Senior Back End Engineer (Avalor)

As a Senior Back End Engineer at Avalor, your primary responsibilities will include developing and maintaining high-quality, scalable backend services within a microservices architecture. You will be involved in creating features for a high-scale web environment, monitoring performance in production, staying updated on industry trends, and mentoring junior engineers. This role offers ample opportunities for collaboration across teams, including frontend developers, product managers, and UX designers.

To qualify for the Senior Back End Engineer position at Avalor, candidates should have a minimum of 5 years of experience developing SaaS applications using Java and Spring Boot. A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field is essential. Additionally, proficiency in a microservices environment, along with experience with AWS, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ, and SQS, is required to ensure you meet the demands of the role.

For the Senior Back End Engineer role at Avalor, familiarity with Java and Spring Boot is crucial. Proficiency in Python and experience in a microservices architecture is also essential. Moreover, knowledge of cloud platforms like AWS, container orchestration with Kubernetes, and messaging services such as RabbitMQ and SQS will significantly enhance your application.

Mentoring junior engineers is a vital component of the Senior Back End Engineer role at Avalor. As a senior member of the team, you will have the opportunity to share your expertise and help guide less experienced engineers through their challenges. This not only fosters a collaborative team environment but also contributes to the overall growth and development of the engineering team.

At Avalor and Zscaler, you can expect a progressive and inclusive work culture that values diversity and collaboration. Our environment is fast-paced yet supportive, allowing individuals to thrive and innovate. With a strong commitment to employee engagement, we offer robust benefits and opportunities for personal and professional growth, ensuring that every team member feels valued and empowered.

When answering this question, you should detail specific projects where you've utilized Java and Spring Boot. Highlight the challenges faced, how you overcame them, and the results of your implementations. Emphasize your understanding of creating scalable APIs and your approach to integration with databases and external services.

To effectively answer this question, share specific strategies such as performance monitoring, load testing, and utilizing logging and metrics to track usage. Discuss the importance of handling exceptions gracefully and designing for scalability. Providing an example may help illustrate your approach further.

Describe your direct experience with microservices architecture, focusing on the design approach you took and the technologies used. Discuss implementation details, such as the challenges of service communication, data management, and how you ensured service reliability and scalability.

Discuss specific tools and technologies you have experience with, such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, or Docker. Highlight how these tools improved your workflow and the deployment process. Including metrics or examples of how these improvements impacted your projects will strengthen your response.

Talk about your habits for staying current, such as reading relevant blogs, participating in tech meetups, and following industry leaders on social media. Mention any online courses or certifications you've pursued to enhance your skills, and how this knowledge has influenced your work in a practical sense.

Share a specific instance where you guided a junior engineer, detailing the project context, the challenges they faced, and the mentoring approach you adopted. Discuss the outcomes of your mentorship, such as improvements in their skills or the success of the project.

Detail your experiences utilizing AWS or similar platforms in your projects. Discuss specific services you've used, such as EC2, S3, or RDS, and how they were employed in your architecture. Examples of scalability enhancements or cost optimizations you've implemented will provide solid references.

Explain your debugging process in the context of microservices, including tools and techniques like distributed tracing, logging frameworks, and performance monitoring. Discuss how you isolate problems in different services and collaborate with team members to find solutions effectively.

Emphasize the importance of collaboration and clear communication when working with frontend teams. Share specific strategies you use, such as regular meetings or shared documentation, to ensure alignment on project goals and requirements, which ultimately enhances the overall user experience.

Discuss your methods for managing multiple projects, such as using project management tools, setting clear objectives, and regular check-ins with your team. Give an example of how this approach helped you meet deadlines and ensure quality output in your previous roles.