Lead Full Stack Software Engineer
Manulife/John Hancock
A complete application in a minute
Tailored resume and cover letter, ready to send.
Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Manulife seeks a Lead Full Stack Software Engineer to guide design and delivery of cloud-native applications using Java Spring Boot and React within the Canadian Retirement Technology team in Waterloo, Ontario. You will mentor engineers, influence architecture decisions, and champion modern engineering practices.
You will help drive DevOps adoption, ensure security and performance, and collaborate with product owners to translate requirements into scalable solutions.
Qualifications
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
- 2+ years in a technical leadership, lead developer, or mentorship capacity.
- Strong hands-on experience with Java (Spring Boot) and React.
- Proven track record delivering cloud-native applications on Microsoft Azure.
- Experience architecting microservices and RESTful APIs.
- Familiarity with CI/CD, DevOps, and infrastructure-as-code.
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and modern deployment strategies.
- Strong database experience (SQL Server, PostgreSQL).
- Strong design principles, security, and performance focus.
- Mentoring engineers and leading architecture discussions.
- Agile delivery with planning, estimation, and retrospectives.
- Excellent communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Responsibilities
- Lead design, development, and delivery of full-stack applications using Java Spring Boot and React.
- Architect cloud-native solutions on Azure (AKS, App Service, Azure SQL).
- Guide architecture reviews and technical decision-making across teams.
- Mentor developers through code reviews, pair programming, and coaching.
- Promote quality via automated testing, observability, and DevOps practices.
- Collaborate with business partners to translate requirements into tech solutions.
- Drive CI/CD automation and infrastructure-as-code initiatives.
- Support production systems and improve reliability and performance.
- Balance delivery with long-term architectural health and debt management.
- Contribute to hiring and development of a high-performing engineering organization.
Skills
Tools
Job description
Are you a passionate software engineering leader who enjoys building modern cloud-based solutions while mentoring and elevating development teams? Join our Canadian Retirement Technology team and play a key role in designing, delivering, and evolving digital capabilities that improve the experience of our customers and business partners. As a Lead Full Stack Software Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across the software development lifecycle, partnering with product owners, architects, and engineering teams to build secure, scalable, and high-performing applications. You'll influence engineering practices, drive architectural decisions, and help foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Lead the design, development, and delivery of full-stack applications using Java (Spring Boot) and React.
- Architect and build scalable cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure, leveraging services such as AKS, App Service, Azure SQL, and Service Bus.
- Guide engineering teams through architecture reviews, technical decision-making, and implementation best practices.
- Mentor and coach developers through code reviews, pair programming, and ongoing technical leadership.
- Promote software quality through automated testing, observability, and modern engineering practices.
- Partner closely with business and technology stakeholders to translate requirements into innovative technology solutions.
- Drive DevOps adoption, CI/CD automation, and infrastructure-as-code practices.
- Support production systems, troubleshoot complex issues, and lead efforts to improve reliability and performance.
- Balance delivery priorities with long-term architectural health and technical debt management.
- Contribute to hiring and talent development efforts to build a high-performing engineering organization.
- Experience 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
- 2+ years of experience in a technical leadership, lead developer, or mentorship capacity.
- Strong hands-on experience with Java (Spring Boot) and React.
- Proven experience developing and operating cloud-native applications on Microsoft Azure.
- Strong understanding of microservices architecture, RESTful APIs, and distributed systems.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and infrastructure-as-code solutions.
- Expertise working with relational databases such as SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and modern container-based deployment strategies.
- Strong understanding of software design principles, application security, and performance optimization.
- Demonstrated success mentoring engineers and fostering technical excellence.
- Experience leading architecture discussions and evaluating technical trade-offs.
- Ability to establish and maintain high standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and operational excellence.
- Strong Agile delivery experience, including sprint planning, estimation, and retrospectives.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Experience coordinating across multiple teams and managing cross-functional dependencies.
Pragmatic and outcome-focused, with a balanced approach to technology adoption.
Passionate about continuous improvement, learning, and innovation.
Committed to quality-first engineering practices, including TDD and automation.
Values collaboration, transparency, accountability, and customer-centric thinking.
If you are applying to this role in Massachusetts, please note the salary range is $127300 - $236470 USD.
Additionally, employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
Working Arrangement Hybrid
Salary range is expected to be between $113,260.00 CAD - $210,340.00 CAD.
Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.
The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training.
If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact hr@manulife.com for the salary range for your location.
- Manulife offers eligible employees a wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short-and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans.
- Our generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.
- If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact hr@manulife.com for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.
- We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process.
- For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.
We are Manulife. And we’re on a mission to make decisions easier and lives better. Better is what drives us. It’s what inspires us to find new ways to support customers and colleagues in living longer and healthier lives. It’s the reason we’re dedicated to investing in digital innovation and industry-leading AI, and accelerating a sustainable and economically inclusive future.
Joining us means you’ll be empowered to learn and grow your career. We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words. And as part of our global team, you’ll help shape the future you want to see – and discover that better can take you anywhere you want to go.
We’re proud of our accomplishments and recognition. Recent awards include: 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winner Manulife Named one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2025 Financial Times World’s Best Employers Asia-Pacific 2026 We’ve been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers 2026 #1 Life Insurer for AI Maturity by Evident 2026.
To receive our latest job opportunities directly to your inbox, create an account or sign in and navigate to the ‘Job Alerts’ section located in the top right corner of the page. From there, you can sign up to receive job alerts.
Our ambition is to be the number one choice for customers.
Learn more at https://www.manulife.com/.
Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. At Manulife/John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law. It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife/John Hancock policies. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact hr@manulife.com.
'/%3e%3cpath%20d='M101.744%2012.4726L102.894%2016.1947L99.0021%2013.2201L101.744%2012.4726ZM105.3%208.40937H100.488L99.0026%203.59473L97.5116%208.41047L92.7%208.40385L96.5965%2011.3834L95.1055%2016.1942L99.0021%2013.2196L101.408%2011.3834L105.3%208.40992V8.40937Z'%20fill='white'/%3e%3cdefs%3e%3clinearGradient%20id='paint0_linear_5593_1381'%20x1='90'%20y1='9.44471'%20x2='99'%20y2='9.44471'%20gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse'%3e%3cstop%20stop-color='%2300AD70'/%3e%3cstop%20offset='0.998594'%20stop-color='%2300B67A'/%3e%3cstop%20offset='1'%20stop-color='%23DCDCE6'/%3e%3c/linearGradient%3e%3c/defs%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
