Lead Java Software Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: Europe

Employment Type: FullTime

About Kestra

At Kestra, we’re on a mission to make orchestration and automation simpler for everyone. Our open-source platform helps teams manage complex workflows with confidence, and we’re already making a big impact in businesses around the world. Now, we’re looking for a Full Stack Engineer to help us take things to the next level.

In March 2026, we closed a $25M Series A led by RTP Global, with participation from Alven, ISAI, and Axeleo – backed by founders from Datadog, dbt Labs, and Hugging Face.

What You’ll Do

As a Lead Software Engineer at Kestra, you’ll get to:

• Build and improve our core platform backend using Java.

• Work on enterprise solutions, crafting products that scale with our customers’ needs.

• You oversee engineers as Team Leader. This involves conducting code reviews, unblocking developers, and providing technical mentorship to help junior and senior staff grow.

• You act as the translator between technical and non-technical departments. You’ll work with Product Managers to define roadmaps and ensure technical debt is balanced with feature delivery.

• You own the quality of the software. This includes overseeing CI/CD pipelines, defining SLOs/SLAs (Service Level Objectives), and leading "Post-Mortems" when systems fail.

• You work closely with customers to understand and fix their pain.

You’ll be working in an environment where speed and agility are key, and where delivering value to our customers is always the top priority.

We embrace modern development tools, including AI assistants and coding agents, and we encourage engineers to leverage them to move faster, explore ideas, and improve productivity. We provide access to leading AI models and tools when needed so you can use them effectively in your daily work.

That said, we strongly believe great engineers must fully understand what they build. This means mastering the business context, the architecture, performance considerations, security implications, and quality standards of the code being produced. You should be comfortable reviewing, validating, and improving AI-generated code, and ultimately take ownership of the entire lifecycle from understanding the problem and designing the solution, to implementation, testing, and delivery. AI can accelerate the work, but responsibility, critical thinking, and technical judgment always remain with the engineer.

Our Tech Stack

• Backend: Java, Micronaut

• Frontend: Vue.js, Bootstrap

• Datastore: Kafka, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, MySQL

• Infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform

• Cloud: GCP, AWS, Azure

• Tools: GitHub for repo management, actions, and issues

We work with a variety of modern technologies, and you’ll get the opportunity to explore new tools and approaches as we grow.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of experience in both backend (Java).

• Someone who can lead major architecture decisions and drive key initiatives.

• Someone who keeps things simple and straightforward. We are not here to celebrate beautiful complexity.

• Strong experience with testing and automation, and familiar with agile development practices.

• A love for building great products that solve real problems.

• Track record of quickly learning new technologies and concepts.

• The ability to work well both independently, remotely and as part of a team.

• Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken, in English.

Bonus Points If You Have

• Contributed to or maintained an open-source project.

• Experience with front-end technology (like Vue.js or React), allowing you to develop full-stack features.

• Experience with high performance application or Micronaut.

• Knowledge of Docker, Kubernetes, and public cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure).

• Familiarity with relational and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL).

• Experience working with high-performance, distributed systems.

Perks & Benefits

• Work from anywhere: We’re a remote-first company, so you can work from wherever feels like home. Plus, you’ll have access to coworking spaces worldwide if you ever need a change of scenery.

• Health coverage: From medical support, dental, and vision, we've got you covered.

• Home office setup on us: We’ll provide all the equipment you need to work comfortably.

Our Hiring Process

We aim to move quickly (2-3 weeks), but we can adjust the timeline if needed.

• Intro call with the hiring manager (30 min)

• Technical test (2 hour, homework done in async)

• Team chat with two of your future colleagues (30 min)

• Final discussion with one of our co-founders (30 min)

We’re here to make the process smooth and transparent for you.

Why Kestra?

At Kestra, we’re passionate about solving real-world challenges through orchestration and automation. We move fast, we learn constantly, and we’re always looking for ways to improve. If you’re excited by the idea of building something meaningful and being part of a dynamic team, we’d love to hear from you!