Software Developer job description template (India, 2026)
A Software Developer job description written for Indian companies: responsibilities, requirements, CTC and notice-period framing, five screening questions, and the full text to copy or post on ofper.
Last updated 3 September 2026. Competitor pricing and plan limits are re-verified against each vendor’s own pages.
What does a Software Developer do?
This is the general-purpose engineering hire: the person who takes a feature from a rough spec to production, fixes what breaks, writes tests, reviews colleagues' code and is on the rota when something goes wrong at night. In a company with three to fifteen engineers, the developer talks to the product owner and sometimes the customer directly, and the codebase is small enough that one person can understand most of it.
The posting should name the stack precisely, the product, the team size, the work-from-office policy and the interview process — those four facts decide whether a strong candidate applies. It should also be honest about whether the role is greenfield or maintenance-heavy, and about on-call. Candidates from IT services companies applying to product roles need to understand the ownership expected.
Software Developer responsibilities
Written as work the person does, not qualities they have. A responsibility a candidate can picture is one they can decide about.
- Build features end to end in [stack — e.g. TypeScript, Node.js, React, PostgreSQL] from a written spec or a conversation with the product owner, including data model, API and UI where applicable.
- Write automated tests for the code you ship — unit tests as a rule, integration tests where they pay off — and keep the existing suite green.
- Review colleagues' pull requests within a working day, with attention to correctness, clarity and security, and respond to reviews of your own promptly.
- Fix bugs from production, support and QA, with a root-cause note and a regression test where the bug warranted one.
- Deploy through the team's pipeline and take part in the on-call rota, including writing the post-incident note when you were on call.
- Keep the codebase healthy: refactor when you touch something, update dependencies on schedule, and write the documentation the next person needs.
- Estimate work honestly and flag risks early; raise it when a spec is ambiguous rather than guessing.
- Participate in planning, standups and retrospectives, and help onboard new engineers.
Software Developer requirements and qualifications
Keep the required list to what you would actually reject a candidate for. Everything else goes under nice to have — a long required list mostly filters out the people you wanted.
- 2 to 5 years of professional software development, with at least 1 year shipping to production in [primary language / framework].
- Solid fundamentals: data structures, HTTP, relational databases and SQL, Git, and debugging with logs and a debugger rather than guesswork.
- Evidence of owning features end to end — not only implementing assigned tasks — in a product or startup environment, or a services background with clear examples of ownership.
- Writes tests as part of the work and can explain what to test and what not to.
- Clear written communication: pull request descriptions, design notes, incident write-ups, in English.
- Willing to work [from our office in City / hybrid X days / remote with overlap hours].
Nice to have
- Experience with our specific stack pieces — [cloud provider, queue, cache, mobile, etc.].
- Open-source contributions or a side project with real users.
- Experience in our domain — payments, logistics, healthcare, education.
Salary, CTC and terms for a Software Developer in India
State a CTC range. Postings without one get fewer and worse-matched applications, and the range is the first thing an Indian candidate looks for. Say how the CTC is made up — fixed, variable, and any statutory components — so the in-hand figure is not a surprise at offer stage.
- State the CTC range with the fixed and variable split, and whether there is ESOP and on what vesting. Engineering candidates in India discount variable pay heavily; a large variable component reads as a lower offer.
- State the notice period you expect and whether you will buy out a candidate's notice period — this is the deciding factor for many moves from large companies.
- State the work-from-office policy exactly: days, hours, and whether it will change. This is the most common reason engineering offers are declined in India.
- State the interview process and its total time. Candidates are comparing several processes; a clear four-hour process beats an undefined one.
Software Developer job description template
Replace every [placeholder]. Cut anything that is not true of your company — a generic paragraph is worse than no paragraph.
