About Gapstars
Gapstars is a Netherlands-based software development services provider that builds remote, agile teams in Sri Lanka and Portugal for innovative tech companies. Today, we are home to 300+ TechStars and innovative minds, turning scalable software into performance products that shape the future. Our partners are highly ambitious tech companies that are looking to conquer their respective markets.
About the Role
Client is looking for a hands-on Senior System/Platform Engineer to take ownership of a complex, 15-year-old Java-based hosting platform running across ~30 interconnected servers. The environment includes legacy Java application components (e.g., GlassFish) and has limited documentation, so the core challenge is to map, document, stabilize, and future-proof the platform from an operational standpoint.
This is an operations-first role (not a development position). Java experience is valued mainly for understanding Java runtimes/app servers and troubleshooting Java-based applications in production.
Key Responsibilities
Own day-to-day operations, stability, and performance of a legacy Java platform across a multi-server landscape.
Discover, map, and document the full application + server architecture: dependencies, traffic flows, integrations, and operational runbooks.
Act as the primary technical point of contact for production issues related to the Java platform and underlying infrastructure.
Analyze and resolve complex incidents (availability, performance degradation, capacity, JVM/app server behavior, OS-level issues).
Drive operational improvements: monitoring, alerting, backup/restore practices, patching strategy, and incident prevention.
Support and collaborate with development/operations colleagues with troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and recommendations.
Provide hands-on support for releases, deployments, configuration changes, and environment maintenance.
Work with hosting/admin tooling such as Plesk to clean up and standardize server configuration (important).
Identify and propose platform modernization / future-proofing steps (incremental and pragmatic).
7+ years of hands-on experience in system operations/system engineering/platform engineering in production environments.
Strong Linux server administration skills and confidence working in legacy/complex environments with minimal documentation.
Proven ability to map architectures and build documentation/runbooks from scratch.
Strong troubleshooting skills across the stack: OS, networking basics, application runtime, logs, performance bottlenecks.
Comfortable working independently and taking ownership end-to-end.
Important (Strong preference)
Experience with Plesk (server cleanup, standardization, configuration maintenance).
Experience operating Java application environments (e.g., GlassFish, or similar app servers) from an ops perspective.
Nice-to-have
Java development background (helpful for deeper understanding; not required).
Experience modernizing legacy stacks, introducing observability, or improving platform reliability practices.
