Principal Developer (Java/AWS) | IL

Job Title: Principal Developer (Java/AWS)
Location: Chicago, IL – Hybrid
Duration: 3-Month Contract-to-Hire
Sponsorship: Must be able to convert to full-time without sponsorship, now or in the future

Overview

United Airlines is seeking a Principal Developer to join a high-performing engineering team focused on building and modernizing enterprise applications that support critical airline operations and customer-facing platforms. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you will be expected to actively design, develop, and deliver scalable cloud-native solutions while influencing architecture and engineering best practices across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a hands-on technical leader, writing production-quality code and driving engineering excellence.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable applications using Java 17, Spring Boot, and Microservices architecture.
• Build and enhance event-driven solutions leveraging Apache Kafka for high-volume messaging and integrations.
• Design and develop RESTful APIs and backend services supporting mission-critical business functions.
• Lead architectural discussions and provide technical guidance to development teams.
• Develop cloud-native applications and services within the AWS ecosystem.
• Utilize AWS EC2 for application hosting and compute workloads.
• Leverage AWS S3 for storage, data management, and application integration needs.
• Partner with product owners, architects, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Drive code reviews, performance tuning, security best practices, and application reliability initiatives.
• Mentor junior and senior developers while promoting modern engineering standards and best practices.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of software development experience with strong backend engineering expertise.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Java 17.
• Strong experience building applications with Spring Boot.
• Proven experience designing and implementing Microservices architectures.
• Strong hands-on experience with Apache Kafka and event-driven systems.
• Experience developing and deploying applications within AWS environments.
• Hands-on experience with:
•  
• AWS EC2
• AWS S3
• Experience developing REST APIs and distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of software design patterns, scalability, performance optimization, and system integration.
• Experience working in Agile development environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines.
• Exposure to airline, transportation, logistics, or other large enterprise environments.
• Experience leading technical design and architecture initiatives across multiple teams.