Who are we?

Western National Insurance Group is a private mutual insurance company with over 120 years of experience serving customers' property-and-casualty insurance needs in the Midwestern, Northwestern, and Southwestern United States. Known as “The Relationship Company®,” we define success as a measure of the relationships we’ve built over time. In everything that we do, we know that delivering a friendly and helpful interaction makes for a better experience for everyone involved. That’s the power of “nice”. At Western National, nice is something we work to bring to every person and organization with whom we partner and serve.

Does this opportunity interest you?

Western National is seeking a highly collaborative and engaging Software Developer III to join our team!

The individual in this role will assist our Application Development Team in all aspects of the software development lifecycle, including design, development, unit testing, and implementation of our InsuranceSuite software. The individual in this role will work closely with our Guidewire Development Team using a language similar to Java. We prefer a Guidewire InsuranceSuite Cloud PolicyCenter Specialist or ACE certification. Candidates with eight years of hands-on Guidewire development experience will also be considered.

What are the responsibilities and opportunities of this role?

• Regularly interacts with business partners across the organization.
• Collaborates in troubleshooting application issues.
• Occasionally interacts with external vendors.
• Participates in work refinement and estimation processes with product team.
• Prepares and executes unit testing on all new and modified code per team, product, and organization standards.
• Works with product team and change control team to ensure quality deliveries.
• Creates and maintains documentation that the product team or company has defined as important.
• Ensures timely delivery of projects and tasks and communicates delays and roadblocks with team and leadership as needed.
• Flexes to non-core responsibilities as needed to ensure timely work delivery to the customer.
• Collaborates with product team to design, develop, test, and deploy application modifications of mixed impact and risk based on collaboratively defined requirements.
• Prepares technical specifications, flow charts, and data flow diagrams to effectively communicate somewhat complex application design, delivery, and updates.
• Solicits and performs code review per team, product, and organization standards.
• Identifies opportunities for process improvement and collaborates with team and team leadership to influence process improvement at the product team level.
• Participates in troubleshooting, resolution, and communication of urgent production issues.
• Finds opportunities for automation of processes and tasks at the product team level.
• Effectively answers complex questions on all the above.
• Performs special projects and other duties as assigned.

What are the must-have qualifications for a candidate?

• Good mathematical, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and carry out assignments to completion.
• Strong attention to detail and quality.
• Demonstrated ability to consistently communicate clearly and effectively both verbally and in writing with technical and non-technical audiences throughout the organization.
• Intermediate knowledge and use of various core systems, office and computer equipment, and software packages.
• Experience with GOSU programming.
• Advanced level effectiveness in required computer languages, code versioning, and deployment software and tools.
• Broad exposure to and fundamental knowledge of multiple technology stacks, frameworks, and additional core systems.
• Relevant education and training; experience in lieu of education acceptable.

What will our ideal candidate have?

• Demonstrated intermediate organizational and prioritization skills with ability to accomplish multiple priorities of mixed impact and risk within specified timeframes.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with all product team members and with other teams.
• Demonstrated basic knowledge and application of relevant project methodologies at the product team level.
• Proactive mentorship that results in increased effectiveness in one or more areas of knowledge or skill of colleagues who have one or more learning approaches.
• Experience working in an Agile environment with other IT teams.
• Guidewire InsuranceSuite Cloud PolicyCenter ACE certification or experience.
• Understanding or experience with REST / SOAP web services.
• Experience with build tools such as Gradle.
• Experience with version control (Git) is preferred.
• Experience with issue-tracking software, such as Jira or Rally.
• Experience with Dev Ops and / or continuous integration (e.g., CI) tools (e.g., TeamCity).
• Experience with SQL is preferred.
• Experience with logging and alerting frameworks is preferred.

Compensation overview

The targeted hiring range for this role is $100,530 - $122,870, annually. However, the base pay offered may vary depending on the job-related knowledge, skills, credentials, and experience of each candidate as well as other factors such as the scope and location of the role. Candidates looking for compensation outside of the posted range are encouraged to apply and will be considered based on their individual qualifications and / or may be considered for other positions.

Culture and Total Rewards

Western National has long been known as “The Relationship Company®” and caring for our employees is part of that relationship commitment. We value connectiveness, empowerment, and accountability, and we believe that our employees are our biggest asset.

Currently ranked as the 41st largest private company by revenue in Minnesota (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal), Western National has earned accolades year-over-year as an employer of choice and garnered multiple awards for wellness in the workplace. Western National was also named a Star Tribune Top Workplace in 2021, 2022, and 2023. In addition, the Group is consistently recognized as a Ward’s 50 property-and-casualty insurance company for its outstanding financial results.

Western National offers full-time employees a significant Total Rewards Package, including:

• Medical insurance plan options and other standard employee benefits, including dental insurance, vision benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, and more!
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) Plan (participants are eligible for 100% matching on the first 6% of their contributions)
• Wellbeing Program, including onsite fitness studio
• Paid Time Off – including holiday, vacation, and volunteer
• 100% company-paid tuition reimbursement for approved job-relevant coursework and access to The Institutes (Risk and insurance education)
• Paid parental leave
• Bonus opportunities

Western National believes in supporting balance between work and life by providing a flexible work environment, which includes a variety of hybrid and remote work arrangements designed to balance individual, job, department, and company needs.

Western National provides employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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