Junior Java Backend Developer Jobs in Chicago, IL

Company Overview

At Motorola Solutions, we believe that everything starts with our people. We're a global close-knit community, united by the relentless pursuit to help keep people safer everywhere. We build and connect technologies to help protect people, property and places. Our solutions foster the collaboration that's critical for safer communities, safer schools, safer hospitals, safer businesses, and ultimately, safer nations. Connect with a career that matters, and help us build a safer future.

Department OverviewJoin our dynamic, agile R&D team as a Senior Backend Java Engineer, where you will serve as a key architectural driver for our Device Provisioning and Management platform, deployed on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
You will be responsible for the end-to-end success of major features-from proposing architectural approaches for large-scale device configurations to defining service contracts for AI-driven automation. In this role, you will serve as a Technical Lead, actively mentoring junior developers, elevating engineering standards, and pioneering the use of advanced LLMs to optimize device lifecycles.
Job DescriptionResponsibilities

• Architectural Ownership: Propose and facilitate technical discussions to arrive at agreed-upon architectural plans for high-throughput device provisioning, zero-touch enrollment, and lifecycle management services.

• Contract Definition & Coordination: Own the APIs for the Device Management Domain, coordinating with external hardware and consumer teams to ensure seamless integration, rapid registration, and data integrity.

• Feature Grooming & Delegation: Groom technical stories from Product Management requirements and break down complex tasks for the team to enable rapid, parallel development.

• Database & Storage Leadership: Lead the implementation, optimization, and scaling of relational data layers using AlloyDB (and PostgreSQL), ensuring data integrity, high availability, and efficient indexing for millions of device records.

• Advanced AI Engineering: Architect and implement advanced prompt engineering workflows utilizing Anthropic Claude to automate configuration generation, analyze complex device logs, and power conversational provisioning assistants.

• Quality, Review & Mentorship: Conduct thorough code reviews, serving as a trusted source to catch edge cases, security gaps, and performance bottlenecks, while actively mentoring junior and mid-level engineers.

• Pipeline & Tooling Transformation: Actively contribute to development pipeline improvements (e.g., automated guardrails, RAG systems, and AI coding assistants) to significantly cut down PR cycle times.

Requirements

• Experience & Impact: Bachelor's degree plus 5+ years of progressive technical experience, demonstrating successful ownership of complex, distributed features and a track record of mentoring technical peers.

• Database Mastery: Practical, deep experience managing and optimizing Postgres-based databases (ideally GCP AlloyDB) for high-concurrency write/read profiles.

• GCP Proficiency: Proven ability to deploy, manage, and scale microservices on GCP (GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Storage, and database management).

• API/Contract Ownership: Extensive experience designing robust service contracts and managing dependencies between Python and Java microservices.

• Claude & Prompt Engineering: Practical experience leveraging Anthropic Claude (or similar advanced LLMs) for systemic prompt design, structured data extraction, and log parsing.

• System Integrity: Deep understanding of scale challenges, fault-tolerant design, and the ability to anticipate and address stress points within high-availability provisioning architectures.

Target Base Salary Range: $130,000 USD - $150,000 USD

Consistent with Motorola Solutions values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. Pay within this range varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The actual offer will be based on the individual candidate.

Note: Candidate must be in the Chicago office 2 days per week.

#LI-MP2

#LI-HYBRD

Basic Requirements

• Bachelors Degree with 5+ engineering experience

• AND 4+ years of Java experience

• Must be a U.S. citizen with the ability to obtain necessary security clearance as required by government contract.

Travel RequirementsNone
Relocation ProvidedNone
Position TypeExperienced
Referral Payment PlanNo

Our U.S.Benefitsinclude:

• Incentive Bonus Plans

• Medical, Dental, Visionbenefits

• 401K with Company Match

• 10 Paid Holidays

• GenerousPaidTime Off Packages

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

• PaidParental & Family Leave

• and more!

EEO Statement

Motorola Solutions is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally-protected characteristic.

We are proud of our people-first and community-focused culture, empowering every Motorolan to be their most authentic self and to do their best work to deliver on the promise of a safer world. If you'd like to join our team but feel that you don't quite meet all of the preferred skills, we'd still love to hear why you think you'd be a great addition to our team.

We're committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruiting experience for candidates with disabilities, or other physical or mental health conditions. To request an accommodation, please complete thisReasonable Accommodations Formso we can assist you.