IND Senior Associate Software Engineer - SDET

The Hartford; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Job summary

The Hartford in Hyderabad, India seeks a hands-on Senior Quality Engineer to join the HIG India POD, focusing on Java/API delivery, cloud readiness, and AI-assisted tooling. You will contribute to secure services, automated tests, and collaborative delivery across US and India teams.

The role emphasizes strong Java fundamentals, SOLID patterns, Python scripting support, and data-driven troubleshooting within an Agile framework.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering experience with strong Java fundamentals.
• Strong knowledge of Java design patterns, SOLID principles, coding standards, and maintainable service design.
• Hands-on experience with Spring Boot or equivalent Java service frameworks.
• Experience with REST APIs, service integration, JSON contracts, validation, error handling, and secure service design.
• Working knowledge of Python for scripting, automation, data/log analysis, test support, small utilities, or productivity tooling.
• Oracle SQL experience; ability to troubleshoot application, data, and integration issues.
• Git/GitHub experience including branches, pull requests, code reviews, and local setup troubleshooting.
• Automated unit testing experience with JUnit/Mockito or equivalent and a DevSecOps mindset.
• Agile delivery experience with active participation in refinement, planning, demos, and retrospectives.
• Practical knowledge of AI developer tools such as GitHub Copilot/Copilot Chat or equivalent, including responsible review of AI-generated output.
• Cloud fundamentals, with AWS exposure strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own Java service/API design, development, unit/integration testing, implementation, and support for assigned components within enterprise Employee Benefits applications.
• Apply Java design patterns and SOLID principles to build maintainable, testable services and APIs without unnecessary complexity.
• Use Python as a supporting technical skill for automation, scripting, data/log analysis, test support, and engineering productivity where applicable.
• Translate business and technical requirements into secure, maintainable application modules and service contracts.
• Use AI developer tools responsibly to accelerate coding, test generation, code analysis, documentation, refactoring, debugging, and learning while validating quality, security, and compliance.
• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies, estimation, feature/story refinement, demos, retrospectives, and production readiness discussions.
• Collaborate with product owners, scrum masters, architects, QA/SDET, UX, platform, DevOps, and business partners to deliver outcomes, not just code.
• Perform peer code reviews and contribute to engineering standards for code quality, testing, security, accessibility, observability, and performance.
• Troubleshoot production/non-production issues using logs, monitoring dashboards, traces, database analysis, Python utilities where useful, and structured root-cause thinking.
• Document technical decisions, implementation notes, runbooks, operational impacts, and knowledge-transfer artifacts for the POD.

Skills

Java fundamentals

Java design patterns

SOLID principles

REST APIs

Python scripting

Oracle SQL

GitHub/Git

JUnit/Mockito

Agile delivery

AI developer tools awareness

DevSecOps mindset

Tools

Spring Boot

AWS

GitHub Copilot

Terraform/CI-CD tooling

Job description

Job Description:

IND Senior Quality Engineer - GCC015

We’re determined to make a difference and are proud to be an insurance company that goes well beyond coverages and policies. Working here means having every opportunity to achieve your goals – and to help others accomplish theirs, too. Join our team as we help shape the future.

Purpose: Recruit and assess a hands-on Java engineer for the HIG India POD model, with emphasis on Java design patterns, secure API/backend delivery, Python as an adjacent technical skill, cloud readiness, AI developer tools, ownership, and business-aligned execution.

Design principle: This is one Java JD. Python is included as a supporting technical skill, not as a separate role. The expectation is strong Java engineering fundamentals, AI-assisted delivery habits, mature technical judgment, and ability to operate in an accountable POD with US + India collaboration.

Location

Hyderabad, India

Employment type

Full-time

Experience level

2-4 years preferred; strong candidates with lower tenure may be considered if they demonstrate excellent fundamentals, learnability, and analytical problem solving.

