Principal Software Engineer (Java, Kafka, Python, AWS)

Principal Software Engineer (Java / Kafka / Python / AWS) - 3 month contract to hire - 100% Remote

Optomi, in partnership with one of the largest freight railroad networks in the country, is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to support modernization efforts within the Mechanical division. This role centers on rebuilding legacy microservices, scaling event-driven systems, and processing high-volume IoT detector data that drives safety and operational decisions across the rail network in North America. The ideal professional is a backend-strong engineer with deep Java, Spring Boot, Python, and Kafka experience who enjoys modernizing distributed systems while contributing to cloud-native development and mentoring junior engineers.

What the Right Professional Will Enjoy:

• Modernizing legacy microservices & distributed systems
• Building event-driven services with Java, Spring Boot, Kafka
• Scaling IoT/sensor data pipelines (30M+ data points)
• Developing backend workflows and data processing using Python
• Contributing to AWS cloud-native development & DevSecOps automation
• Supporting both new builds and existing systems
• Mentoring junior developers and influencing technical direction

Technical Environment: Java, Spring Boot, Kafka, Python, Postgres, AWS, React/Angular, Spark, MQTT, IoT Sensor Pipelines, Docker, Kubernetes, GitLab/GitHub, Jenkins

Experience of the Right Candidate:

• Strong experience in backend development using Java and Spring Boot
• Python experience for backend automation & data workflows
• Hands-on experience with event-driven architecture using Kafka
• Experience with AWS and microservice-based architecture
• Exposure to frontend technologies such as TypeScript and Angular
• Experience with IoT or high-volume data environments