Senior Software Engineer, Operations

Sun Life Financial; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 143,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work options

Professional growth

Job summary

Sun Life Financial is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to support Java applications in a high-impact IT operations environment. You will help keep critical systems reliable, scalable and secure while owning production incidents and driving resolution across Delivery, Infrastructure, and IT Operations.

The role emphasizes reliability engineering, on-call rotations, and collaboration with cross-functional teams to improve performance and resilience.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent discipline.
• 7+ years in Java, JavaScript & web development with J2EE technologies.
• 1+ years with ReactJS/ Angular and container tech (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Experience with cloud hosted apps on AWS and DevOps tools.
• Strong incident management and problem-solving skills.
• Exposure to AI Ops capabilities is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Reliability Engineering for highly available, fault-tolerant systems.
• Define and track SLIs/SLOs and error budgets.
• Implement end-to-end monitoring and observability.
• Lead on-call rotations and incident response.
• Drive post-incident reviews and preventive actions.
• Automate scaling, recovery, and routine tasks; build internal tools.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, security, and operations teams.

Skills

Java

JavaScript

HTML

XML

CSS

Servlet

JSP

JDBC

Spring

Spring Boot

REST API

JSON

React

Angular

Kubernetes

Docker

AWS

Kafka

Jenkins

Git

Gradle

Maven

Ansible

Confluence

JIRA

WebSphere

WebLogic

MFA

Incident Management

Education

Computer Science or Engineering degree

Tools

Jenkins

Artifactory

Bitbucket

Git

Gradle

Maven

Ansible

Confluence

JIRA

MS Teams

Kafka

WebSphere

WebLogic

Job description

You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, you'll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do. At Sun Life, we're driven by our Purpose: helping our Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Our values shape how we work: caring, authentic, bold, inspiring, and impactful. When you join Sun Life, you'll work with passionate colleagues and empowering leaders who support your growth and celebrate your contributions, so you can make a meaningful difference in our Clients' lives. Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.

Job Description

The e-Business team in Application Operations Support (AOS) provides operations and support services to ensure reliability of IT applications to deliver seamless Digital experiences for our clients. Through innovation, continuous improvement, and collaboration, we strive to find new and better ways to bring value to Sun Life. We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who thrives in high-impact environments and brings 7+ years of Java application support, analysis, and development experience. In this role, you will play a key part in keeping critical systems reliable, scalable, secure, and resilient—especially when incidents arise. The ideal candidate is a calm, confident problem solver who can take ownership during production incidents, drive resolution, and collaborate effectively across Delivery, Infrastructure, and IT Operations.

What you will do?

• Reliability Engineering Support highly available, fault-tolerant, and scalable systems.
• Define and track Service Level Indicators (SLIs), Service Level Objectives (SLOs), and error budgets to balance reliability and delivery speed.
• Monitoring & Observability Implement end-to-end monitoring, logging, and alerting for applications and infrastructure.
• Proactively identify performance degradation, capacity risks, and reliability gaps.
• Incident Management & Response Participate in on-call rotations and lead high-impact incident response for production issues.
• Participate in post-incident reviews and drive corrective and preventive actions.
• Automation & Tooling Reduce operational work through automation of scaling, incident recovery, and routine tasks.
• Build internal tools and platforms to improve operational efficiency.
• Build telemetry to detect issues and implement self-healing to keep MTTR down
• Release, Change & Capacity Management Partner with development teams on safe releases, rollbacks, and change validation.
• Perform capacity planning and performance tuning to support growth.
• Collaboration & Enablement Work cross-functionally with product, engineering, security, and operations teams.
• Document systems, standards, and operational practices to promote shared ownership

What do you need to succeed?

• Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent discipline
• 3+ years with Incident Management Processes in IT operations
• 7+ years experience in: Java, JavaScript & web development languages like HTML, XML, CSS Java Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technologies such as Servlet, JDBC and JSP Spring framework
• 1+ years experience in: ReactJS/ React.js -> Angular Container technologies – Kubernetes, Docker Web Security Knowledge (OWASP top 10)
• Learn on the job: Web services and frameworks such as SOAP, REST API, Java APIs, JSON, Spring Boot Database technologies like SQL, Oracle, POSTGRES DevOps tools - Jenkins, Artifactory, Bitbucket/Git, Gradle, Maven, CDD, Ansible Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Exposure to Agile framework (Kanban, Scrum) Experience working with cloud hosted applications / servers on AWS. Exposure to team collaboration tools like Confluence, JIRA, Service Now, MS Teams Experience with Kafka and light car proxy Use of AI based tools to bring efficiency Knowledge of Middleware technologies such as WebSphere/WebLogic
• Preferred Skills: Collaboration and teamwork Continuous learning mindset Familiar with AI Ops capabilities, experience developing / implementing AI based tools is an added advantage Ability to work in a dynamic environment with changing priorities Be able to lead/drive investigations involving a cross-functional team Strong analysis, debugging and problem-solving skills Ability to produce succinct reports on incident impact, root cause and follow-ups Solid written and verbal communication skills

Notes/Unique requirements

The role includes on-call and after-hours support on a team rotation basis. This role requires Canadian Enhanced Reliability Security clearance [a minimum of 5 years of consecutive residency in Canada].

What’s in it for you

We're honoured to be recognized as a 2026 Best Workplaces in Canada by Great Place to Work® Canada. We are thrilled to be recognized by Excellence Canada with their top-level certification, the Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Work®, for prioritizing employee wellbeing, fostering a positive work culture, and achieving excellence in mental health. Wellness programs that support the three pillars of your health – mental, physical, and financial

The opportunity to move along a variety of career paths with amazing networking potential. As a hybrid organization, you and your leader use business and Client needs to choose where you work, at home or in the office

This role requires Reliability Security Clearance. In addition to a law enforcement inquiry and a credit check, as part of your application, the Government of Canada will ask if you lived or travelled outside of Canada for 6-consecutive months during the last 5 years, and you must account for all activities during this time. Must be able to satisfactorily complete applicable background checks prior to the start date and during employment, in accordance with Sun Life's policies and practices.

Base Pay

The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.

Salary Range: 100,000/100 000 - 143,000/143 000

Job Category: IT - Application Development

Posting End Date: 20/10/2026

Company Culture

Shine together At Sun Life, you can be your most brilliant self. Our supportive, flexible, and inclusive work environment is one where you - and your career - can thrive. Whatever your aspirations, collaborative leaders and colleagues are ready to help you learn, grow, and succeed. Make life brighter We’re a global company with a passion for people. Our purpose is to help Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. As a team of 30,000 across 26 countries, our impact is far-reaching, and locally relevant There’s power in numbers. As part of Sun Life's growing team, you have an impact on people in your community and around the world. Shape the future With an optimistic eye on a brighter future, we drive to innovate. Be part of leading change, push boundaries and try new ways of working. Use data to drive bold actions. Be agile and pivot as we test and learn. At Sun Life, we're driving transformation, sustainability and innovation for our Clients, employees, partners, and communities. Join us. Together, we can make the future brighter. Join a top employer for a brighter future. Visit Sun Life Careers