Senior Software Developer & Middleware Engineer

Job title:- Senior Software Developer & Middleware Engineer
Location:- Minneapolis, MN 55401 (Initial Remote after then onsite)
Duration:- 12 Months

Top 5 must-have hard skills:

• 8+ years of enterprise software engineering, site reliability engineering, and platform engineering experience in production environments.
• Strong Java (Spring, REST services) and .NET (C#, ASP.NET) development expertise, including modernization of legacy applications and refactoring complex code.
• Hands-on experience with the IBM FileNet ecosystem (CPE, Process Engine, IBM Navigator, Enterprise Records).
• IBM WebSphere administration and deployment expertise, including JVM tuning, SSL configuration, data sources, and automation of configuration/deployments.
• Experience developing and integrating REST/SOAP APIs, service driven architectures, API gateways, messaging systems, event-driven patterns, and document/workflow integrations.

3. Top 5 nice-to-have hard skills:

• Experience with IBM Datacap or IBM Content Collector.
• Experience with Kubernetes/OpenShift/AKS/EKS and containerization technologies.
• Experience working in financial services or other regulated industries.
• Experience with authentication systems such as Azure Active Directory.
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.

4. Top 5 soft skills:

• Systems Thinking. Sees end to end interactions across code, integrations, middleware, identity, networking, and observability; anticipates ripple effects and sequences changes safely.
• Audience Aware Communication.
• Aligns quickly with security, networking, AD/Okta, SRE, and app teams; writes clear change notes, rollback steps, and status updates others can act on.
• Operational Ownership under Pressure. Treats reliability as a feature; stays calm in incidents, uses Dynatrace/Splunk data, follows/runbooks, and drives blameless postmortems.
• Pragmatic Trade off Judgment.
• Makes evidence-based calls (refactor vs. rewrite; roll back vs. forward fix), frames options/risks, and secures consensus without thrashing.
• Documentation & Governance Rigor. Produces durable architecture diagrams, API contracts, runbooks, and change records that leave internal teams audit ready after handoff.

Key aspects of the role:

• We are seeking a hands-on Senior Software Developer & Middleware Engineer for a 12-month contract to support the migration of our IBM FileNet platform from on premise infrastructure to a colocation environment.
• This hybrid, development heavy role focuses on modernizing and refactoring Java and .NET applications that integrate with FileNet, leveraging deep software engineering expertise along with strong platform engineering, middleware administration, and site reliability engineering practices.
• The ideal candidate is a strong coder first experienced in middleware and integration work rather than purely administration or infrastructure who can support integration heavy systems, ensure reliability, performance, and scalability across enterprise platforms, and drive operational excellence throughout the FileNet ecosystem.

Day-to-day Expectations:

• Application Engineering & Modernization
• Provide migration support for IBM FileNet, including redesigning and integrating touchpoints with dependent systems.
• Design, build, and refactor Java and .NET applications and services, improving maintainability and reducing long-term technical debt.
• Re-architect legacy integrations into modern, scalable patterns such as API-driven and service-based designs.
• Develop and enhance APIs/services that interact with FileNet and related enterprise platforms.
• Author, optimize, and troubleshoot SQL (queries, stored procedures) to ensure data integrity and strong database performance.
• Systems Integration, Middleware, & Platform Operations
• Administer and support IBM WebSphere (profiles, JVM tuning, data sources, SSL, session management) and implement configuration-as-codebased automation approaches. Manage and optimize Control M batch scheduling, dependencies, SLAs, and orchestrate automated recovery paths.
• Troubleshoot complex multi-system and code-level issues spanning application, integration, middleware, and infrastructure layers.

Observability, Monitoring & Reliability Engineering

• Implement and tune Dynatrace monitoring, including service baselining, anomaly detection, SLOs, and error-budget practices.
• Build and maintain Splunk dashboards, alerts, searches, and establish enterprise logging standards.
• Participate in on call rotations, incident response, runbook execution, problem management, and root-cause analysis.

Identity, Access, Networking & Security Alignment

• Work with Active Directory Administers and Okta SSO/MFA/SCIM integrations.
• Work with network engineers to support LTM, GTM, DNS configurations for applications. 3. Work with network and security teams to align on TLS/certificate management, WAF policies, and Zero Trust architecture.

CI/CD, Automation & Governance

• Improve CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions) by enhancing automated builds, testing, deployments, and rollbacks.
• Implement Infrastructure-as-Code or configuration-as-code approaches (e.g., Ansible, Pipelines-as-Code).
• Support change-management, segregation-of-duties protocols, and audit/compliance readiness.
• Document system architecture, APIs, integration patterns, operational procedures, and engineering standards.

Top 5 must-have hard skills, please add:

• Advanced SQL skills, including query optimization, stored procedures, and performance tuning.
• Deep experience with Control M in 247 operational environments.
• Observability experience with Dynatrace (monitoring, baselining, SLOs, anomaly detection) and Splunk (dashboards, alerts, log searches).
• Experience with identity and access platforms including Active Directory RBAC/Group Policy and Okta SSO/MFA/SCIM.
• Networking fundamentals and practical experience with F5 BIG IP LTM/GTM/DNS.
• Strong understanding of JSON, XML, and related integration/data interchange patterns.

In addition to the Top 5 nice-to-have hard skills:

• Exposure to MQ/Kafka, API gateways, or service mesh technologies.
• Familiarity with certificates/TLS, OAuth/OIDC, and Products management.

What We Are NOT Looking For 1.

• Primarily infrastructure or DevOps engineers
• FileNet administrators without strong coding experience
• Architects who are not hands-on

What Success Looks Like

• Clean, maintainable, modernized Java/.NET codebases
• Reliable integrations with IBM FileNet
• Reduced technical debt and improved performance
• Maintainable systems for internal teams post-engagement