Backend Software Developer

About the Position

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions, and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.

We are currently seeking a Backend Software Developer to join our team in New York, New York, United States. This role is ideal for someone who pays close attention to details, follows work through to completion, and takes ownership of quality across implementation, testing, release, and ongoing support.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate strong Java proficiency to design, prototype, and review core services and integrations.
• Partner with product and engineering teams to clarify requirements, identify edge cases and acceptance criteria, and translate business needs into solution architectures, technical specifications, and implementation plans.
• Design integration approaches across systems, including RESTful APIs, messaging/event-driven patterns, and data synchronization.
• Evaluate and recommend technology choices, frameworks, and third-party components; perform trade-off analyses and document decisions.
• Ensure non-functional requirements are met, including security, scalability, observability (logging/metrics/tracing), resilience, and disaster recovery.
• Collaborate with DevOps/SRE to support CI/CD pipelines, deployment architecture, and operational readiness.
• Contribute actively to architecture and design reviews, provide thoughtful technical guidance, and remain engaged through delivery and post-release support.
• Identify technical risks, dependencies, ambiguous requirements, and delivery gaps early; document mitigation plans, track them to resolution, and confirm outcomes with stakeholders.

Requirements

• Strong proficiency in Java and the JVM ecosystem (e.g., Spring/Spring Boot), including performance tuning and troubleshooting.
• Knowledgeable of core web principles: HTTP, AJAX, cookies, performance best practices, and security fundamentals.
• Demonstrated experience developing and supporting large enterprise applications with high availability and complex integrations.
• Solid understanding of distributed systems concepts (e.g., concurrency, caching, eventual consistency, resiliency patterns).
• Experience with relational databases and SQL; ability to model data and optimize queries.
• Knowledge of document-based (NoSQL) databases (e.g., MongoDB, Couchbase) including data modeling and query patterns.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain technical trade-offs to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Write clean, well-documented, and thoroughly tested code; verify edge cases, failure modes, error handling, and operational behavior before considering work complete.
• Own features from initial requirements through implementation, testing, release, and post-release validation, resolving defects and unfinished details rather than handing off incomplete work.
• Participate in a constructive and inclusive culture of peer code reviews.

Nice to Have

• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP) and cloud-native architectures.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with messaging and event-driven design.
• Experience with identity and access management, application security, and threat modeling.
• Experience with observability tooling and practices (APM, centralized logging, distributed tracing).
• Experience with the Office 365 ecosystem.
• Experience with Okta and/or other single sign-on (SSO) identity providers.

We Offer

• Competitive base salary range: $60,000 - $140,000 USD
• A hybrid work approach with teams in the office around four days a week.
• A comprehensive benefits package. For more details, visit WPP Benefits.

About the Company

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions, and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.

We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise. Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging, and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.

For more information, visit WPP.com.

WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

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