Senior Software Engineer (Java)

Location: Portugal — Remote

Company

hirify.global provides a unified lakehouse platform for self-service analytics and AI, built on open-source technologies including Apache Iceberg and Apache Arrow.

What you will do

• Own Catalog team features from requirements and technical design through implementation, testing, rollout, and production support.
• Extend Apache Polaris while preserving compatibility with the Iceberg REST Catalog specification.
• Build catalog APIs and services for namespaces, tables, views, identities, permissions, and metadata operations.
• Solve distributed-systems challenges involving consistency, concurrency, failure recovery, multi-tenancy, and performance.
• Diagnose production issues using logs, metrics, traces, and service data, and address root causes.
• Collaborate with query engine, security, platform, and product teams; review designs and code, improve testing and tooling, mentor engineers, and contribute eligible changes upstream.

Requirements

• Five or more years of professional software development experience, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong Java skills in a substantial production codebase, with knowledge of data structures, algorithms, concurrency, API design, and distributed systems.
• Experience owning backend or distributed-system features from design through rollout and production support, including estimating work and managing dependencies.
• Ability to turn incomplete product requirements into implementation-ready specifications covering interfaces, invariants, failure cases, security, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience directing AI coding agents, reviewing their plans and output, and correcting unsafe or unsuitable approaches while remaining accountable for every change.
• Strong code-review judgment concerning concurrency, authorization, compatibility, performance, and maintainability.
• Experience validating changes with automated tests, static analysis, and production telemetry, then diagnosing failures and addressing root causes.
• Clear written and verbal communication in specifications, design documents, technical discussions, and code reviews.
• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice to have

• Experience with Apache Polaris, Apache Iceberg, or the Iceberg REST Catalog specification.
• Knowledge of metadata catalogs, authorization systems, credential vending, or policy enforcement.
• Experience building multi-tenant cloud services.
• Familiarity with databases, transaction isolation, consistency models, Kubernetes, and public cloud infrastructure.
• Familiarity with Apache Spark, Apache Flink, Trino, or other engines integrating with Iceberg catalogs.
• Contributions to Apache or other open-source projects.

Culture & Benefits

• Remote work from Portugal.
• A culture emphasizing clear communication, accountability, respect, urgency, and results.
• Equal-opportunity employment with accommodations available during the application and interview process.
• Official candidate communications come from an @hirify.global.com domain.