Senior Lead Software Engineer - Squad Tech Lead to lead Java and Spring Boot microservices and high-scale API development - 1757

Location: Hybrid. Primarily remote with on‑site presence once per quarter. Occasional travel between Toronto and Waterloo may be required depending on project needs, typically aligned to quarterly work assignments.

Daily Work Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Periodic weekend or after‑hours work may be required to support project implementations and system upgrades.

Frequency of Weekend/After‑Hours Work: Approximately monthly, depending on the deployment cycle. These are typically short, half‑hour deployments requiring only a few hours of support. Some deployments occur on Sundays, so frequency may vary month to month.

Join a newly formed team supporting digital retirement services initiatives within the insurance sector. This role combines technical leadership and hands‑on development across Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, secure SDLC practices, and AI-assisted development tools. The team is focused on enhancing client digital experiences related to retirement journeys, enrollments, savings, and retention.

The program is expected to run long term with strong collaboration across Product Owners, architects, and engineering leadership.

Must Haves

1.Core Technical

Strong experience with REST APIs

Solid understanding of web applications & server technologies

Ability to learn internal frameworks quickly

70% leadership / 30% hands‑on

Proven experience leading and mentoring developers

Strong communication skills for working with architects, PSCs, product owners, and business stakeholders

Experience leading mixed‑level teams (junior + intermediate)

- Security

Ability to address code‑level vulnerabilities

Experience using SAST/DAST tools (Snyk, Checkmarx, SonarQube, Veracode)

Understanding of secure SDLC and basic threat modeling

- DevOps & Testing

Experience with CI/CD pipelines (BitBucket, Jenkins, CDD)

Strong unit testing experience (JUnit, Mockito, RESTAssured)

Beginner–intermediate experience with GitHub Copilot or similar LLMs

Ability to use AI for assisted development, code generation, and productivity

Nice to Have

Understanding of React or Angular

Awareness of Web Accessibility (A11y)

Basic Kubernetes experience (pod tuning, configuration)

Docker/containerization

- Messaging & Integration

Kafka

SOAP/XML

- Domain

Financial services or insurance experience

Experience with retirement products, savings, or client‑experience journeys

- AI (Bonus)

Experience with Claude, agent orchestration platforms, or conversational interfaces

Responsibilities

Collaborate with skilled Agile team members to understand user needs and design, develop and deliver high quality web applications that meet those needs

Configure and design applications and workflows, using outside the box thinking, to create innovative ways to advance our client first strategy

Lead AI-assisted development practices, leveraging GitHub Copilot and other AI coding tools to accelerate development velocity and improve code quality

Design, develop, and integrate AI agents and conversational interfaces to enhance application capabilities and deliver intelligent automation solutions

Champion secure coding practices and lead efforts to identify, prioritize, and remediate application security vulnerabilities using SAST/DAST tools





Conduct security code reviews and ensure compliance with security standards and best practices throughout the development lifecycle

Coach, mentor and collaborate with members of the design and development team

Provide technical direction and guidance to projects, ensuring risks are mitigated and projects are implemented successfully

Establish coding standards and technical best practices across the squad

Conduct code reviews and mentor team members on technical excellence

Support developers in removing technical blockers and guide technical implementation of user stories and features

Communicate technical risks, dependencies, and constraints to stakeholders

Participate in planning and refinement sessions with technical perspective and collaborate with Product Owner on technical feasibility and estimates

Drive quality standards and testing practices; identify technical debt and propose solutions

Monitor system performance and reliability and champion continuous improvement initiatives

Contribute to defining timelines and plans; analyze and estimate feasibility, cost, time and scope

Ensure coding, testing, debugging, and implementation activities are completed as required

Participate in agile ceremonies and support on‑call and incident response when needed

Represent the squad's technical interests in cross-squad discussions and collaborate with other Tech Leads across squads for consistency

Duration: 1 year to start

Location: Hybrid. Primarily remote with on‑site presence once per quarter. Occasional travel between Toronto and Waterloo may be required depending on project needs, typically aligned to quarterly work assignments.

