Software Engineer - Java - Kotlin

Software Engineer - Java/Kotlin | Backend | Integrations

Manchester (Hybrid - 2 days per week) | 6 month initial contract | £500-600pd inside IR35 | Immediate start

A leading global digital platform is building a brand-new engineering team focused on transforming how third-party integrations are delivered at scale.

This team sits at the centre of a major growth area and is rethinking how external providers connect into a marketplace ecosystem, reducing onboarding from months to days through smarter architecture, automation and AI-enabled engineering practices. We're looking for Software Engineers with strong backend engineering and automated testing experience to help shape this capability from the ground up.

The Opportunity:

Joining a newly established team, you'll work on building and scaling connectivity services that integrate with external APIs and suppliers. You'll contribute to a platform designed to simplify onboarding, improve reliability and create reusable integration patterns across a rapidly growing ecosystem. You'll work in a highly collaborative environment with Product, Commercial and Operations teams and help influence engineering standards, tooling and ways of working from day one.

What you'll be doing:

• Designing and developing backend services using Java and/or Kotlin
• Building and evolving REST APIs and integration services
• Creating scalable, reusable connectors for third-party providers
• Working with external APIs that cannot be directly controlled or changed
• Driving strong engineering standards with a focus on automated testing
• Supporting observability and operational excellence through logging, metrics and alerting
• Contributing to cloud-native deployments and modern CI/CD practices
• Helping shape repositories, tooling and engineering processes with AI-enabled development approaches
• Collaborating cross-functionally to improve provider onboarding and operational efficiency

What we're looking for:

• Strong backend engineering experience in Java and/or Kotlin
• Experience building and operating production services
• Strong capability in automated testing and test frameworks
• Experience integrating with REST/HTTP APIs and external systems
• Good understanding of distributed systems principles including:
• retries
• idempotency
• timeouts
• resilience patterns
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines
• Cloud exposure (AWS preferred)
• Experience with relational databases (MySQL or similar)
• Exposure to Kafka, messaging technologies or event-driven architectures
• Comfortable working in collaborative, fast-moving environments

Nice to have:

• Experience within travel, marketplaces, ticketing, attractions or consumer platforms
• Experience building integration platforms or connectivity products
• Experience working in early-stage teams or helping establish engineering practices
• Interest in AI-assisted development and engineering productivity

If you enjoy backend engineering, solving integration challenges and building scalable platforms from the ground up, we'd love to speak with you.