This role is embedded in a Belgian public-sector programme delivering large-scale business applications, focusing on full-stack development with modern frontend and backend frameworks. The team is evolving an enterprise Java platform built on jakarta-ee and Spring Boot, with new frontends in Angular 21 and integration through Kafka and REST APIs.
The mission
The project maintains and extends a set of domain-critical applications used by multiple administrative services, handling transactional data in PostgreSQL and other RDBMS. The current work includes re-architecting parts of the platform toward hexagonal architecture, improving API design, and introducing stronger event-driven integrations with Kafka to support higher throughput and clearer bounded contexts.
On a day-to-day basis you will define application-level architectures and steer their implementation across frontend and backend. You will split and assign work, run architecture and code reviews, and ensure designs meet non-functional requirements such as scalability, security (oAuth) and operability. You will collaborate with product owners and other architects to keep a coherent cross-domain vision.
Your responsibilities
- Design and document scalable application architectures that align frontend Angular components with jakarta-ee / Spring Boot backend services, producing clear API contracts and interface definitions
- Lead and coordinate a group of Java developers, distributing tasks, organising code reviews, and raising the overall engineering quality
- Define and enforce architecture patterns, including hexagonal architecture, event-driven integration with Kafka, and consistent database modelling for PostgreSQL/RDBMS
- Deliver and review REST API designs that meet security requirements (oAuth) and performance targets; validate implementations through integration test strategies
- Mentor developers on best practices for JPA/SQL, Spring Boot, and Angular, and introduce tooling and Jira workflows that improve delivery in an Agile Scrum environment
- Participate in sprint planning, refinement and technical story sizing to keep delivery predictable and aligned with the product roadmap
Your profile
Essential skills
- Proven experience as a senior application architect or senior java architect with at least 10 years in Java / Java EE / jakarta-ee
- Strong track record with RDBMS, SQL and JPA, around 10 years of hands-on experience
- Deep experience designing and consuming REST APIs, minimum 8 years
- Frontend expertise with Angular 21 and at least 5 years of Angular development
- Spring and Spring Boot experience, minimum 5 years
- Practical experience with Kafka and PostgreSQL in production environments
- Familiarity with hexagonal architecture and applying architectural patterns to legacy and greenfield systems
- Experience working in Agile Scrum teams, using Jira for backlog and delivery tracking
- Demonstrable leadership in organising code reviews and distributing developer tasks
Languages
- French C1 and Dutch B1 minimum, or Dutch C1 and French B1 minimum
Due to legal constraints on this programme, candidates must hold Belgian nationality.