Manager, Software Design Engineer

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:

As a Manager, Software Design Engineer within our Global IT Technology Innovation team, you will turn promising AI concepts into tangible, interactive products that users and business stakeholders can understand, experience, and evaluate.

This is not a traditional full-stack engineering role, nor is it an AI research or development role. Dedicated AI specialists will develop the underlying AI technologies. Your responsibility is to materialize those capabilities into usable AI products by bridging business needs, user workflows, product design, and technology. You will work indirectly with business stakeholders and directly with operation hands on staffs and AI specialists to understand problems, shape solution concepts, design intuitive experiences, and rapidly deliver Proof-of-Concepts and Minimum Viable Products.

Speed, adaptability, user experience, and communication are central to the role. You must be able not only to build a prototype, but also to present it as a clear and compelling product story.

Major accountabilities:

Rapid AI Product Prototyping

• Lead the end-to-end design and development of functional web and mobile-friendly Proof-of-Concepts and Minimum Viable Products within accelerated timelines, typically ranging from days to weeks.
• Turn abstract AI capabilities, business ideas, and user requirements into tangible product experiences that stakeholders can interact with and evaluate. The main focus is NOT in producing a production ready product but to use Rapid prototyping to firmly the business requirements. The Final UI frontend design could be totally different.
• Use practical and lightweight technical approaches to validate concepts quickly without unnecessarily over-engineering early-stage solutions

Frontend Engineering

• Build responsive, performant, and visually engaging frontend applications using modern frameworks such as React.js and Next.js, or Vue.js and Nuxt.js.
• Develop reusable interface components, interactive workflows, dashboards, data visualisations, and streaming AI experiences.
• Maintain a strong balance between development speed, usability, visual quality, and technical credibility.

Product and Experience Design

• Design intuitive and user-centered interfaces that make complex workflows and AI capabilities easy to understand.
• Create user journeys, interactive mock-ups, working prototypes, and presentation-ready demonstrations.
• Define how users interact with AI-generated information, including how they provide inputs, review results, understand recommendations, correct outputs, and make decisions.
• Ensure that the product experience communicates the value of the AI clearly rather than exposing unnecessary technical complexity

AI Product Integration

• Work closely with AI specialists to establishing what would be the best compromise between 1) accuracy, 2) performance, 3) cost of operation and 4) stay in compliance with local HK PDPO privacy and HKIA GL guidelines
• Integrate AI services, APIs, models, and workflows into coherent user-facing products. Translate technical AI outputs into meaningful product interactions, visual explanations, decision-support tools, and human review workflows.
• Your role is to ensure that those technologies become useful, understandable, and compelling products

Specialized Knowledge:

1. Product Design and Frontend Expertise

• Frameworks and Architecture: Strong proficiency in React.js and Next.js, including modern application architecture, or comparable experience with Vue.js and Nuxt.js.
• Languages and Typing: Deep proficiency in TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
• Styling and UI Systems: Experience with Tailwind CSS, CSS Modules, and modern UI component libraries such as shadcn/ui, Material UI, or Radix UI.
• Interaction and Experience Design: Strong understanding of user journeys, interaction design, information architecture, usability, responsive design, and visual hierarchy.
• State Management and Data Fetching: Experience with tools such as Zustand, Redux Toolkit, TanStack Query, or SWR.
• Interactivity and Real-Time Interfaces: Experience with WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, streaming AI interfaces, and interactive data visualisation using libraries such as Recharts, D3.js, or Chart.js.
• Prototyping and Design Tools: Experience with Figma, generative UI tools, design systems, wireframing, or interactive prototyping platforms.

2. AI-Assisted Product Development

• AI Coding Assistants: Strong practical experience using tools such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cline, or similar AI-assisted development tools.
• AI UI and UX Generators: Experience using platforms such as v0, Bolt, Lovable, Figma-to-code tools, or similar systems to accelerate interface development.
• LLM Integration: Hands-on experience integrating APIs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, local models, or internal AI services into user-facing applications.
• AI Interaction Patterns: Familiarity with streaming responses, structured outputs, tool calling, conversational interfaces, human review workflows, and agentic user experiences.
• AI Application Frameworks: Familiarity with frameworks such as the Vercel AI SDK, LangChain, or LlamaIndex is beneficial.
• The candidate does not need to be an AI algorithm or model-development specialist. However, they must understand how to turn AI capabilities into coherent and usable product experiences.

3. Backend and Integration Knowledge

• Lightweight Backend Development: Working knowledge of Node.js, Express, NestJS, Python, FastAPI, Flask, or serverless functions.
• Data Persistence: Familiarity with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, or other lightweight storage solutions.
• Cloud and Deployment: Experience deploying prototypes using Vercel, AWS, Azure, Docker, or comparable platforms.
• API Integration: Ability to work with REST APIs, authentication flows, mock services, internal platforms, and external cloud services.
• Deep backend architecture expertise is not required. The candidate should be able to support a prototype end to end, while recognising when production engineering, security, infrastructure, or architecture specialists should take over.

Requirement:

• Candidate is expected to have a degree in Engineering related subjects with at least 5 years of industry experience
• Experience in design engineering, product engineering, forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, innovation consulting, or rapid product development
• A portfolio demonstrating strong interface design and functional product prototypes
• Experience working directly with business stakeholders and end users
• Experience conducting discovery sessions, design workshops, prototype reviews, or user testing
• Experience building enterprise applications, internal tools, workflow products, or AI-enabled interfaces
• Experience in insurance, financial services, fintech, insurtech, or another regulated industry is advantageous
• Experience presenting and demonstrating products to senior or non-technical stakeholders

At Sun Life, we’re driven by our Purpose: to help Clients build lifetime financial security and lead healthier lives. Across Asia, we cultivate a High-Performance, Caring Culture that empowers our people to achieve outstanding results, embrace continuous growth, and create meaningful impact. We succeed together by fostering an inclusive environment where wellbeing, collaboration, and accountability are equally valued.

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