Java Software Engineer (Contractor)

Be yourself at Protolabs  Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification.  We are an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to building a diverse team that feels they are valued in the workplace.  So do you feel you do not meet every single requirement but still intrigued? We encourage you to still apply!  You can help make our company even better.  We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, age, mental or physical ability, or any way you represent yourself.  We strongly believe diversity makes for more successful teams.  Why Protolabs?  We are the leaders in digital manufacturing.  We hire doers, makers, and creative thinkers who tackle our roles with an entrepreneurial spirit.  Our culture is centered around meaningful work that brings new and innovative products to market at unprecedented speeds.  We are a diverse team that comes from all walks of life and take pride in our team who is smart, genuine, humble, and passionate about what we do.  It’s our people who fuel our creativity and make our culture feel like home.  We’re looking for a Java Software Engineer (Remote) to join our team. This position is remote & open to applicants based in the EU. We are looking for a Java software engineer to join the Product Operations team at Protolabs, where our mission is to revolutionise our workflow and drive efficiency as we continue our scaling journey. The team is responsible for streamlining processes - from allocating orders to our manufacturing partners, navigating production stages, managing communications and quality controls, orchestrating shipping & logistics, and ensuring timely payments.     In the past, we moved fast with bespoke tools that improved shipping & logistics but left a fragmented landscape. As we scale globally, we are unifying these capabilities and establishing Logistics as a first‑class domain within our product and engineering ecosystem.    This is a true zero-to-one effort. You will ship early, small slices of value - balancing speed with durable foundations for scale and reliability.    Tech environment   For this role: Java microservices with Spring Boot; REST/async APIs; PostgreSQL; Redis; Docker/Kubernetes; CI/CD with GitHub Actions; observability and logging.  RabbitMQ &KNative for eventing    The broader ecosystem you will integrate with: Python services (FastAPI/Flask with SQLAlchemy and Celery), Angular (TypeScript) frontends, Terraform, Docker, k8s for infrastructure, Retool and Zapier for operational tooling. Some internal teams also use Rust and C++.