SDET Manager

SDET MANAGER
(Full Time, Salary, Exempt)

Looking to join a growing company dedicated to helping others? We offer that, plus competitive salaries, a culture of learning, and a fast-paced environment. This is a hybrid position with 3 days in-office. Join our team to help make a difference in the lives of others! 

About Continental General:
The Continental General family of companies has provided insurance, including life and long-term care policies, to individuals and groups for over 30 years, and currently supports over 100,000 policyholders. Both our insurance company, Continental General Insurance Company, and our third-party administrator, Continental General Services, are committed to the continuous development of our infrastructure, processes, and people. The group is actively growing through expansion of both its insurance portfolio and its administrative services. With each opportunity, we take a collaborative approach to address challenges and provide unique solutions.

Position Summary:
The Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) Manager will lead and manage the SDET team, ensuring that all insurance products and systems meet the highest standards of quality and reliability through robust test automation and engineering practices. This role involves developing and implementing testing strategies, building scalable test automation frameworks, managing resources, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality software solutions. The SDET Manager will play a critical role in maintaining the integrity of our systems, ensuring that they align with business goals, regulatory requirements, and customer expectations

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Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership & Management:
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of SDETs, ensuring their continuous professional growth and technical excellence.
  • Manage the SDET team's workload, priorities, and schedules to meet project deadlines.
  • Establish and enforce quality standards, coding practices, and best practices across the SDET team.
  • Conduct performance reviews, provide career guidance, and foster a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
  • Recruit, hire, and onboard talented SDETs to build a high-performing team.
• Test Strategy & Planning:
  • Develop and implement comprehensive test strategies and plans for all products, including functional, regression, performance, security, and API testing.
  • Collaborate with product management, development, and operations teams to understand requirements and define test plans that ensure coverage of all scenarios.
  • Design and architect scalable test automation frameworks, integrating them into CI/CD pipelines.
  • Define test data management strategies and implement solutions for test environment provisioning.
• Test Automation & Development:
  • Design, develop, and maintain automated test scripts and frameworks using industry-standard tools and programming languages.
  • Build and maintain API testing frameworks for RESTful and SOAP services.
  • Develop performance and load testing solutions to ensure system scalability and reliability.
  • Create reusable test libraries, utilities, and components to accelerate test automation efforts.
  • Implement test automation best practices, including page object models, data-driven testing, and behavior-driven development (BDD).
  • Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code following software engineering principles.
• Quality Assurance:
  • Oversee the execution of all testing activities, ensuring that products are thoroughly tested and meet all quality criteria before release.
  • Review and approve test cases, scripts, and test data to ensure accuracy and completeness.
  • Identify and manage risks related to quality, including the impact of defects on project timelines and deliverables.
  • Ensure compliance with industry regulations, company policies, and best practices in all QA activities.
  • Implement shift-left testing practices to identify defects early in the development lifecycle.
• Process Improvement & Automation:
  • Drive the adoption of test automation across the organization, reducing manual testing efforts and increasing test coverage.
  • Continuously assess and improve QA processes to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability.
  • Lead initiatives to enhance CI/CD pipelines with automated testing, code quality checks, and deployment validation.
  • Implement metrics and KPIs to measure the effectiveness of the QA process and drive continuous improvement.
  • Establish code review processes for test automation code to ensure quality and maintainability.
  • Evaluate and integrate new testing tools, frameworks, and technologies to improve testing capabilities.
• Technical Leadership:
  • Provide technical guidance and expertise to the SDET team on complex testing challenges.
  • Establish coding standards and best practices for test automation development.
  • Conduct code reviews for test automation scripts and frameworks.
  • Research and implement emerging testing technologies and methodologies.
  • Collaborate with development teams to improve testability and quality of application code.
• Collaboration & Communication:
  • Act as the primary point of contact for all SDET-related activities, providing regular updates to stakeholders on the status of testing efforts.
  • Work closely with the development team to ensure defects are properly documented, tracked, and resolved in a timely manner.
  • Facilitate communication between the SDET team and other departments, ensuring alignment on quality goals and objectives.
  • Participate in architecture and design reviews to provide input on testability and quality considerations.
• Reporting & Documentation:
  • Prepare and present detailed reports on test results, defect metrics, automation coverage, and overall product quality to senior management.
  • Maintain documentation of test plans, test cases, automation frameworks, and QA processes to ensure traceability and compliance.
  • Ensure all QA activities are well-documented and easily accessible for future reference and audits.
  • Track and report on test automation ROI and efficiency gains.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• A minimum of 6 years of experience in software development and quality assurance, with at least 2 years in a leadership or management role.
• Strong software development background with proven experience in building and maintaining test automation frameworks.
• Experience in the insurance or finance industry or with insurance or finance products is highly preferred.

Competencies:

• Strong understanding of software testing methodologies, tools, and processes.
• Proven experience in designing, developing, and implementing scalable test automation frameworks from scratch.
• Expert-level programming skills with the ability to write clean, maintainable, and efficient code.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills, with a track record of building and leading high-performing SDET teams.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to convey complex technical information to non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment while managing multiple priorities.
• Deep understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and Agile/Scrum methodologies.

Technical Skills:

• Proficiency in test management tools (e.g., JIRA, TestRail, Zephyr).
• Expert experience with test automation tools and frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium WebDriver, TestNG, JUnit, NUnit, pytest).
• Strong programming skills in multiple languages (e.g., JavaScript, TypeScript, C#, Java, Python).
• Experience with API testing tools (e.g., Postman, REST Assured, SoapUI).
• Proficiency with performance testing tools (e.g., JMeter, Gatling, K6).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and tools (e.g., AWS CodePipeline, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Knowledge of database testing and SQL, including writing complex queries for data validation.
• Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git) and branching strategies.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure) and testing in cloud environments.
• Understanding of security testing principles and tools.
• Well versed in Agile and DevOps methodologies.
• Experience with behavior-driven development (BDD) frameworks.

What We Offer:

• Opportunity to shape and drive the future of a new business in a fast-growing company.
• A collaborative and innovative team culture.
• Professional growth opportunities

Benefits:

• Competitive Salary & Target Bonus Program
• Retirement Savings – 401(k) with a company match
• Comprehensive Healthcare – Medical (BlueCross BlueShield), company-paid dental, vision, short-term & long-term disability, and life insurance.
• Work-Life Balance – 20 days of PTO, 10 paid holidays, and paid volunteer time off.
• Flexible Work Options & Perks – Hybrid and remote opportunities, wellness programs, and weekly paid lunch for onsite staff.
• Health Savings & Flexible Spending Accounts – Includes a company match for HSAs.

Salary : $140,000 - $160,000