Role family

Software Engineering - Application Development

Operating model

HIG India POD / Agile delivery team with strong collaboration across US and India

Core expectation

Strong Java engineering with Java design patterns, Spring/API delivery, SQL, automated testing, cloud readiness, AI developer tools knowledge, and Python as a supporting automation/scripting skill.

Position Overview

The Employee Benefits IT team is seeking a Software Engineer with strong Java/API engineering capabilities to support HIG India POD delivery across modernization, cloud readiness, service integration, and enterprise application support.

The ideal candidate understands Java design patterns and SOLID principles, can develop secure APIs and services, writes automated tests, uses Python as a practical supporting skill, uses logs and data to troubleshoot issues, applies AI developer tools responsibly, and collaborates across product, architecture, QA/SDET, DevOps, and business partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Own Java service/API design, development, unit/integration testing, implementation, and support for assigned components within enterprise Employee Benefits applications.
• Apply Java design patterns and SOLID principles to build maintainable, testable services and APIs without unnecessary complexity.
• Use Python as a supporting technical skill for automation, scripting, data/log analysis, test support, and engineering productivity where applicable.
• Translate business and technical requirements into secure, maintainable application modules and service contracts.
• Use AI developer tools responsibly to accelerate coding, test generation, code analysis, documentation, refactoring, debugging, and learning while validating quality, security, and compliance.
• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies, estimation, feature/story refinement, demos, retrospectives, and production readiness discussions.
• Collaborate with product owners, scrum masters, architects, QA/SDET, UX, platform, DevOps, and business partners to deliver outcomes, not just code.
• Perform peer code reviews and contribute to engineering standards for code quality, testing, security, accessibility, observability, and performance.
• Troubleshoot production/non-production issues using logs, monitoring dashboards, traces, database analysis, Python utilities where useful, and structured root-cause thinking.
• Document technical decisions, implementation notes, runbooks, operational impacts, and knowledge-transfer artifacts for the POD.

Technical Knowledge Requirements

Area

Required capability

What good looks like in the HIG India POD

Java fundamentals

Java 17+ preferred, collections, concurrency basics, streams, exception handling, memory/performance awareness, clean code.

Writes maintainable Java code and can explain design decisions, performance tradeoffs, and testing strategy.

Java design patterns

Strong understanding of SOLID and patterns such as Factory, Strategy, Builder, Adapter, Facade, Singleton, Observer, Repository, MVC, and dependency injection.

Applies patterns pragmatically to simplify change, improve testability, and avoid over-engineering.

Spring/API engineering

Spring Boot, REST APIs, JSON, service contracts, validation, error handling, security basics, API gateway/APIC awareness.

Designs APIs with clear contracts, resilient error handling, secure access, and integration readiness.

Python as technical skill

Working knowledge of Python for scripting, automation, data validation, test support, log/data analysis, small utilities, or productivity tooling.

Uses Python to accelerate engineering work, automate repeatable tasks, support validation, and improve team throughput without shifting role ownership away from Java.

Data and persistence

Oracle SQL, JPA/Hibernate concepts, query analysis, transaction boundaries, data troubleshooting, performance awareness.

Uses logs and data together to diagnose issues and validate business outcomes.

Cloud and DevOps

AWS fundamentals, ECS/Fargate, Lambda, SQS, CloudWatch, containers, Tomcat, CI/CD, GitHub branch/PR workflow.

Understands what changes when moving from on-prem to cloud and contributes to migration readiness.

Testing and quality

JUnit, Mockito, integration tests, contract testing awareness, secure coding, static analysis, code reviews, DevSecOps.

Builds quality in by learning and contributing to QE practices such as Playwright automation, API automation, regression coverage, test evidence, and CI/CD quality gates rather than relying on downstream validation.

AI developer tools

GitHub Copilot, Copilot Chat or equivalent AI IDE tools for code analysis, unit test generation, refactoring, documentation, debugging, and learning.

Uses AI responsibly with human review, tests, security/compliance judgment, and clear explanation of generated code.

