A Software Engineer at John Hancock plays a vital role in bridging modern technology with financial services. As a subsidiary of Manulife, John Hancock is a prominent leader in insurance, retirement, and wealth management. Engineers here do not just write code; they design, build, and maintain the digital platforms that manage millions of customers' financial portfolios, process insurance claims, and deliver seamless digital experiences. The applications you build directly impact the financial security and peace of mind of millions of users.

In this role, you will work on modernizing legacy financial systems, migrating services to cloud-native architectures, and building intuitive customer-facing interfaces. The scale of the work is massive, requiring a strong focus on security, reliability, and performance. Whether you are optimizing a backend API, implementing a modern frontend framework, or designing a secure data pipeline, your contributions will drive the digital transformation of a household brand with over a century of history.

Working at John Hancock offers a unique balance: the stability and resources of a massive financial institution combined with the forward-looking, agile mindset of a modern tech organization. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams of product managers, designers, and security experts to deliver robust software solutions that meet strict regulatory standards while maintaining an exceptional user experience.

The questions you will face during the John Hancock hiring process are representative of real reported interview experiences and are designed to test both your technical capabilities and your behavioral alignment. These questions are organized into categories to help you identify patterns and structure your preparation effectively, rather than relying on rote memorization.

Behavioral & STAR Method Questions

These questions assess how you handle workplace challenges, collaborate with teammates, and navigate professional situations. Be prepared to structure your answers using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

• Tell me about yourself and walk me through your past software engineering experience.
• Describe a time when you had to make a technical decision under a tight deadline. What trade-offs did you make?

To succeed in the Software Engineer interview process at John Hancock, you must approach your preparation strategically. The evaluation is holistic, focusing on your technical execution, architectural thinking, and cultural alignment.

Role-Related Knowledge – You must demonstrate a deep understanding of core software engineering principles, modern frameworks, and clean code practices. Interviewers will evaluate your ability to write clean, maintainable, and testable code, as well as your familiarity with databases and cloud concepts.

Problem-Solving & Architectural Thinking – You will be assessed on how you approach ambiguous, large-scale technical problems. Showing that you can break down a massive system design scenario into manageable components, while articulating the trade-offs of your decisions, is critical.

Behavioral Delivery & Communication – Technical skills alone are not enough; you must be able to communicate your ideas clearly and collaborate effectively. Use the STAR method to deliver concise, impactful stories about your past experiences, focusing on your specific contributions and the business outcomes.

Culture Fit & Adaptability – John Hancock values engineers who are collaborative, eager to learn, and comfortable working in a regulated, highly structured industry. Showing a positive, collaborative attitude and an interest in the company's domain will set you apart.

The interview process for a Software Engineer at John Hancock is designed to be highly interactive, straightforward, and conversational. The company aims to understand your practical engineering skills and how you collaborate with others, rather than putting you through high-stress, unrealistic coding puzzles.

The process typically begins with an initial phone screen with HR to discuss your background, experience, and expectations. This is followed by a technical screen, which is often a 30-minute virtual call over Microsoft Teams or Skype with a lead developer or engineering manager. During this round, you will review your resume, discuss your technical background, and answer a mix of behavioral and light technical questions.

For the final stages, you will experience a deeper technical and situational evaluation. This may include a collaborative pair programming exercise with a current engineer or a unique Technical Scenario Presentation. In this scenario round, you are given a real-world technical problem and about 20 minutes to prepare answers to a series of architectural questions. You then present your approach to a panel of managers and answer questions about your decisions, allowing you to showcase your creativity and system design skills. The loop concludes with behavioral and situational interviews with hiring managers, directors, or VPs to assess your long-term alignment with the team and company culture.

This visual timeline illustrates the progressive stages of the John Hancock hiring loop, transitioning from initial conversations to deep-dive technical evaluations. Candidates should use this roadmap to pace their preparation, ensuring they focus equally on behavioral storytelling and architectural presentation skills. While the exact flow can vary slightly depending on the specific team or location, this represents the standard structure you can expect.

