Sr. Java AI Lead Software Engineer - ONLY W2 Candidates

Senior / Lead Software Engineer SWAT / Forward Deployed Engineering Team

Location fully remote in US

Long-term duration

Job Description:

Overview

Our client, a leading financial services enterprise, is building a SWAT-style Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team to address critical technical challenges across Enterprise Platforms and to pioneer AI-assisted software delivery at scale.

This role is not a traditional backend engineering position. We are seeking hands-on engineers who can rapidly onboard onto unfamiliar systems, deliver end-to-end solutions, and leverage modern AI tooling to accelerate development workflows.

Engineers in this team will act as high-impact problem solvers, moving across teams to resolve production issues, implement new functionality, and improve system reliability often under time pressure and in highly ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

Rapidly onboard onto unfamiliar codebases, build and run applications locally, and deliver working solutions within tight timelines

Diagnose and resolve complex production issues across multiple platform teams

Own end-to-end delivery of features, including:

implementation

testing (integration-level)

CI/CD pipeline integration

Work across distributed systems and enterprise-scale microservices architectures

Use AI tools (e.g., Copilot, Claude Code or similar) to:

generate and iterate on code

create and refine test cases

accelerate debugging and development workflows

Critically evaluate AI-generated output and correct gaps, assumptions, or inaccuracies

Configure, troubleshoot, and improve build pipelines (Gradle/Maven, CI workflows)

Collaborate with platform teams to resolve incidents and prevent recurrence

(Lead role) Coordinate SWAT engagements and drive cross-team resolution efforts

Required Qualifications

Strong experience working with enterprise-scale distributed systems

Proficiency in:

Java (Kotlin is a plus)

Spring Boot

microservices architectures

Proven ability to take a system from: clone build debug modify test integrate into CI pipeline independently

Hands-on experience with:

CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions or similar)

build tooling (Gradle/Maven)

environment and dependency management

Strong debugging and root cause analysis skills across:

build failures

dependency conflicts

runtime issues

Practical experience using AI tools in software development workflows

Ability to work effectively in:

high-pressure environments

high ambiguity with minimal guidance

Strong communication and collaboration skills

AI & Tooling Fluency (Critical for Success)

Experience beyond basic autocomplete usage of AI tools, including:

structured prompt writing

multi-step AI-assisted workflows

iterating on generated outputs

Ability to:

validate correctness of AI-generated code

identify gaps or incorrect assumptions

refine outputs to production-quality level

Understanding of when AI can accelerate development vs when manual engineering is required

Nice to have:

Experience with agent-based or agent orchestration tools (e.g., Claude Code, LangGraph, similar)

Familiarity with advanced developer environments (e.g., tmux, Warp, scripting workflows)

Experience with Go (Golang)

What This Role Is

Forward Deployed Engineering / SWAT problem-solving

AI-assisted, toolchain-heavy, full-stack delivery mindset

High autonomy, high impact engineering role

What This Role Is Not

Pure feature factory development

Narrow backend-only role

Low-ambiguity / well-defined sprint execution