Observability and support

Splunk/Dynatrace/CloudWatch concepts, structured logs, error analysis, performance and reliability patterns.

Improves diagnostic capability by adding useful logs, metrics, and operational documentation.

QE / Playwright skills

Ability and willingness to learn quality engineering practices including Playwright UI automation, API automation, regression coverage, test data strategy, shift-left testing, and CI/CD quality gates.

Developer contributes directly to automation and quality outcomes, improves test coverage, supports evidence for release readiness, and does not treat testing as solely a QE responsibility.

Leadership Expectations

Area

Required capability

What good looks like in the HIG India POD

Ownership

Takes accountability for outcomes, not only assigned tasks.

Raises risks early, follows through on commitments, and drives blockers to closure.

Technical judgment

Uses design thinking and tradeoff analysis to choose maintainable solutions.

Can explain options, risks, and recommended approach to tech leads and stakeholders.

Collaboration

Works across US/India time zones and functions without waiting for perfect instructions; learns adjacent QE practices such as Playwright and contributes where needed.

Brings questions, proposals, and artifacts that make decisions easier.

Mentoring

Helps peers with code reviews, debugging, standards, and onboarding.

Improves POD capability through examples, documentation, and pairing.

Bias for action

Moves work forward with appropriate urgency while respecting enterprise controls.

Breaks ambiguous problems into next steps and demonstrates follow-through.

Business Acumen Expectations

Area

Required capability

What good looks like in the HIG India POD

Outcome orientation

Understands how technical work supports claimant, employer, operations, and product outcomes.

Frames decisions around stability, speed, user experience, and business risk.

Domain awareness

Develops working knowledge of Employee Benefits, claims, intake, leave, payments, profile, and service workflows relevant to the POD.

Can connect defects/features to user journeys and operational impact.

Risk and controls

Understands compliance, data protection, security, accessibility, and production-readiness expectations.

Plans for controls during development rather than treating them as afterthoughts.

Financial awareness

Understands HIG India is a strategic capacity and vendor-reduction lever.

Demonstrates productivity, knowledge transfer, and reduced dependency on external SMEs.

Communication

Communicates clearly with business/technology partners using concise status, risks, decisions, and asks.

Can explain technical topics in business-friendly language.

Required Skills & Experience

• 4+ years of software engineering experience with strong Java fundamentals.
• Strong knowledge of Java design patterns, SOLID principles, coding standards, and maintainable service design.
• Hands-on experience with Spring Boot or equivalent Java service frameworks.
• Experience with REST APIs, service integration, JSON contracts, validation, error handling, and secure service design.
• Working knowledge of Python for scripting, automation, data/log analysis, test support, small utilities, or productivity tooling.
• Oracle SQL experience; ability to troubleshoot application, data, and integration issues.
• Git/GitHub experience including branches, pull requests, code reviews, and local setup troubleshooting.
• Automated unit testing experience with JUnit/Mockito or equivalent and a DevSecOps mindset.
• Agile delivery experience with active participation in refinement, planning, demos, and retrospectives.
• Practical knowledge of AI developer tools such as GitHub Copilot/Copilot Chat or equivalent, including responsible review of AI-generated output.
• Cloud fundamentals, with AWS exposure strongly preferred.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills

• Java 17/21, Spring Boot 3, Spring 6, Tomcat, containerization or cloud migration experience.
• Hands-on Python automation experience using pytest, pandas, file/API processing, or operational scripting.
• AWS ECS/Fargate, Lambda, SQS, CloudWatch, or related observability tooling.
• OAuth, API gateways/APIC, MSAL or enterprise authorization patterns.
• Splunk/Dynatrace or similar troubleshooting tools.
• Angular/TypeScript awareness and ability to collaborate on end-to-end portal/API delivery.
• Insurance, benefits, claims, leave, billing, or portal application experience.

About Us|Our Culture|What It’s Like to Work Here

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