Role : Application Operations (AppOps) Engineer – Production Support
Location : Berkeley Heights, NJ
JOB DESCRIPTION
AppOps Engineer (Java & Microservices)
Position Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled and proactive AppOps Engineer to join our Application Operations team. In this role, you will bridge the gap between development and operations, ensuring the high availability, scalability, and performance of our core applications.
The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in production support and system reliability, combined with deep technical expertise in the Java ecosystem, Spring Boot framework, and Microservices architecture. You will be responsible for monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing cloud-native Java applications to ensure seamless business operations.
Key Responsibilities
1. Application Operations & Production Support
- Monitor, maintain, and support core business applications built on Java, Spring Boot, and Microservices.
- Act as the first line of defense for application alerts, incidents, and performance degradation, ensuring strict adherence to SLAs.
- Conduct deep-dive root cause analysis (RCA) for complex technical issues spanning across distributed microservices.
- Deploy, configure, and maintain application updates, patches, and hotfixes in staging and production environments.
2. Monitoring & Performance Optimization
- Design and implement robust observability dashboards using tools like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), or AppDynamics/New Relic.
- Monitor microservices health, API latencies, heap memory utilization, and thread dumps to proactively identify bottlenecks.
- Optimize JVM performance, connection pooling, and database queries to ensure peak application efficiency.
3. Automation & CI/CD
- Collaborate with DevOps teams to manage and improve continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).
- Automate routine operational tasks, health checks, and self-healing scripts using Bash, Python, or Ansible.
Technical Skills & Qualifications
Core Requirements
- Java Tech Stack: Strong proficiency in Java (Java 8 or higher) with a solid understanding of object-oriented programming, multi-threading, and JVM internals.
- Frameworks: Extensive hands-on experience supporting and troubleshooting applications built on the Spring Boot framework (Spring MVC, Spring Security, Spring Data).
- Architecture: Deep understanding of Microservices architecture, including RESTful APIs, API Gateways (e.g., Zuul, Spring Cloud Gateway), and Service Mesh concepts.
- Database & Messaging: Experience with relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle) and message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ) typically used in microservice ecosystems.
Infrastructure & Operations
- Containers & Orchestration: Solid experience with Docker and Kubernetes for managing containerized microservices.
- Cloud Platforms: Familiarity with cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and cloud-native operational practices.
- Operating Systems: Proficient in Linux/Unix environments, shell scripting, and command-line troubleshooting.
Soft Skills & Preferred Attributes
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a high attention to detail.
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate across Development, QA, and Business teams during high-pressure incidents.
- An automation-first mindset with a passion for site reliability and operational excellence.