Senior/Lead Software Engineer - Hybrid Workforce Solutions

Company: Upwork ($UPWK)

Position Overview: Upwork is the world's work marketplace, connecting businesses with skilled professionals. We are seeking a passionate Senior/Lead Software Engineer to join our Hybrid Workforce Solutions (HWS) Team. This role involves designing and building highly performant, robust systems to create outstanding user experiences and impact the professional lives of millions. You will solve important problems, identify scalability issues, implement engineering best practices, and develop creative solutions to technical and product challenges.

This is a contract position with the potential for renewal based on project needs and performance.

Work/Project Scope:

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand requirements and deliver high-quality solutions.
• Design, develop, test, and maintain scalable and robust server-side logic, databases, and APIs.
• Utilize programming languages such as Java or Kotlin for backend development.
• Architect and optimize backend systems for performance, scalability, and reliability.
• Implement security measures to protect backend systems and data.
• Enhance codebase quality, documentation, and reduce technical debt.
• Stay updated on current and emerging technologies.
• Utilize collaborative tools such as Gmail, Slack, Confluence, Jira, and others for communication, documentation, and project management.
• Participate in code reviews and design reviews.
• Provide technical guidance and support to junior developers.
• Document code and technical specifications.
• Analyze system performance, respond to incidents within deadlines, and provide on-call support for system issues.
• Participate in the Scrum process, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospective meetings.
• Participate in project-critical meetings and provide regular status updates.
• Manage time independently to achieve project deliverables, requiring an estimated 40 hours per week.
• Coordinate with the team during core hours (8:00 am - 11:00 pm Pacific Time). Occasional availability until 12:00 pm Pacific Time may be required for urgent matters.

Must Haves (Required Skills):

• Solid software development experience using Java or Kotlin.
• Extensive knowledge of REST and/or GraphQL.
• Experience writing well-structured, easily maintainable unit tests (e.g., JUnit, Mockito).
• Experience with relational and non-relational databases.
• Consistent track record of collaborating with large, distributed teams on documentation, code, and reviews.
• A desire to learn new technologies and continually develop professional skills.
• Comfortable working with AWS.
• Experience building/supporting high-load web applications and solving scalability issues.

Company Information: Upwork is the world's work marketplace, serving everyone from one-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100. Our powerful, trust-driven platform enables companies and talent to work together in new ways, unlocking their potential. Last year, more than $3.8 billion of work was done through Upwork.

Upwork is proudly committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. We never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions).