OpenGov is home to an exceptional team - passionate about our mission to power more effective and accountable government. By bringing the OpenGov Cloud to our nations state and local government, we re transforming communities so they can thrive!
Imagine yourself being able to help small business owners open their doors faster, ensuring our tax dollars are accounted for, creating safer infrastructure , modernizing the permitting process , and assisting with disaster recovery . The work you do here every day has a meaningful impact on peoples lives!
OpenGov is a 2023 Top Workplaces USA award winner and a Forbes Americas Best Startup Employer
Join our smart, fun, and humble team to experience the most rewarding career of your life!
Job Summary:
We are seeking a highly experienced and technically proficient Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Staff SDET) to lead and innovate quality engineering initiatives across our organization. In this critical role, you will define and implement testing standards, mentor teams, and own end-to-end quality strategies for scalable, reliable, secure, and high-performing systems. Collaborating with cross-functional and cross-product teams, you will champion modern testing practices, enhance automation frameworks, and ensure continuous quality across our suite of products.
Responsibilities:
Define and drive the quality strategy across a suite of products, establishing testing standards, quality gates, and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
Collaborate with cross-functional and cross-product teams, including developers, product managers, and architects, to ensure quality is embedded in every phase of the software development lifecycle.
Lead the development and maintenance of scalable test automation frameworks for regression, feature, performance, and system integration testing.
Define process for review of test plans, test cases and automation code ensuring adherence to best practices and maintainability.
Perform exploratory and manual testing for high-priority, time-sensitive, or unscheduled hotfix releases, serving as a safety net for automation gaps.
Continuously improve test automation frameworks by analyzing test failures, optimizing test execution, and incorporating feedback from production observability insights.
Use defect patterns and system telemetry to refine testing practices, ensuring scalability, reliability, and resilience in delivered products.
Own and report on key quality metrics such as test coverage, defect rates, and automation efficiency, providing actionable feedback to stakeholders.
Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines and ensure consistent execution and reporting.
Mentor the Engineering Team on testing best practices, automation strategies, and continuous quality improvement techniques.
Lead cross-functional quality initiatives, fostering a culture of collaboration and shared accountability for quality.
Evaluate and integrate cutting-edge testing tools and methodologies, such as performance testing with k6, security testing, and accessibility testing, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
Drive innovation in quality engineering, contributing to the adoption of AI/ML-driven testing and predictive quality analysis where applicable.
Requirements:
BS/MS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
12+ years of industry experience, with at least 8 years in an SDET role.
Proven experience driving quality improvement across multiple applications or products using a combination of unit tests, integration tests, UI and API tests, load/performance tests, and monitoring tools.
Proficiency in TypeScript and JavaScript.
Hands-on experience with test automation frameworks, including Playwright (preferred), Cypress, Selenium, etc.
Deep understanding of automated testing for REST and GraphQL APIs and microservice architectures.
Hands-on experience with security testing and accessibility testing.
Strong knowledge of cloud-native principles, containerization (e.g., Docker), and orchestration tools (e.g., Kubernetes).
Proficiency in database fundamentals and SQL.
Extensive experience with load/performance testing tools, with preference for k6.
Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines and tools (e.g., GitHub Actions), and experience integrating testing into deployment workflows.
Strong knowledge of Agile methodologies, DevOps principles, and the software development lifecycle.
Effective communicator and collaborator with cross-product and cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and architects.
Proven ability to gather requirements, resolve ambiguities, and create comprehensive testing artifacts and metrics, such as test coverage and execution status.
Experience in quality engineering for SaaS platforms with a solid understanding of system internals.
Proficiency with event-driven architectures and testing event-driven systems is a plus.
Experience with GovTech or FinTech domains is preferred but not required.
What makes OpenGov unique
Leadership: CEO Zac Bookman (MPA from Harvard and JD from Yale) is truly a mission-driven CEO. He was named one of the 100 most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs, a Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and SF and Silicon Valley Business Times 40 under 40 class of 2018 !
Growth: Record breaking growth with 1,800+ governments (and counting) using our products. Click here for read more.
Culture: Winner of 2023 Top Workplaces USA award , Awarded Top 25 Cloud Companies to Work For , Winner of Forbes 2022 Best Startup Employers , 50 Best Workplaces award . Check out our Careers Video !
Product: Named to the GovTech 100 (seven consecutive years), we are the leader in cloud software for our nations cities, counties, and state agencies.
Mission Driven: We are a technology company with a passion for the mission. Were powering more effective and accountable government.