Principal Software Engineer

Onto Innovation•Wilmington, MA

11d•$144,000 - $216,000

About The Position

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Software Engineer in Test to drive quality engineering practices across our software development lifecycle. This role combines deep technical expertise in test automation with leadership responsibilities, ensuring high-quality, scalable, and reliable software systems. The ideal candidate will lead a team of SDETs, define testing strategies, and collaborate closely with engineering, product, and DevOps teams.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
8+ years of experience in software testing/quality engineering.
3+ years in a technical leadership or team lead role.
Strong programming skills in languages such as Java, Python, C#, or JavaScript.
Expertise in test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Appium, RestAssured).
Experience with API testing, microservices architecture, and distributed systems.
Experience with generative/agentic AI tools like MS Copilot
Hands-on experience with CI/CD tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps).
Strong understanding of Agile/Scrum methodologies.

Nice To Haves

Experience with performance testing tools (e.g., JMeter, Gatling, k6).
Knowledge of containerization and cloud platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Azure).
Familiarity with test data management and service virtualization.
Experience implementing test strategies in large-scale, enterprise environments.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Software Engineers in Test.
Define and implement the overall quality strategy, test architecture, and automation roadmap.
Establish best practices for test automation, CI/CD integration, and quality engineering.
Drive a shift-left testing approach and promote a culture of quality ownership across teams.
Design, develop, and maintain scalable test automation frameworks (UI, API, performance, and integration).
Ensure high test coverage through automated testing strategies.
Improve test reliability, execution speed, and maintainability.
Conduct root cause analysis of defects and implement preventive measures.
Contribute to code reviews, ensuring testability and quality standards.
Partner with developers, product managers, and DevOps engineers to define acceptance criteria and quality metrics.
Participate in sprint planning, backlog grooming, and release planning.
Advocate for testability, observability, and resilience in system design.
Work closely with CI/CD teams to integrate automated tests into pipelines.
Define, track, and report quality KPIs (defect density, test coverage, automation pass rate, etc.).
Drive continuous improvement of testing processes and tools.
Ensure compliance with performance, security, and scalability standards.