Automation Engineer

Automation Engineer

Location: Maple Grove, MN

Duration :- Direct Hire

Project Scope:

• Part of the Energizers team within the Foundational Modernization domain, supporting modernization efforts that cross policy servicing, policy sales, claims, and accounting.
• Primary project is modernizing high-value batch file transmissions between RH&A systems, including files responsible for processing millions of dollars in claims payments and confirmation files verifying successful processing.
• Team is actively modernizing legacy/monolithic applications toward cloud-based, API-driven architectures.
• This position is replacing a retiring manual QA analyst. Strategic modernization teams are intentionally shifting from manual QA toward Automation Engineers/SDET-style resources.
• Organization is also actively exploring AI throughout the software development lifecycle, including requirements, development, test generation, and validation.

Team Size & Breakdown:

• Agile/sprint-based Energizers team within Foundational Modernization.
• Will have 2 Automation Engineers on the team.
• Automation Engineers are expected to work closely with developers and the broader delivery team rather than operate as isolated QA resources.
• Looking for someone mid-level leaning senior who can operate independently and step outside a traditional QA/testing lane when needed.

Development Methodology:

• Agile/sprint-based development with testing decisions driven by sprint goals and business value.
• API-first testing philosophy: automate at the API layer before adding UI automation where possible.
• Azure DevOps used for CI/CD pipelines and automated test execution.
• Current automation is not consistently used as a deployment gate. Long-term goal is to increase confidence in the automation suite enough that failed tests can appropriately stop deployments.
• Engineers are expected to determine what should be automated versus what makes more sense to test manually, rather than blindly automating every test case.
• Moving toward a more integrated SDET model, where the lines between automation engineering and software development are increasingly blurred.

High-Level Individual Duties:

• Build and maintain automated testing primarily across APIs and UIs, with increasing exposure to integration testing.
• Develop automation primarily using C# and Selenium, currently leveraging a page-object model.
• Help determine the team's automation strategy, including which scenarios provide enough business value to automate.
• Validate critical batch transmissions, APIs, interfaces, and confirmation processes.
• Write SQL queries to locate, manipulate, and validate complex test data independently.
• Integrate automated tests into Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines and help mature testing toward reliable deployment quality gates.
• Work across SQL Server legacy environments and Postgres-based modern applications.
• Operate with an SDET mindset, potentially contributing beyond testing into development, data, or architecture work.
• Leverage and experiment with AI-assisted engineering/testing tools where valuable.

Must-Haves (Concepts & Tools):

• Strong C# experience
• Strong hands-on test automation background
• API testing/automation experience.
• UI automation experience.
• Selenium + C#, ideally using a Page Object Model or similar framework design.
• Strong SQL/querying skills, including the ability to independently identify and validate complex test data.
• CI/CD and automated testing experience, preferably with Azure DevOps (ADO).
• Understanding of automation strategy, specifically knowing when automation provides value versus when manual testing is more practical.
• Modern SDET mindset, comfortable coding and working closely with software engineers.
• Ability to work independently, learn new technologies, and operate outside a narrowly defined QA lane.

Nice-to-Haves:

• Playwright experience. The organization is evaluating it, but it is not currently the enterprise standard.
• Software development-level C# coding ability beyond simply writing automation scripts.
• PostgreSQL experience, particularly since Postgres is the direction for modern/cloud applications.
• SQL Server experience for existing on-prem/legacy applications.
• React exposure.
• Experience testing microservices and API-heavy architectures.
• Strong integration testing experience.
• Experience implementing mature automated CI/CD quality gates where test failures can prevent deployment.
• Experience modernizing or testing legacy monolithic applications transitioning toward microservices/cloud architectures.
• Exposure to AI-assisted engineering/testing tools such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Codex, Bedrock, or Kiro.
• Development, data, or architecture experience beyond traditional QA.
• Crop insurance/agriculture experience is a bonus only, not required. The business domain can be taught.