AKS, Azure Functions, Azure API Management, Azure Key Vault, Azure Storage, Azure Service Bus, Event Grid, and Application Insights; AWS or GCP experience acceptable.

-Experience designing, developing, and operating enterprise-grade Java microservices and APIs using Spring Boot, Spring MVC/WebFlux, Spring Security, Spring Data JPA/Hibernate, RESTful APIs, and contract-first API design using OpenAPI/Swagger.

-Experience building modern frontend applications using React, TypeScript, and API-driven UI patterns.

-Experience with event-driven and distributed architectures using Kafka, JMS, RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus, Solace, or similar messaging platforms, including retries, dead-letter queues, circuit breakers, bulkheads, rate limiting, and graceful degradation.

-Experience consuming AI-backed APIs (Azure OpenAI, OpenAI API, or Azure Cognitive Services) from Java application code handling responses, managing errors, and embedding AI outputs into application flows.

-General awareness of how AI services are versioned and monitored in production, sufficient to handle API changes and communicate effectively with data or platform teams.

-Experience in retail, eCommerce, print, manufacturing, product discovery, order management, or customer support automation domains, including AI use cases such as intelligent search, design assistance, recommendations, and assisted order workflows.

-Strong understanding of enterprise architecture and engineering practices, including domain-driven design, service decomposition, CQRS, event sourcing, SOLID principles, design patterns, ADRs, and technical documentation.

-Experience with DevOps, secure engineering, and observability practices, including Docker, Kubernetes/AKS, CI/CD, automated unit/integration/contract testing, OWASP Top 10, secrets management, Splunk, Prometheus/Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Application Insights, JVM tuning, and production incident analysis.