Senior Java Backend Developer Jobs in Minneapolis, MN

Position: Senior Java / Liferay Full Stack Developer
Client: Large Healthcare Plan and Government Contractor
Location: Remote/Hybrid (TBD)
Employment Type: 6-Month Contract with Moderate Probability of Extension
Overview
The Senior Java / Liferay Full Stack Developer will serve as a hands-on modernization specialist responsible for accelerating the transformation of legacy healthcare and government technology platforms into secure, cloud-based applications. The role combines three equally important objectives: modernizing existing Liferay portal applications, developing cloud-native Spring Boot microservices, and supporting enterprise Azure migration initiatives. Working as a senior individual contributor, the person will partner with architects, product owners, DevOps engineers, and business stakeholders to design, build, deploy, and optimize scalable enterprise solutions. The environment is highly visible and mission-critical, supporting healthcare and government programs that require strong performance, security, reliability, and regulatory compliance. As part of the organization's modernization strategy, the role requires an engineer capable of balancing hands-on development, technical problem-solving, cloud adoption, and continuous improvement through automation and AI-enabled development practices.
Employee Value Proposition
Purpose
This role offers the opportunity to directly contribute to a major digital transformation initiative within a large healthcare payer and government contractor. The work impacts systems used by members, providers, internal operations teams, and government stakeholders while helping modernize critical technology platforms that support essential healthcare services.
Growth
The assignment provides exposure to enterprise-scale modernization initiatives involving cloud migration, Azure services, Spring Boot microservices, enterprise security integration, and large-scale application transformation. Success on this engagement will provide highly marketable experience leading modernization efforts within a complex and highly regulated environment.
Motivators
This opportunity is ideal for professionals who enjoy solving complex technical challenges, modernizing legacy applications, implementing cloud-native architectures, and delivering measurable business impact within aggressive timelines. The role offers significant technical ownership, autonomy, and visibility while working alongside senior technology leaders responsible for enterprise transformation.
Performance Objectives
1. Modernize Enterprise Liferay Portal Applications
Within the first 180 days, assess, redesign, and modernize targeted Liferay portal applications that support healthcare and government business operations. Lead the conversion of legacy components into scalable, maintainable, cloud-ready solutions utilizing modern Java frameworks, Angular, React, and API-driven architectures. Partner with business and technical stakeholders to prioritize modernization activities and ensure seamless user experiences throughout the transition. Success will be measured through successful production deployment of modernization initiatives, reduction of technical debt, improved application performance, and achievement of project milestones. This objective may be enhanced using AI-assisted code analysis, refactoring, and modernization tools.
2. Design, Build, and Deploy Enterprise Microservices
Within the first six months, design, develop, test, and deploy secure, scalable Spring Boot microservices that support critical healthcare and government business processes. Utilize Spring Boot 3.x, Spring Security, Spring JPA, Hibernate, REST APIs, and related technologies to establish reusable and maintainable service architectures. Collaborate with integration teams to ensure successful interoperability with existing enterprise systems and applications. Success will be measured through successful delivery of production-ready services, API performance metrics, reduced system dependencies, and stakeholder acceptance of completed solutions. This objective may be enhanced through AI-assisted coding, automated test generation, and intelligent code review technologies.
3. Accelerate Azure Cloud Migration and Adoption
During the engagement, support migration of legacy applications and newly developed services to Azure cloud environments utilizing Azure Spring Apps, Azure Storage, Azure Entra, managed databases, and related cloud services. Work closely with infrastructure and DevOps teams to implement cloud-native deployment strategies that improve scalability, resilience, security, and operational efficiency. Ensure all solutions align with enterprise architecture standards and cloud governance requirements. Success will be measured through successful production deployments, improved application availability, achievement of migration milestones, and reduction of infrastructure complexity. This objective may be enhanced through AI-powered cloud optimization and deployment automation tools.
4. Strengthen Enterprise Security and Authentication Capabilities
Within the first six months, implement and enhance secure authentication, authorization, and Single Sign-On capabilities across web applications and APIs using Azure Entra, OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and enterprise security standards. Partner with cybersecurity and compliance teams to ensure all solutions meet healthcare and government regulatory requirements. Improve application security posture while maintaining a seamless user experience. Success will be measured through successful security assessments, reduction of vulnerabilities, audit readiness, and reliable authentication performance. This objective may be enhanced through AI-assisted security monitoring and vulnerability detection tools.
