Senior Test Engineer (Contract)

Side•Charleston, SC

29d

About The Position

Here at Side, we are seeking a Senior Test Engineer with strong technical and analytical skills to support the testing and quality assurance of our large language model (LLM) and related applications. This is not a crowd-sourced or entry-level QA role, rather, it’s a hands-on position suited for a professional who can operate autonomously, identify gaps, and maintain a high-quality testing standard across a fast-moving development environment. You’ll work closely with engineering and product teams to validate new features, perform regression testing, and ensure smooth functionality across both user-facing and backend systems. A general understanding of LLMs and related APIs is essential, as well as comfort with developer tools and technical testing environments.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in Quality Assurance or Software Testing, preferably within AI, SaaS, or developer tooling environments.
Proven experience creating and executing test cases, managing test cycles, and validating both frontend and backend functionality.
Familiarity with large language models (LLMs), generative AI systems, or NLP products.
Strong understanding of API testing and developer tools (Postman, Swagger, cURL).
Experience with bug tracking systems ( Jira, TestRail, or similar).
Solid grasp of software development lifecycles and QA best practices.
Strong analytical and communication skills, with the ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.

Nice To Haves

Experience testing AI-integrated user interfaces or chat applications.
Familiarity with Python, JavaScript, or other scripting languages for automated or semi-automated test setups.
Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and QA automation tools.

Responsibilities

Execute functionality, regression, and new feature testing for ongoing LLM-driven product releases.
Design, document, and maintain comprehensive test cases and testing frameworks.
Perform UI/UX testing to ensure smooth and intuitive product interactions.
Validate API endpoints, keys, and developer integrations to ensure consistent system behavior.
Review and manage bug reports submitted by offshore QA teams, verifying, reproducing, and escalating as necessary.
Collaborate with engineering teams to track issues through resolution and ensure quality standards are met prior to release.
Provide testing insights to improve QA efficiency, automation coverage, and release confidence.
Stay up to date on LLM behavior, capabilities, and limitations to design effective test strategies.