Full Stack Software Engineer Associate

Job Title: Full Stack Software Engineer Associate
Location: Dallas/Jersey/Tampa Hybrid
Duration: 6 Months (Possible Extension)
Shift Schedule: Monday Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Employment Type : CTH (Contract to hire)Job Description
Overall Experience & Mindset

• Early career to developing engineer with ~2 4 years of hands on experience in full stack application development.
• Demonstrates strong fundamentals, willingness to learn standards, and the ability to grow with guidance from senior engineers.
• Comfortable working in Agile teams, taking ownership of assigned stories and tasks.
• AI tool exposure like Github copilot is a plus but not required.

Technical Expectations
Backend Development (Primary)

• Solid understanding of Java and Spring Boot fundamentals.
• Experience building or modifying RESTful APIs.
• Basic knowledge of microservices concepts (service boundaries, configuration, logging).
• Familiarity with messaging concepts (Kafka/JMS) is a plus, but deep expertise is not required at this level.
• Uses structured logging and understands basic error handling.

Frontend Development

• Working knowledge of Angular or React (components, services, state basics).
• Ability to build simple UI features and integrate them with backend APIs.
• Understanding of basic UI/UX principles and accessibility awareness (at least at a conceptual level).

Database & SQL

• Ability to write basic to intermediate SQL queries:
  • SELECT, JOINs
  • WHERE clauses
  • GROUP BY / ORDER BY
• Understands relational database concepts (tables, indexes, primary/foreign keys).

Development Practices & Tools

• Comfortable using an IDE (IntelliJ, VS Code, or Eclipse).
• Familiar with Git (branching, pull requests, resolving conflicts).
• Exposure to unit testing (JUnit / Jest or similar).
• Basic understanding of CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows.
• Willingness to follow engineering standards, security guidelines, and compliance requirements once onboarded.

Cloud & Platform (Baseline Awareness)

• General familiarity with cloud environments (AWS or similar).
• High level understanding of containers (Docker) and platform concepts (OpenShift/Kubernetes) is sufficient.
• No expectation to design infrastructure independently at this level.

Interview & Hiring Expectations (Important)
Must be able to:

• Explain actual project work they have contributed to (academic, personal, or professional).
• Walk through code they have written .There should be sample projects in their IDE and should be good enough to showcase his/her skills. A Helloworld program is not acceptable.
• Answer basic Java, SQL, and frontend questions without relying on memorized answers.

Should be prepared for:

• Screen sharing
• Demonstrating problem solving using an IDE
• Deep system design is not expected, but clarity of thought and fundamentals are required.

Behavioral & Professional Expectations

• Communicates clearly with team members and mentors.
• Open to feedback and actively incorporates suggestions.
• Understands the importance of quality, security, and reliability in a regulated financial environment.
• Shows accountability for deliverables and timelines, even for smaller assignments.

What Is Not Expected at Associate Level

• Designing complex distributed systems independently.
• Owning architectural decisions end to end.
• Advanced Kafka tuning, cloud cost optimization, or complex performance engineering.
• Leading squads or mentoring others formally.