Lead Associate Principal, Software Engineering SDET

The OCC • Chicago, IL

8d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Associate Principal, Software Engineering SDET is responsible for understanding systems being tested from both technical and business-user perspectives. The role leads the design, development, maintenance, and ongoing improvement of automation frameworks, test coverage, regression testing, and tools that improve acceptance-test efficiency. The position partners with Software Developers, Project Management, and Customer Support to establish and follow quality procedures, standards, and specifications, delivering high-quality projects in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The role creates and executes automation test plans; writes code against software platforms; estimates testing effort; analyzes and communicates results; tracks defects; and contributes to performance and scalability testing. It supports test strategy and planning, requirements analysis for testability, risk and mitigation planning, test environments and data, and improvements to testing procedures. Technical work includes automating UI tests with Selenium, Protractor, Cucumber, TypeScript/JavaScript, and Gherkin; maintaining Jenkins CI/CD pipelines and deployments; working with Harness and Rancher; running UC4 batch jobs; reviewing Rancher logs; validating Kafka messages and database loads; and deserializing Kafka topics.

The position also coordinates application support and stakeholder timelines, prioritizes and balances team workload, drives automation across multiple areas, and mentors team members in support of their career development. Supervisory responsibilities: None.

Requirements

• Experience with automated testing frameworks such as Cucumber, Selenium, Mocha/Chai, or TestNG.
• Experience working in an Agile environment.
• Hands-on experience writing automation test code and using industry-standard tools and frameworks to simulate complex multi-system scenarios.
• Proficiency in automated testing types including unit, functional, behavioral, integration, and component testing.
• Experience in at least two of the following: web/mobile application development, Unix/Linux environments, transaction processing systems, distributed and parallel systems, large software systems development, security software development, or public-cloud platforms.
• Strong testing experience, including developing test plans, automating test cases, and working with test frameworks.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to describe testing methods for sophisticated systems, diagnose system defects, and communicate findings and learnings clearly.
• Understanding of the software development life cycle (SDLC), including proven experience implementing software applications.
• Proficiency with test automation tools such as Gherkin, Cucumber, Selenium, or other automation frameworks.
• Java-based software development experience and fluency in object-oriented design, industry best practices, and architecture principles.
• API and high-volume data testing experience.
• Strong data experience, including SQL and databases.
• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, a similar technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Seven to ten years of experience working with manual and automation technologies as an expert, with a clear understanding of core practices, processes, and terminology.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with streaming and event-driven systems.
• Experience with message queuing and event-sourcing tools such as IBM MQ or Kafka.
• Functional expertise in clearing and risk systems and familiarity with technical offerings such as integrations and Core Connectors.
• Previous experience testing in financial services, derivatives clearing, risk, and data warehousing systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, enhance, and maintain automation frameworks and tools.
• Evaluate test cases for regression inclusion, improve test coverage, and automate newly implemented functionality.
• Create, maintain, and execute automation test plans; write test code; estimate testing effort; analyze and communicate test results; and track defects.
• Contribute to performance and scalability testing efforts.
• Collaborate with Software Developers, Project Management, and Customer Support to establish and follow quality procedures, standards, and specifications.
• Contribute to complex projects and the long-term quality strategy through an automation-first approach.
• Identify quality tasks during sprint cycles and implement automation for new features.
• Assist with planning, creation, and control of test environments and test data.
• Define test strategy; analyze requirements for testability; identify scope; plan risk mitigation and configuration management; and write master and detailed test plans.
• Review test procedures and processes and recommend improvements to reduce redundancy and increase efficiency.
• Build automation capable of downloading files, comparing data across heterogeneous source and target systems, and generating reports.
• Develop and automate UI screens using Selenium, Protractor, and Cucumber with TypeScript/JavaScript, and create Gherkin feature files.
• Create, maintain, and use Jenkins CI/CD pipelines; handle application deployments and service and environment creation; and override YAML values in Harness and Rancher.
• Run UC4 batch jobs, analyze Rancher logs, validate Kafka message loads and database loads, and deserialize Kafka topics.
• Provide stakeholders with accurate timelines and meet deadlines without compromising product quality.
• Serve as the point of contact for assigned applications and provide support as needed.
• Prioritize, assign, and balance team workload according to timelines.
• Continuously improve QA processes and technologies and drive automation across multiple areas.
• Guide and mentor team members, including supporting their career growth through Individual Development Plans.

Benefits

• Hybrid work environment with up to two remote-work days per week.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Student loan repayment assistance.
• Technology stipend for connecting to the network while working remotely.
• Generous paid time off and parental leave.
• 401(k) employer match.
• Competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• Discretionary annual incentive compensation; target incentive range of 8% to 15%, not guaranteed.
• Employee wellness and work-life-balance support in a collaborative environment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior