Senior Automation Test Engineer Salary in Bangalore / Bengaluru (Updated 2025)

Likes

Salary is decent in India Software Labs, equivalent of Tier 2 PBCs. RSUs are also given to employees who perform well. IBM has turned its tech suite around after the RedHat acquisition, even for z/mainframe products. Newer tech stack is being implemented at breakneck pace, enough to overwhelm senior developers as well. Lots of opportunities to learn new stuff, including agentic AI. Job security is better than other PBCs for employees who perform well, but expect PIPs.

Dislikes

You will get stuck in one job band for a very long time. Promotions from 7B to 8 are very hard in particular. Also, IBM India is the only entity among all IBM entities to have A and B subbands till job level 7 (tech lead), effectively prohibiting your growth to a decision-making position for a longer time. Indian management, especially managers who have moved laterally from IBM Consulting, is extremely orthodox, and technically inept. If your product delivery is controlled by an onshore lab (U.S., U.K., Germany, etc), expect the Indian management to have no understanding of what it is that you are doing on a day-to-day basis, and to be at loggerheads with the onshore managers. You, an ordinary employee, will no doubt be caught in the crossfire.