Senior Test Automation Engineer, Python

About the Role

The Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET), Web is a high-level engineering role responsible for evolving and scaling the web application automation stack. The incumbent advances the existing automation foundation by architecting a balanced test strategy that emphasizes API-level validation for faster feedback and long-term maintainability, while optimizing high-volume execution across suites that run hundreds to thousands of tests per Merge Request. Core activities include framework development in Python, CI pipeline optimization, flake remediation, and deep technical troubleshooting across containerized and virtualized environments. The role partners closely with development teams to shift quality earlier in the delivery lifecycle and adopts AI-assisted tooling to accelerate test generation, debugging, and optimization. The position exists to ensure the web application stack is validated efficiently, reliably, and at scale, supporting fast and high-confidence delivery.

What you’ll be doing

• Contribute to the technical direction of the web automation roadmap, with emphasis on execution efficiency, speed, and result confidence.

• Lead the expansion of API-level automation to validate web applications at the most efficient layer of the testing pyramid.

• Optimize the performance and execution of large test suites to maintain fast, reliable CI cycles at Merge-Request scale.

• Partner with development teams to shift quality earlier in the lifecycle, surfacing defects before they reach integration branches.

• Maintain and evolves Python-based automation frameworks to remain robust as the product and test footprint grow.

• Proactively identify and resolve systemic bottlenecks and flaky tests to uphold a Zero-Flake baseline for critical-path scenarios.

• Debug complex test and product failures using product logs, network traffic captures, and backtraces.

• Configure and manage test environments built on containers and virtual machines to ensure consistent execution.

• Adopt and implement AI-assisted tooling to accelerate test generation, debugging, and scenario optimization.

• Participate in code reviews, maintain technical documentation, and contribute to team engineering standards.

Success Metrics

• Reduction in average CI pipeline execution time for Merge-Request-triggered test suites.

• Flake rate on critical-path scenarios held at or near the Zero-Flake baseline.

• Shift in coverage ratio toward API-level tests relative to UI-level tests, consistent with testing-pyramid targets.

• Reduction in defects escaping from feature branches into integration branches.

• Time-to-diagnosis for complex automation failures.

• Measurable productivity gains from adoption of AI-accelerated test tooling.

What you bring

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of commercial experience in software engineering or test automation, with demonstrated impact in complex engineering environments.

• Proven experience designing and maintaining automated tests for web applications.

• Proven experience designing and implementing API-level test automation to improve suite performance and reliability.

• Preferred: hands-on experience with containers and virtual machines, including environment setup and debugging via SSH or WinRM.

• Preferred: experience performing advanced diagnostics using memory dumps, backtraces, and OS-level troubleshooting.

• Preferred: experience with GUI automation for desktop clients built on Qt.

Technical Skills:

• Professional proficiency in Python and modern software design patterns.

• Proficiency with Playwright, or demonstrated ability to ramp quickly to a specified web automation stack.

• Design and implementation of API-level test automation.

• Optimization of large-scale test execution within CI pipelines.

• Troubleshooting using product logs, network traffic dumps, and backtraces.

• Configuration and operation of container- and VM-based test environments.

• Preferred: remote debugging via SSH and WinRM.

• Preferred: GUI automation tooling for Qt-based desktop applications.

Knowledge:

• Understanding of testing-pyramid principles and the tradeoffs between API-, integration-, and UI-level validation.

• Working knowledge of CI/CD principles and pipeline design.

• Familiarity with shift-left quality practices and their application in agile development workflows.

• Understanding of test suite optimization techniques, including flake detection and remediation.

• Awareness of AI-assisted software development tooling and its application to test authoring and debugging.

Behavioral (Soft) Skills:

• Pragmatic problem-solving orientation, with the ability to weigh ROI and technical tradeoffs and distinguish near-term optimization from long-term investment.

• Strong sense of initiative and accountability; identifies coverage and stability gaps and drives solutions with minimal guidance.

• Clear and transparent written and verbal communication, supporting alignment across engineering and development teams.

• Collaborative working style with a demonstrated ability to partner effectively with software development peers.

What we offer

• Competitive compensation
• Paid time off
• Flexible working hours
• Employer-sponsored health coverage
• Working with top industry experts in our international team

The position is ideally a hybrid role and the office is located in Burbank, LA.

Please note: We do not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters or staffing agencies. Any unsolicited resumes sent to our employees or submitted to our careers page or job postings without a formal agreement in place will be considered property of Network Optix, and no fees will be paid in the event that candidate is hired by the company.