Software Developer — [Company name], [City] Employment type: Full-time | Location: [City] / [On-site, hybrid or remote] | CTC: [range] per annum | Experience: [years] About the role This is the general-purpose engineering hire: the person who takes a feature from a rough spec to production, fixes what breaks, writes tests, reviews colleagues' code and is on the rota when something goes wrong at night. In a company with three to fifteen engineers, the developer talks to the product owner and sometimes the customer directly, and the codebase is small enough that one person can understand most of it. The posting should name the stack precisely, the product, the team size, the work-from-office policy and the interview process — those four facts decide whether a strong candidate applies. It should also be honest about whether the role is greenfield or maintenance-heavy, and about on-call. Candidates from IT services companies applying to product roles need to understand the ownership expected. What you will do - Build features end to end in [stack — e.g. TypeScript, Node.js, React, PostgreSQL] from a written spec or a conversation with the product owner, including data model, API and UI where applicable. - Write automated tests for the code you ship — unit tests as a rule, integration tests where they pay off — and keep the existing suite green. - Review colleagues' pull requests within a working day, with attention to correctness, clarity and security, and respond to reviews of your own promptly. - Fix bugs from production, support and QA, with a root-cause note and a regression test where the bug warranted one. - Deploy through the team's pipeline and take part in the on-call rota, including writing the post-incident note when you were on call. - Keep the codebase healthy: refactor when you touch something, update dependencies on schedule, and write the documentation the next person needs. - Estimate work honestly and flag risks early; raise it when a spec is ambiguous rather than guessing. - Participate in planning, standups and retrospectives, and help onboard new engineers. What we are looking for - 2 to 5 years of professional software development, with at least 1 year shipping to production in [primary language / framework]. - Solid fundamentals: data structures, HTTP, relational databases and SQL, Git, and debugging with logs and a debugger rather than guesswork. - Evidence of owning features end to end — not only implementing assigned tasks — in a product or startup environment, or a services background with clear examples of ownership. - Writes tests as part of the work and can explain what to test and what not to. - Clear written communication: pull request descriptions, design notes, incident write-ups, in English. - Willing to work [from our office in City / hybrid X days / remote with overlap hours]. Nice to have - Experience with our specific stack pieces — [cloud provider, queue, cache, mobile, etc.]. - Open-source contributions or a side project with real users. - Experience in our domain — payments, logistics, healthcare, education. Compensation and terms - State the CTC range with the fixed and variable split, and whether there is ESOP and on what vesting. Engineering candidates in India discount variable pay heavily; a large variable component reads as a lower offer. - State the notice period you expect and whether you will buy out a candidate's notice period — this is the deciding factor for many moves from large companies. - State the work-from-office policy exactly: days, hours, and whether it will change. This is the most common reason engineering offers are declined in India. - State the interview process and its total time. Candidates are comparing several processes; a clear four-hour process beats an undefined one. How to apply Apply with your resume through this page. We reply to every application, and shortlisted candidates hear from us within [number] working days.
Opens a free ofper workspace with the title, description and screening questions filled in.
Screening questions for Software Developer applicants
Five questions is the ceiling on ofper, and it is the right ceiling: a form that asks more than that costs applications. Use them for the things that decide a shortlist, not for anything the resume already says.
| Question | Type | Knockout | Why it earns a slot |
|---|---|---|---|
| How many years of professional experience do you have shipping production code in [primary language / framework]? | Number (pass: 1+) | Yes | The stack requirement stated as a number the candidate can answer honestly. |
| Are you able to work [from our City office X days a week / remote with overlap hours]? | Yes / No (pass: Yes) | Yes | WFO is the top decline reason; settle it before anyone's time is spent. |
| What is your current notice period, in days? | Number (pass: 0 to 90) | No | Not a knockout — 60 and 90 days are normal in Indian tech — but it plans the timeline and the buyout conversation. |
| Have you owned a feature end to end — design, build, test, deploy — rather than implementing assigned tasks only? | Yes / No (pass: Yes) | No | Ownership is what the role needs; the interview will probe the answer. |
Questions, answered straight
What should a Software Developer job description include for an Indian startup?
The exact stack, the product and team size, the work-from-office policy, the interview process and its length, the CTC range with fixed and variable and any ESOP, and whether notice buyout is offered. Engineering candidates decide on stack, WFO and process before reading anything else.
Should the posting state the CTC range?
Yes. Indian engineering candidates filter on CTC before applying, and a posting without a range gets either no strong applicants or a hundred unqualified ones. State the range and the fixed portion; variable pay is discounted heavily by candidates.
How do I hire developers from services companies for a product role?
Write the posting around ownership — end-to-end features, on-call, a long-lived codebase — and ask in screening whether they have owned a feature end to end. In the interview, ask what would be different about product work. Many services engineers are excellent; the ones who want ownership say so clearly.