Lead SDE [T500-21823]

About Delta Tech Hub:

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the U.S. global airline leader in safety, innovation, reliability and customer experience. Powered by our employees around the world, Delta has for a decade led the airline industry in operational excellence while maintaining our reputation for award-winning customer service. With our mission of connecting the people and cultures of the globe, Delta strives to foster understanding across a diverse world and serve as a force for social good. Delta has fast emerged as a customer-oriented, innovation-led, technology-driven business. The Delta Technology Hub will contribute directly to these objectives. It will sustain our long-term aspirations of delivering niche, IP-intensive, high-value, and innovative solutions. It supports various teams and functions across Delta and is an integral part of our transformation agenda, working seamlessly with a global team to create memorable experiences for customers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design and develop high-performance, asynchronous Java applications leveraging frameworks such as Spring Boot.
• Implement and maintain event-driven microservices using Apache Kafka for messaging, streaming, and data integration.
• Build, test, and maintain RESTful and Async APIs ensuring reliability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to support CI/CD pipeline integration (preferably Jenkins, GitLab CI, or similar).
• Apply best practices in code quality, testing, and performance optimization across the software lifecycle.
• Develop and maintain unit, integration, and performance tests using frameworks like JUnit, Mockito, and Gatling.
• Work closely with architects to design systems following microservices, event-driven, and cloud-native paradigms.
• Perform root cause analysis and debugging of complex production issues to ensure stability and uptime.
• Participate in code reviews, technical discussions, and contribute to architectural decisions.
• Stay current with evolving Java ecosystem trends and emerging technologies such as reactive systems, cloud-native tools, and Kafka stream processing.
• Document designs, workflows, and technical specifications for internal and cross-functional teams.
• Mentor junior developers, fostering knowledge sharing and technical excellence.

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED (MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS):

Technical Competencies:

• Bachelors degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related technical field.
• 6+ years of professional experience in Java application development.
• Strong proficiency with Java 11+ and frameworks such as Spring Boot or Spring Cloud
• Proven experience developing and consuming asynchronous APIs (REST, WebFlux, or Reactive Messaging).
• Hands-on experience implementing and managing Apache Kafka for messaging, streaming, and integration.
• Solid understanding of microservices architecture and distributed systems.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Git-based workflows, and automated testing.
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, etc.).
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.
• Strong communication skills both written and verbal with the ability to convey technical concepts clearly.
• Ability to collaborate in cross-functional teams and adapt to changing priorities.

WHAT WILL GIVE YOU A COMPETITIVE EDGE (PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS):

• Experience with Kafka Streams, Schema Registry, and Avro / Protobuf message serialization.
• Familiarity with cloud deployment models, especially AWS (Lambda, ECS, EKS, S3, CloudWatch).
• Hands-on experience with AWS MSK.
• Hands on Experience with Rest API development, Soap WSDL experiment.
• Hands on Experience with Open API standards (OAS) and AsyncAPI standards.
• Understanding Enterprise Integration Application patterns
• Understanding of DevSecOps principles and secure coding practices.
• Prior experience contributing to or leading major system rollouts or migrations.
• Experience in loyalty and/or airline environments is a plus.