Lead Engineer

Guardian Life; Chennai District; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Guardian Life is seeking a senior software engineer to architect end-to-end full-stack solutions across frontend and backend systems. You will review engineers’ PRs and mentor teams on coding standards, scalability, and best practices while collaborating with UX/design to deliver responsive UI/UX patterns.

You will design scalable APIs and backend services, build high-performance React/Next.js applications, and lead SSR/SEO-friendly web development.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of engineering experience.
• Strong knowledge of Java (Spring Boot preferred) and React/Next.js.
• Experience designing and building scalable RESTful APIs and microservices.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Knowledge of SSR/SSG and API-driven development.
• Experience with authentication/authorization (OAuth, JWT, SSO).
• Understanding of MVC, MVVM, layered architectures, and event-driven design.
• Strong debugging and performance optimization skills.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Architect end-to-end full-stack solutions across frontend and backend systems.
• Review PRs and mentor engineers on coding standards and scalability.
• Collaborate with UX/design for responsive UI/UX patterns.
• Design and develop scalable, secure APIs and backend services.
• Build and maintain high-performance React/Next.js apps.
• Lead SSR and SEO-friendly web app development.
• Manage deployments across Dev, QA, UAT, Production environments.
• Define and implement CI/CD pipelines for web apps.
• Provide PROD support on a rotation basis.
• Ensure alignment with requirements and quality standards.
• Triage customer issues, incidents, and production defects.
• Drive modernization and migration to newer frameworks.

Skills

Java

System design

OOP & FP

React/Next.js

API design

Microservices

Web performance

MVC/MVVM

OAuth/JWT/SSO

Git

DevOps

Testing & CI/CD

Tools

Spring Boot

React

Next.js

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD tooling

Job description

• Handling software requests/tickets and driving them to completion
• At least 7+ years of engineering experience
• Strong object-oriented programming, functional programming, and system design skills
• Significant experience with Java (Spring Boot preferred), React JS , Next JS.
• Strong knowledge of server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), and API-driven development
• Significant experience designing and building scalable RESTful APIs and microservices
• Experience integrating frontend applications with backend APIs and third-party services
• Strong understanding of web performance optimization, accessibility, and responsive design
• Strong understanding of design patterns and architectural approaches such as MVC, MVVM, layered architecture, microservices, and event-driven architecture
• Experience with authentication/authorization (OAuth, JWT, SSO)
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
• Strong knowledge of database technologies (SQL/NoSQL – PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, etc.)
• Experience writing asynchronous, multi-threaded, and scalable backend services
• Track record in debugging and optimizing performance (frontend & backend)
• Proficient understanding of code versioning tools (Git)
• Strong communication skills, with passion for quality and attention to detail
• Experience working across teams and driving alignment across multiple stakeholders

Domain / Added Advantage:

Experience working with US Insurance domain (Group Benefits, Billing, Claims, Enrollment, etc.)

Familiarity with platforms or business processes related to MetLife, Sun Life or similar insurers will be a strong advantage

Understanding of regulatory, compliance, and customer experience aspects in insurance systems

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Architect and design end-to-end full-stack solutions across frontend and backend systems
• Review engineers’ pull requests and mentor them on coding standards, scalability, and best practices
• Collaborate with UX/design teams to ensure consistent, intuitive, and responsive UI/UX patterns
• Design and develop scalable, secure APIs and backend services
• Build and maintain high-performance React/Next.js applications
• Lead development of server-side rendering and SEO-friendly web applications
• Manage application deployments across environments including Dev, QA, UAT, and Production
• Define and implement CI/CD pipelines for web applications
• Participate in production support (PROD support) on a rotational/on-demand basis, ensuring system stability and quick issue resolution
• Handle basic business requests through to production readiness, ensuring alignment with requirements and quality standards
• Triaging customer issues, incidents, logs, and production defects
• Optimize applications for performance, scalability, and reliability
• Ensure high test coverage (unit, integration, and UI tests) and enforce quality gates
• Lead the adoption of coding standards, architectural guidelines, and best practices
• Evaluate and recommend new frontend/backend technologies and frameworks
• Design solutions for security, scalability, and high availability
• Work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver complex technical initiatives
• Monitor application health and proactively identify improvement areas
• Drive modernization initiatives and migration to newer frameworks/architectures
• Guide teams in breaking down complex stories and delivering high-quality code