Senior Java Developer

This position is accountable for business and technical configuration development work and testing within our commercial lines policy admin and rating systems as well as building and maintaining some associated integrations. The work environment requires working directly with business areas to deliver projects in an agile environment. Technical configuration for commercial lines policy products including rating, rules and integration to such systems as forms requires property and casualty exposure and technical experience. Motivated, independent thinker who enjoys collaborating, building and delivering projects or enhancements that directly impact business outcomes in a small shop. Position reports to IT management.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

 1. Design, program, test and deploy software working within the software configuration framework of vendor based Policy Admin system and Rating systems. Emphasis on java, java script, XML, html on application servers and Gosu (open source language) to build and to maintain commercial lines policy products. Utilize technical development skills to build and maintain products and some integrations. Capable of learning developing within different vendor software packages utilizing their tool sets and frameworks.

 2. Utilizes vendor supplied development best practices including patterns and architectural development principles to keep applications running in a per formant manner over time while minimizing cost and maximizing value. Able to create solution design recommendations and effectively present solution options for implementation with estimates. Shares configuration concepts to influence product outcomes as well as continual learning and improvement in the understanding of software capabilities and programming languages.

3. Project and work management skills for estimating, building and ensuring the quality of own work. Manage assignments and provides appropriate status and documentation on work in progress. Conducts appropriate testing with minimal supervision while creating durable, reliable high quality code to minimize maintenance requirements and time. Makes sure that all end products are inspected and approved prior to implementation and that all version and release management processes are followed. Asks for assistance when needed.

 4. Consult with technical and business resources to produce business requirements and some functional design documents. Enjoys customer interaction and is able to elicit true business requirements while seeking reuse and optimized solutions to meet the many and varied business requests. Communication with business resources in real time is critical during the iterative development cycles as well as developing subject matter expertise in commercial property and casualty insurance.

5. Provides production support and maintenance for assigned systems and integrations. Conducts problem determination, develops solutions and resolves. Stays knowledgeable on assigned systems. Implements upgrades, modifications to existing software on a timely and cost effective basis.

Required Knowledge and Experience:

Fully Qualified:

 * Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Information Management

 * 5-7 years as a programmer on projects

* Property & Casualty Insurance experience, preferably commercial lines

 * Must have strong verbal and written skills to communicate with non-technical resources

 * Integration skills using advanced OOD/OOP and messaging for multi-tier application integrations as a hands-on programming resource

 * Technical skills to master application configuration and development: modifying XML definitions, scripting (JavaScript, VB etc.), Java, C#, C++, understanding of relational database concepts, and other skills involved with implementing an advanced web application

 * App Server experience with Websphere Application Server and Rational Application Developer creating/maintaining J2EE applications (JSPs, servlets, EJBs and web services

 * Experience with enterprise service bus software (ex. Websphere Process Server) a plus

 * Experience with ETL (extract, transform and load) tools (ex. Informatic PowerCenter) a plus

 * Learn Gosu, an open source language, to configure systems to implement customer configuration requirements

 * Must have the ability to solve technical problems and understand when to escalate issues

 * Assimilate existing and new technical concepts and apply in a fast paced environment

 * Prior business process and configuration experience with configurable software such as Guidewire, CGI Ratabase, Peoplesoft, Siebel or SAP is highly desired

 * Experience with multi-tier web application solutions, varied application development experience desired

 * Some experience in multi-platform environments desired

 * Flexible, enthusiastic approach to work including a strong desire to learn and become a subject matter expert both technically and from a business perspective

 * Capability to be hands on in a small IT shop

 * Experience in Agile project methodologies would be a plus

 * Strong personal initiative and the ability to personally execute with minimal oversight, while showing confidence in decisions made

 * Background in a customer facing role is desirable

 * Reacts to project changes, adjustments and alterations promptly, effectively and with a positive attitude

 * Dedication to delivering exceptional results

 * Sense of humor

Physical Requirements:

 * Normal office environment

 * Some overnight travel may be required

 * Some off hours support required based on project demands