Software Engineer IV

Job Title: Software Engineer IV
Contract duration: 6 months
Location: Toronto, Canada (hybrid or remote within Canada)

Minimum Education Required: Bachelors

Top 3 experience “must haves”:
1. Java or GO
2.AWS (DynamoDB, MSK / Kinesis, ECS or EKS, IAM, S3)
3. Apache Kafka (producer/consumer APIs, partition design, retention, ACLs, admin client)

Must-have

• 7 to 10 years of professional software engineering experience, senior level
• Strong backend experience in Java or Go with Spring Boot (Java) or modern Go service frameworks.
• Hands-on production experience with Apache Kafka (producer/consumer APIs, partition design, retention, ACLs, admin client)
• Hands-on production experience on AWS (DynamoDB, MSK / Kinesis, ECS or EKS, IAM, S3)
• Strong data streaming experience, broadly — event-driven architectures, CDC patterns, async message processing, exactly-once or at-least-once delivery semantics
• Distributed systems fundamentals — idempotency, retries with backoff, eventual consistency
• Demonstrated track record of joining a project mid-flight and being productive within the first one to two weeks

Nice to have

• Apache Flink (any version), Flink SQL, or Kafka Streams experience
• AWS Kinesis Client Library (KCL) for stream consumers
• Outbox pattern, Debezium, or similar CDC frameworks
• DynamoDB single-table design experience
• GitOps deployment patterns (ArgoCD, Flux)
• Familiarity with Apache Iceberg, Apache Paimon, or other open table formats

Flink is genuinely a nice-to-have, not a blocker. Most strong Java + Kafka + AWS candidates can pick up Flink quickly. 
 
At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position’s starting pay is: $ 80.00/hr.