Senior SDET Software Development Engineer UI API

***We are unable to sponsor for this permanent full-time role***

***Position is bonus eligible***

Prestigious Financial Institution is currently seeking a Sr. SDET Software Development Engineer with strong Java, UI, and API development experience. Candidate will partner closely with developers, product owners, and platform engineers to embed quality throughout the software lifecycle — from sprint planning through production release. 

Responsibilities:

Test Automation & Framework Development 

• Design, build, and maintain scalable UI and API test automation frameworks using Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, TestNG/JUnit, and Rest Assured. 

• Author clear, maintainable Gherkin feature files and Java step definitions that serve as living documentation for the team. 

• Leverage Docker containers to ensure consistent, reproducible test environments across local, CI, and staging contexts. 

• Evaluate and pilot emerging tools — including Playwright — to continuously improve automation speed and reliability. 

• Integrate Claude Code (Anthropic's AI-powered coding assistant) to accelerate test generation, reduce boilerplate, and assist in root cause analysis of test failures. 

CI/CD & Environment Management 

• Integrate automated test suites into Jenkins CI/CD pipelines, ensuring tests run reliably on every build and deployment, with source code managed in Git/GitHub (or equivalent version control system). 

• Manage service deployments, scaling, and operation of test environments using Harness and Rancher. 

• Maintain and improve pipeline configurations written in YAML/Groovy to support fast, reliable feedback loops. 

Performance & API Testing 

• Design and execute REST API tests using Postman and Cucumber BDD to validate service contracts and edge-case behaviors. 

• Conduct performance and load testing with JMeter to validate system scalability under realistic trading-day volumes. 

Quality Metrics & Reporting 

• Track defects and test results in SpiraTest and Jira, maintaining clear traceability from requirements through test execution. 

• Generate test metric dashboards via SpiraTest and Splunk to surface quality trends and support data-driven release decisions. 

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement 

• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies — sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives — as an embedded quality advocate. 

• Mentor teammates on automation best practices and support a culture of shared ownership over quality. 

• Conduct testability reviews and risk assessments during design and code review phases to catch issues early. 

• Recommend improvements to test design for reduced redundancy and greater coverage efficiency. 

Qualifications:

• Proven hands-on experience designing and maintaining test automation frameworks with Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, TestNG/JUnit, and Rest Assured. 

• Familiarity with test environment deployments and scaling using Harness and Rancher. 

• Experience integrating automated test suites into Jenkins CI/CD pipelines, including generating quality metric reports through SpiraTest and Splunk. 

• Solid understanding of software testing lifecycle (STLC), Agile methodologies, and defect management workflows. 

• Proficiency with Java, JavaScript, Gherkin, Gradle, XPath, YAML, and JSON in a testing context. 
• Hands-on experience with Git and GitHub (or a comparable version control platform such as GitLab or Bitbucket), including branching strategies, pull request workflows, and code review practices. 
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools, particularly Claude Code, for accelerating test authoring and analysis. 

• Background in financial services or regulated industry environments. 

• Experience with contract or schema-based API testing. 

Technical Skills

• Test Automation 

Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, TestNG, JUnit, Rest Assured, Postman 

• Languages 

Java, JavaScript, Gherkin, XPath, YAML, JSON 

• Build & CI/CD 

Gradle, Jenkins, Harness 

• Version Control 

Git, GitHub (or GitLab / Bitbucket) 

• Containerization 

Docker, Rancher 

• Performance Testing 

JMeter 

• Test Management 

SpiraTest, Jira 

• Observability 

Splunk 

• AI-Assisted Dev 

Claude Code (Anthropic) 

• Emerging / PoC 

Playwright 

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Information Systems, or a closely related field
• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience as a Software Test Engineer or equivalent role. 
• No formal certifications are required. Relevant certifications (e.g., ISTQB, AWS, or vendor-specific tool certifications) are a plus.