As a Software Engineer at Sun Life Financial, you are at the forefront of digital transformation within one of the world's leading financial services organizations. Sun Life relies heavily on its engineering teams to build, modernize, and maintain the complex digital infrastructure that supports millions of clients globally. Whether you are developing robust APIs using Spring Boot, designing responsive frontends with React, or leveraging cloud-native architectures on AWS, your work directly impacts how clients manage their wealth, insurance, and retirement plans.

The engineering culture at Sun Life Financial balances the stability and security of a highly regulated financial institution with the agility of modern software development practices. Teams are tasked with solving complex problems around data integrity, system optimization, and global scalability. Because the company operates across multiple international hubs—including Canada, the United States, India, and the Philippines—engineers must build systems that are highly reliable, secure, and compliant with diverse global standards.

Landing a role here means joining a collaborative environment where technical competence is paired with a strong focus on client-centric solutions. You will have the opportunity to work on legacy system migrations, microservices development, and cloud integrations. It is a highly collaborative role where engineers work closely with product managers, business analysts, and security teams to deliver high-quality software that stands the test of time.

The following questions are representative of what you can expect during the Sun Life Financial hiring process. These questions are drawn from real interview experiences across global offices and are categorized to help you identify patterns in what interviewers look for.

Core Software Engineering & OOP

This category evaluates your fundamental computer science knowledge, focusing on object-oriented design principles, language-specific mechanics, and basic web technologies.

• Explain the core concepts of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and how you have applied them in a recent project.
• What is the difference between a GET and a POST request in a REST API?

To succeed in the Sun Life Financial interview process, you must approach your preparation strategically. Interviewers are not just looking for raw coding speed; they value well-rounded engineers who can communicate their decisions clearly.

Technical & Architectural Competence – You must be ready to explain the "why" behind your technical choices. This means knowing the pros and cons of your chosen frameworks (e.g., Spring Boot vs. Express) and being able to explain database design and API structures with confidence.

Problem-Solving & Analytical Thinking – Whether you are tackling a basic coding question, a database query, or a logic puzzle, walk your interviewer through your thought process. They want to see how you break down complex, ambiguous problems into manageable components.

Collaboration & Global Communication – Because Sun Life Financial operates globally, you will be evaluated on your ability to collaborate across different time zones, cultures, and technical skill levels. Clear, concise, and respectful communication is critical.

Culture Alignment & Client Focus – Sun Life is a client-centric organization. You should be prepared to demonstrate how your technical work ultimately delivers value to the end user, ensuring security, reliability, and accessibility.

The interview process at Sun Life Financial is structured to evaluate both your technical capabilities and your cultural alignment. Depending on the region and the level of the role, the process typically takes between two weeks and a month to complete.

In North America, the process often begins with a recruiter phone screen, followed by a technical assessment (which may be an online multiple-choice test on OOP and basic web concepts) and one or two rounds of interviews with hiring managers and team leads. In offices located in India and the Philippines, the process is often more structured, beginning with a comprehensive online assessment that covers aptitude, core computer science concepts, and coding, followed by a Group Discussion (GD), multiple technical rounds, a managerial round, and a final HR evaluation.

Regardless of location, the hiring team places a strong emphasis on your resume and past experiences. You should expect interviewers to dive deep into your projects, asking detailed questions about architecture, individual contributions, and the technologies you used.

The visual timeline above outlines the typical progression from application to offer. Candidates should note that while some regional processes include group discussions and aptitude tests, the core stages—technical deep dives, managerial evaluations, and behavioral screens—remain consistent globally. Use this timeline to pace your preparation, ensuring you allocate enough time to both technical review and behavioral practice.

To stand out, you must understand exactly what is being evaluated in each core area of the interview.

Object-Oriented Programming & Backend Fundamentals

This area evaluates your foundational software engineering skills, particularly in language mechanics, API design, and backend development.

Be ready to go over:

• OOP Principles – Deep understanding of inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, and abstraction.
• RESTful API Design – How to design clean, scalable endpoints, manage HTTP methods, and handle error codes.
• Backend Frameworks – Specific mechanics of frameworks like Spring Boot, including dependency injection and MVC architecture.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Code migration strategies, legacy system modernization, and XML parsing.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Explain how you would design a REST API for a client onboarding system, ensuring proper resource naming and HTTP status codes."
• "What is the difference between an interface and an abstract class, and when would you use each in a Java application?"
• "How do you handle dependency injection in Spring Boot, and what are its benefits?"

Database Management Systems & SQL

Since financial applications rely heavily on data consistency and integrity, your database skills are critical.

Be ready to go over:

• Relational Database Design – Schema design, normalization, and establishing relationships between tables.
• SQL Querying – Writing queries to retrieve, filter, and join data from multiple tables.
• Transaction Management – Understanding ACID properties and how to ensure data consistency.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Database indexing, query optimization, and working with non-relational databases.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Given a database schema with 'Clients' and 'Policies' tables, write a query to find all clients who have more than two active policies."
• "Explain the difference between an INNER JOIN and a LEFT JOIN, and describe a scenario where you would use a LEFT JOIN."
• "How do database indexes improve query performance, and what are the trade-offs of using them?"

Resume & Project Architecture Deep Dive

Interviewers will ask you to explain the technical details of the projects listed on your resume to verify your hands-on experience and architectural understanding.

Be ready to go over:

• System Architecture – Explaining how different components of your application interact with each other.
• Individual Contribution – Clearly articulating what you personally designed, wrote, or optimized.
• Tech Stack Decisions – Explaining why specific technologies were chosen over alternatives.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating with cloud platforms like AWS, managing CI/CD pipelines, and handling on-call support.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through the architecture of the most complex application you've built. How did data flow from the user interface to the database?"
• "You mentioned using AWS on your resume. Which specific services did you use, and how did they fit into your overall system design?"
• "Describe a technical challenge you faced during a project. What options did you consider, and how did you resolve it?"