5. Establish Sustainable Engineering Practices and Knowledge Transfer
Throughout the engagement, contribute to coding standards, CI/CD automation, testing frameworks, technical documentation, and development best practices that improve long-term maintainability and operational support. Share knowledge with internal teams and support the transition of delivered solutions to permanent support organizations. Ensure modernization efforts continue successfully beyond the contract period. Success will be measured through adoption of engineering standards, improved deployment quality, successful knowledge transfer, and reduced operational support issues. This objective may be enhanced through AI-assisted documentation and development workflow automation.
Subtasks
1. Assess Current-State Architecture and Modernization Opportunities
Within the first 30-60 days, conduct a comprehensive review of existing Liferay applications, integrations, infrastructure dependencies, databases, and deployment processes. Identify modernization priorities, technical risks, migration candidates, and opportunities for architectural improvements. Present recommendations and a prioritized implementation roadmap aligned with business and technology objectives. Success will be measured through stakeholder approval of modernization plans and successful alignment with project goals.
2. Develop Modern Front-End User Experiences
Within the first six months, design and implement responsive, accessible, and maintainable user interfaces utilizing Angular, React, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. Ensure seamless integration with backend APIs and modern authentication frameworks while improving user experience and application performance. Success will be measured through user adoption, performance improvements, accessibility compliance, and stakeholder satisfaction.
3. Optimize Enterprise API and Integration Performance
Develop and enhance REST-based integrations supporting healthcare and government business operations. Improve API reliability, security, documentation, monitoring, and scalability while reducing integration complexity and support requirements. Success will be measured through improved response times, increased reliability, successful integration testing, and reduced production incidents.
4. Improve Database Performance and Reliability
Optimize SQL Server and PostgreSQL database interactions through improved query design, indexing strategies, data access patterns, and performance tuning techniques. Collaborate with database administrators and development teams to improve system scalability and reliability. Success will be measured through reduced response times, improved throughput, and increased application stability.
5. Support CI/CD Automation and DevOps Excellence
Partner with DevOps teams to improve build automation, testing automation, deployment processes, monitoring, and operational support capabilities. Help establish repeatable deployment practices that improve software quality and release frequency. Success will be measured through deployment efficiency, reduced production defects, and improved release reliability.
6. Collaborate Across Technical and Business Teams
Work closely with architects, product owners, business analysts, security teams, infrastructure teams, and development peers to ensure technical solutions meet business objectives and compliance requirements. Provide technical guidance and contribute to strategic modernization discussions. Success will be measured through stakeholder feedback, project delivery effectiveness, and quality of technical recommendations.
7. Continuously Evaluate and Integrate AI to Improve Performance
Within the first 90-180 days, identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation technologies across software development, testing, cloud operations, documentation, security monitoring, and modernization activities. Evaluate tools that can reduce manual effort, improve code quality, accelerate delivery cycles, and increase operational efficiency. Lead pilot initiatives where appropriate and document recommendations for broader adoption across the engineering organization. Success will be measured through demonstrated productivity improvements, reduction in repetitive manual activities, improved delivery speed, and successful implementation of AI-enabled development practices.
Technical Environment
Java •J2EE •Spring Boot 3.x •Spring Framework 6.x •Spring Security •Spring Web •Spring JPA •Hibernate •Lombok •MapStruct •Swagger/OpenAPI •REST APIs •Angular •ReactJS •JavaScript •HTML •CSS •Bootstrap •NodeJS •Azure Spring Apps •Azure Storage •Azure Entra ID •OAuth2 •OpenID Connect •SQL Server •PostgreSQL •CI/CD •Microservices Architecture •Liferay Portal
Definition of Success at the End of the Engagement
A successful contractor will have delivered measurable modernization outcomes across all three transformation initiatives: Liferay portal modernization, Spring Boot microservices development, and Azure cloud migration. The individual will have deployed production-ready solutions, improved platform scalability and maintainability, strengthened security and authentication capabilities, and established engineering practices that enable continued modernization efforts after the engagement concludes. This individual will be viewed by both business and technical stakeholders as a trusted contributor who accelerated the client's digital transformation objectives while delivering tangible business value.