Software Test Automation Architect

Guidewire•San Mateo, CA

23h•$172,000 - $270,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Our Product Development & Operations (PDO) organization builds and runs the cloud platform that P&C insurers around the world rely on to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver secure, scalable solutions that power mission-critical insurance workflows in the cloud. You’ll join a highly collaborative engineering culture that values inclusive teamwork, technical depth, and continuous improvement across our modern, cloud-native stack. As a Software Test Automation Architect, you will own the vision, design, and evolution of our test automation frameworks and quality tooling for Guidewire Cloud and our AI-augmented product portfolio. You’ll spend most of your time hands-on - building resilient test infrastructure, integrating automation into CI/CD for zero-downtime releases, and shaping how we use AI agents to transform continuous testing. Working closely with product, platform, and SRE teams, you’ll be a key driver of PDO priorities around operational excellence, GenAI adoption, and measurable customer value, directly supporting Guidewire’s mission to transform how the world’s P&C insurers do business.

Requirements

12+ years of hands-on experience in software testing, test automation, and framework or platform-level test architecture for complex, distributed systems.
Strong programming skills in one or more of: Java, Python, or JavaScript, including building libraries, services, and tooling used by other engineers.
Deep understanding of distributed systems concepts such as consistency, availability, fault tolerance, durability, and consensus patterns, and how these impact testing strategies and quality architecture.
Proven expertise in REST API test automation using frameworks such as Karate or Cucumber, plus experience with browser automation tools like Selenium WebDriver, Playwright, or TestCafe.
Hands-on experience testing and automating workloads running in containers and Kubernetes, including environment provisioning, test data strategies, and observability integration.
Practical experience designing or integrating AI/GenAI-based solutions or agents into engineering workflows (for example, test generation, code analysis, intelligent triage, or anomaly detection).
Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills, with a clear bias toward automation, simplification, and building for long-term maintainability.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of influencing cross-functional teams and driving alignment on quality and reliability goals.

Nice To Haves

Experience in large-scale SaaS, cloud, or platform engineering environments, ideally in fintech, insurtech, or other highly regulated domains.
Background in data-intensive systems and analytics platforms, including experience validating data pipelines, schemas (Avro/Parquet), and data quality at scale.
Familiarity with performance, resiliency, and chaos testing strategies for microservices and event-driven architectures.
Prior experience contributing to organization-wide quality strategies, technical standards, or enabling frameworks used across multiple product lines.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end architecture and evolution of test automation frameworks and tooling across critical Guidewire Cloud and AI-powered services, ensuring they meet PDO reliability, security, and performance goals.
Spend at least 70% of your time hands-on designing, implementing, and optimizing automation frameworks (API, UI, data, contract, and performance) using languages such as Java, Python, or JavaScript.
Embed comprehensive automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to support zero-downtime, high-confidence releases, partnering with SRE to improve speed and stability of delivery.
Design, prototype, and integrate AI and agentic testing capabilities to enhance test generation, data creation, defect detection, and edge-case discovery in line with Guidewire’s GenAI and Agentic AI Platform strategy.
Collaborate with architects, product managers, and engineering leaders to define quarterly and annual quality objectives that support PDO priorities around operational excellence, cloud adoption, and customer-centric outcomes.
Establish best practices, coding standards, and governance for test automation in distributed, microservices-based environments using Docker, Kubernetes, and modern data formats (e.g., Avro, Parquet).
Mentor and influence SDETs and software engineers across teams, scaling quality practices through design reviews, pair programming, and reusable patterns that reduce time-to-value for new products and markets.
Through this work, you’ll directly support Guidewire’s mission to transform how the world’s P&C insurers do business by delivering secure, resilient cloud services and AI-powered experiences that help customers engage, innovate, and grow efficiently.