To excel in the John Hancock interviews, you must understand the specific areas where you will be evaluated and what strong performance looks like in each.

Technical Scenario & Architecture Design

This evaluation area focuses on your ability to design robust, scalable, and secure systems. At John Hancock, software must be designed with high availability, security, and compliance in mind, given the sensitive nature of financial and personal data.

Be ready to go over:

• System Architecture – Designing modular, scalable backend systems and choosing appropriate communication protocols (e.g., REST, gRPC, event-driven).
• Database Selection – Understanding when to use SQL databases for transactional consistency versus NoSQL databases for scalability and flexibility.
• Cloud Integration – Leveraging cloud services (such as AWS or Azure) for hosting, storage, and serverless computing.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Zero-trust security models, data encryption at rest and in transit, and designing for disaster recovery in highly regulated financial environments.

Example scenarios:

• "You need to design a system that ingests and processes large batches of financial transactions daily. How would you ensure no transactions are lost and the processing is fault-tolerant?"
• "How would you architect an application to allow users to upload large documents, such as insurance claims, securely and view them instantly?"

Behavioral & STAR Competencies

This area evaluates your soft skills, teamwork, and alignment with John Hancock's collaborative culture. The interviewers want to see how you handle real-world workplace situations, resolve conflicts, and drive projects to completion.

Be ready to go over:

• Conflict Resolution – How you handle professional disagreements with peers or stakeholders to find the best technical solution.
• Handling Ambiguity – Navigating shifting requirements or loosely defined project scopes.
• Continuous Learning – How you stay updated with new technologies and bring innovative ideas to your team.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Mentoring junior engineers, influencing technical decisions without formal authority, and managing stakeholder expectations across business units.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to deliver a project with incomplete requirements. How did you proceed?"
• "Describe a situation where you identified a major bug in production. What steps did you take to resolve it and prevent it from happening again?"

Collaborative Engineering & Pair Programming

This area evaluates your hands-on coding ability, problem-solving flow, and how you collaborate with other developers in real time.

Be ready to go over:

• Code Quality – Writing clean, readable, and well-structured code.
• Debugging & Troubleshooting – Methodically identifying and fixing issues in an existing codebase.
• Collaboration Dynamics – Communicating your thought process aloud and accepting feedback during a pair programming session.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Writing comprehensive unit tests, optimizing code for time and space complexity, and utilizing modern design patterns.

Example scenarios:

• "Let's work together to implement a feature that filters and sorts a list of financial products based on user preferences."
• "Walk me through how you would refactor this block of code to improve its readability and performance."

As a Software Engineer at John Hancock, your day-to-day work will be dynamic and highly collaborative. You will be responsible for designing, developing, and deploying high-quality software solutions that support the company's diverse financial products and services.

You will spend a significant portion of your time writing clean, tested, and maintainable code across the full stack or within specialized backend or frontend domains. You will participate actively in agile ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives. Collaboration is key; you will work closely with other engineers, product managers, and UX designers to translate business requirements into technical implementations.

Additionally, you will play an active role in modernizing the company's technology stack. This includes migrating legacy systems to cloud environments, designing microservices, and implementing modern CI/CD pipelines to ensure rapid and reliable software delivery. You will also participate in code reviews, providing constructive feedback to your peers and ensuring the team maintains high engineering standards.

To be competitive for the Software Engineer position at John Hancock, you should possess a strong blend of technical expertise and collaborative soft skills.

• Must-have skills – Strong proficiency in at least one major programming language (such as Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, or C#). Solid understanding of web development, RESTful APIs, and relational databases (such as PostgreSQL or SQL Server). Experience working in an agile development environment and a strong commitment to writing clean, testable code.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience with cloud platforms like AWS or Azure. Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks (such as React or Angular). Knowledge of containerization tools (like Docker and Kubernetes) and CI/CD pipelines. Experience in the financial services or insurance industries is a plus but not required.
• Experience level – Typically, candidates should have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, along with several years of professional software development experience.
• Soft skills – Excellent communication skills, a collaborative mindset, a strong sense of ownership, and the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.