Senior Backend Developer (Java/Spring Boot)

Quick Summary
🕛Hours:Full-time
🌎Location:Fully remote
🇪🇺Time Zone:Looking for people in Europe or LATAM
🇬🇧Language: Professional English required. Spanish is a strong bonus.
🤠 5+ years of experience in backend engineering. Expert-level Java 21 (LTS), Spring Boot 3.2+, and PostgreSQL. Experience with Event-Driven Architecture and DDD is required.
✈️ Travel: Occasional travel to client sites in LATAM may be required, usually for a few days up to one week every few months.
💸Salary Range:€3,000 - €4,000/month gross (dependent on experience level), B2B contract

About Afternow

We are partners in your digital journey. We bring together strategy, design, and technology to build systems that flex as your future unfolds.
Afternow creates the digital systems brilliant companies are built on. Strategy, identity, web and product design, and technology that scales. Every part of the process supports and informs the other, creating an environment that works today and adapts to wherever the business goes next.
We work primarily with ambitious, digitally focused organizations navigating change. From startups finding their footing, to scale-ups building momentum, to established enterprises reshaping their digital foundations. Our partnerships are built on clarity, craft, and care.
Since 2012, we've grown from our roots on Island Krk, Croatia, to a fully remote team of more than thirty talented people working across the globe. We've partnered with companies including AWS, ThoughtSpot, Progressive, Descartes, ShipBob, Quillbot, Teachable, Crisp, CloudZero, Kinetik, and many more.
🏆4.6 Glassdoor Rating- Join our team and discover why our people consistently rate us so highly.

The Role

We are looking for a passionate Senior Backend Developer to join our Product Development team.

In this role, you will work on scalable backend systems for modern digital products, platforms, and services. You will help design and build robust APIs, microservices, database models, integrations, and business logic that support real-world product needs.

You will collaborate closely with frontend engineers, QA engineers, DevOps, product managers, designers, and client-side stakeholders. Most of the work will happen in close collaboration with designers and frontend developers, so we are looking for someone who can communicate clearly, understand dependencies, and help move full modules toward completion.

This is not a “task resolver” role. Our team is dynamic, and senior developers are expected to take ownership of specific modules, actively drive them forward, and think beyond the ticket in front of them. We value people who are reliable, accountable, proactive, and comfortable taking responsibility for outcomes.

This is a senior role, so we expect you to bring technical depth, practical problem-solving, speed & efficiency, and the ability to guide others through clean architecture, good engineering practices, and thoughtful implementation. You should be able to make thoughtful technical decisions and build systems that are reliable, maintainable, secure, and ready to grow.

What You'll Do

• Backend Development: Write clean, testable, and efficient Java code using Spring Boot and modern backend engineering practices.
• API Design: Build and maintain REST APIs and backend services that are clear, secure, scalable, and easy to integrate with.
• Microservices Architecture: Design and implement services within distributed systems, with clear boundaries, responsibility, and maintainability in mind.
• Domain Modeling: Apply Domain-Driven Design principles where they make sense, translating business requirements into clean technical models and service boundaries.
• Database Design: Design, optimize, and maintain PostgreSQL database schemas, queries, indexes, and data flows.
• Event-Driven Systems: Build asynchronous workflows and integrations using event-driven architecture and tools such as Kafka or similar messaging systems.
• Integrations: Implement third-party integrations, payment systems, data pipelines, internal tools, and other backend services depending on project needs.
• Data Accuracy & Reliability: Design backend logic with a strong focus on correctness, auditability, edge cases, and data consistency.
• Module Ownership: Take ownership of specific backend modules, from technical planning and implementation to testing, documentation, release support, and continuous improvement.
• Cross-functional Delivery: Work closely with frontend developers, QA, DevOps, product managers, and designers to move modules from idea to completion, not just from ticket to ticket.
• Testing Culture: Write and maintain automated tests. You understand that reliable systems require strong test coverage and thoughtful QA collaboration.
• Code Review: Participate actively in pull request reviews, share knowledge, and help maintain high standards across the backend codebase.
• Technical Ownership: Take ownership of backend features from planning to delivery, including architecture, implementation, testing, documentation, and release support.
• Proactive Problem-Solving: Identify gaps, risks, dependencies, and unclear requirements early. We value developers who ask the right questions, suggest better approaches, and help the team move forward.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of backend development experience in a professional environment.
• Modern Java Stack: Strong knowledge of Java 21, Spring Boot 3.2+, Hibernate, and modern Java backend development.
• Architecture: Deep understanding of Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA).
• AWS Familiarity: Experience working with AWS and cloud-based application environments. ECS/Fargate experience is a plus.
• Domain Experience: Experience in Fintech, SaaS, HR, Payroll, ERP, e-commerce, logistics, retail, AI-enabled products, or complex B2B platforms is a strong plus.
• Ownership & Accountability: A reliable, accountable, and proactive senior engineer who takes ownership of outcomes, not just assigned tasks.
  
• Collaboration: Someone who can collaborate closely with PMs, designers, frontend developers and other team members to complete full product modules, not only isolated backend tickets.
• Problem Solver: You can take a vague business requirement and turn it into a working algorithm, service, or microservice.
• AI-assisted development: Experience using modern AI coding tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar tools is a strong bonus. You know how to use them thoughtfully to improve productivity, code quality, and problem-solving without replacing solid engineering judgment.
• Language: F