Backend Engineer (Kotlin, Kafka, DevOps) [Interim]

Backend Engineer IAM Platform Transformation (Kotlin Kafka DevOps)

Interim contract Hybrid (Netherlands office in the Amsterdam metropolitan area) Start date immediate initial term to end of 2026 with possible extension

Our client is a leading European food retailer running one of the most ambitious Identity & Access Management transformations in the sector. Across multiple operating companies and enterprise platforms they are modernising authentication authorisation privileged access identity governance and application onboarding on cloud-first security-by-design foundations. This role sits inside the central IAM engineering team enabling secure compliant and highly automated identity services for tens of thousands of colleagues partners and applications across Europe.

You join a multidisciplinary engineering team building the platform capabilities that underpin the entire programme. You will work at the intersection of engineering cybersecurity and platform enablement engineering modern IAM services while owning reliability automation and operational excellence at enterprise scale. The stack is cloud-native throughout: Azure microservices on Kubernetes CI/CD pipelines Infrastructure as Code and Kafka-driven integrations shipped in small increments with continuous delivery.

About Riverflex

Riverflex was founded in Amsterdam and London in 2018 eventually growing into a global team of consultants united by a mission to help courageous leaders drive transformative change. Today we offer an integrated service through three service pillars: strategy and transformation consulting that Creates Change talent services that Build Teams and business-accelerating products that Augment Intelligence. For more information visit .

Responsibilities

• You build and maintain scalable microservices in Kotlin/Java that power the IAM transformation landscape.

• You design and implement secure backend services across authentication authorisation identity lifecycle management and platform automation.

• You engineer reusable APIs and event-driven integrations using Kafka and modern integration patterns.

• You contribute to Infrastructure as Code CI/CD pipelines observability and operational monitoring.

• You write clean maintainable secure code with automated testing built in by default.

• You collaborate closely with IAM architects platform teams product teams security engineers and application teams.

• You help modernise legacy IAM integrations toward cloud-native API-driven architectures.

• You support platform reliability and production stability and contribute to engineering standards code quality and security-by-design principles.

• You build proofs of concept and feed into platform innovation initiatives.

Job requirements

Must-have:

• 25 years of experience as a Backend Engineer.

• Strong hands-on experience with Kotlin and/or Java.

• Strong experience with the Spring Framework / Spring Boot.

• Solid grounding in REST APIs and microservices architecture.

• Experience with PostgreSQL or a comparable relational database.

• Familiarity with Kafka and event-driven architectures.

• Practical experience with DevOps practices CI/CD pipelines and Kubernetes.

• Familiarity with Azure cloud services.

• Understanding of secure software engineering principles.

• Fluent English (written and spoken).

• Resident in the Netherlands with the right to work in the EU.

The following are a plus:

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform Bicep or similar).

• Background in IAM cybersecurity or identity platforms.

• Exposure to enterprise-scale transformation programmes.

Why this role

This is enterprise-scale IAM engineering at one of Europes most recognised retailers the kind of programme where a single well-designed service touches tens of thousands of users and hundreds of applications. You will work on greenfield modernisation alongside mature high-change services with real ownership over the platform you build and a clear runway through the end of 2026 with potential to extend.

Apply now

Interested in this role Submit your CV and a brief note on your relevant experience through the Riverflex website or reach out to our talent team directly.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse environment. We do not discriminate in recruitment hiring training promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race color religion gender sexual orientation national origin age marital status medical condition or disability. Even if you believe you do not tick all the aforementioned requirements for the role we still encourage you to take the time to apply.