Daily Work Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Periodic weekend or after‑hours work may be required to support project implementations and system upgrades.

Frequency of Weekend/After‑Hours Work: Approximately monthly, depending on the deployment cycle. These are typically short, half‑hour deployments requiring only a few hours of support. Some deployments occur on Sundays, so frequency may vary month to month.

Join a newly formed team supporting digital retirement services initiatives within the insurance sector. This role combines technical leadership and hands‑on development across Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, secure SDLC practices, and AI-assisted development tools. The team is focused on enhancing client digital experiences related to retirement journeys, enrollments, savings, and retention.

The program is expected to run long term with strong collaboration across Product Owners, architects, and engineering leadership.

Must Haves

1.Core Technical

Expert Java + Spring Boot (complex microservices, high‑scale APIs, performance tuning)

Strong experience with REST APIs

Solid understanding of web applications & server technologies

Ability to learn internal frameworks quickly

- Leadership & Communication

70% leadership / 30% hands‑on

Proven experience leading and mentoring developers

Strong communication skills for working with architects, PSCs,



product owners, and business stakeholders

Experience leading mixed‑level teams (junior + intermediate)

- Security

Ability to address code‑level vulnerabilities

Experience using SAST/DAST tools (Snyk, Checkmarx, SonarQube, Veracode)

Understanding of secure SDLC and basic threat modeling

- DevOps & Testing

Experience with CI/CD pipelines (BitBucket, Jenkins, CDD)

Strong unit testing experience (JUnit, Mockito, RESTAssured)

- AI (Adjusted Depth)

Beginner–intermediate experience with GitHub Copilot or similar LLMs

Ability to use AI for assisted development, code generation, and productivity

Nice to Have

1.Front‑End

Understanding of React or Angular

Awareness of Web Accessibility (A11y)

- Cloud & Platform

Basic Kubernetes experience (pod tuning, configuration)

Docker/containerization

- Messaging & Integration

Kafka

SOAP/XML

- Domain

Financial services or insurance experience

Experience with retirement products, savings, or client‑experience journeys

- AI (Bonus)

Experience with Claude, agent orchestration platforms, or conversational interfaces

Responsibilities

Collaborate with skilled Agile team members to understand user needs and design, develop and deliver high quality web applications that meet those needs

Configure and design applications and workflows, using outside the box thinking, to create creative ways to advance our client first strategy

Lead AI-assisted development practices, leveraging GitHub Copilot and other AI coding tools to accelerate development velocity and improve code quality

Design, develop, and integrate AI agents and conversational interfaces to enhance application capabilities and deliver intelligent automation solutions

Champion secure coding practices and lead efforts to identify, prioritize, and remediate application security vulnerabilities using SAST/DAST tools

Conduct security code reviews and ensure compliance with security standards and best practices throughout the development lifecycle

Coach, mentor and collaborate with members of the design and development team

Provide technical direction and guidance to projects, ensuring risks are mitigated and projects are implemented successfully

Establish coding standards and technical best practices across the squad

Conduct code reviews and mentor team members on technical excellence

Support developers in removing technical blockers and guide technical implementation of user stories and features

Communicate technical risks, dependencies, and constraints to stakeholders

Participate in planning and refinement sessions with technical perspective and collaborate with Product Owner on technical feasibility and estimates

Drive quality standards and testing practices; identify technical debt and propose solutions

Monitor system performance and reliability and champion continuous improvement initiatives

Contribute to defining timelines and plans; analyze and estimate feasibility, cost, time and scope

Ensure coding, testing, debugging, and implementation activities are completed as required

Participate in agile ceremonies and support on‑call and incident response when needed

Represent the squad's technical interests in cross-squad discussions and collaborate with other Tech Leads across squads for consistency

Disclaimer

AI may be used in evaluating candidates.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

📌 Senior Lead Software Engineer - Squad Tech Lead to lead Java and Spring Boot microservices and high- (Toronto)
🏢 S.i. Systems
📍 Toronto