Senior Software Development Test Engineer

JOB INTRODUCTION

We are looking for a Senior QA Engineer / SDET to drive quality across our AI-native backend services and platform systems. You will own test automation strategy, release quality gates, and quality engineering practices — working closely with backend engineers (Java + Python), product managers, and platform architects. This role focuses heavily on validating hexagonal architecture adapters, Kafka event pipelines, multi-database correctness, and AI scoring model outputs.

KEY ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, build, and scale automated test frameworks for Java microservices built on hexagonal architecture — with distinct test strategies for the domain core, adapter layers (MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, Kafka, Elasticsearch, Redis/Aerospike), and external integrations.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive test suites: functional, integration (Testcontainers), regression, contract, and end-to-end across all adapter implementations.
• Validate Kafka event pipelines: consumer behavior, event ordering, idempotency, poison pill handling, and dead-letter queue processing.
• Validate MongoDB document integrity, PostgreSQL relational consistency, Cosmos DB partition correctness, and Elasticsearch index accuracy across service boundaries.
• Design and execute golden dataset test scenarios — seeding realistic dealer and customer data to validate scoring accuracy, suppression correctness, and attribution logic.
• Validate Python-based AI/ML service outputs: scoring model results, recommendation correctness, and LLM response safety gates.
• Collaborate closely with backend engineers and architects to embed quality early in hexagonal domain design and adapter implementation.
• Drive testability improvements by influencing API design, logging, observability, and error handling.
• Own release quality and go/no-go decisions by defining and tracking quality gates in CI/CD pipelines.
• Define and monitor quality metrics: test coverage, defect leakage, flakiness, MTTR, and automation ROI.
• Lead root cause analysis for production issues and drive preventive measures.
• Mentor junior QA/SDET engineers and set best practices across teams.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in QA Engineering, Test Automation, or SDET roles.
• Strong test automation expertise using modern Java-based frameworks; working knowledge of Python test frameworks (pytest) is a strong plus.
• Deep experience testing distributed microservices, REST APIs, and Kafka-based architectures.
• Experience with Testcontainers for integration testing across MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Kafka, and Elasticsearch locally.
• Strong understanding of Kafka testing: consumer behavior, event ordering guarantees, and idempotency validation.
• Experience with MongoDB and PostgreSQL testing patterns: data integrity, schema migration validation, multi-tenant isolation verification.
• Familiarity with Elasticsearch test strategies: index correctness, relevance, and query result validation.
• Experience with CI/CD pipeline integration (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience validating AI/ML model outputs and scoring pipeline correctness.
• Exposure to contract testing (Pact or similar) and service virtualization for hexagonal adapter boundaries.
• Experience with performance, load, and chaos testing (JMeter, Gatling, k6) against Elasticsearch and Kafka.
• Background in DevOps or Site Reliability Engineering practices.

PERKS & BENEFITS

• Competitive compensation and generous stock options.
• Medical insurance coverage.
• Work with some of the brightest minds from Silicon Valley's most dominant and successful companies.

Current Tekion Employees – Please apply via Greenhouse Internal Job Board