Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Thinkific Labs Inc.; Canada; Remote; CAD 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading learning technology platform in Canada is seeking a Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to lead the design of testing frameworks and drive automation practices. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in building automated test frameworks and collaborating with cross-functional teams to improve quality. This position offers a competitive salary, flexible work options, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Flexible Paid Time Off

Health benefits from Day 1

Learning & growth opportunities

Home office setup

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in automation and software testing including building automation frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of end-to-end, integration, and API testing.
• Comfortable working in distributed systems and cloud-based architectures.

Responsibilities

• Lead the evolution of testing automation strategy with scalable frameworks.
• Develop automation suites across front end, back end, services.
• Mentor engineers and SDETs while uplifting their skills.

Skills

Automation framework design

End-to-end testing

API testing

CI/CD tools

Ruby on Rails

React applications

Mentorship

Tools

Playwright

Cypress

Selenium

JMeter

Grafana

New Relic

Job description

Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Thinkific is a learning commerce platform. We unite community, courses, and content with commerce, so experts and businesses can create transformative learning experiences to grow their revenue. We build products that create impact and raise the bar on what’s possible through online learning.

Our team of 300+ Thinkers supports learning businesses around the globe, while working collaboratively to learn, grow, and succeed together. Join us to see how we’re building one of the best workplaces in North American tech!

We believe every candidate should have a fair, inclusive, and overall great experience when exploring a new role with Thinkific. Our hiring team is here to guide you through each step, so you always know what to expect!

Are you passionate about testing and get excited by helping to shape the testing strategy and framework at an organizational level? We’re looking for a Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to join us at Thinkific.

As a Senior SDET you will lead the design and evolution of our testing frameworks, enable teams to adopt best in class automation practices, and expand our overall test coverage across front end, back end and distributed systems. You will partner with Engineering, QA, Product and Operations teams to improve quality, strengthen CI/CD pipelines and influence how we build reliable software at Thinkific.

In this role you will provide technical leadership, mentorship and architectural guidance while helping teams deliver confidently through automation, observability and continuous improvement practices. You will report to the Engineering Manager and play a critical role in shaping Thinkific’s quality strategy.

Your goal will be to advocate for quality at all times and keep the development team accountable to QA best practices. Here’s how you’ll accomplish this:

• Lead the evolution of Thinkific’s test automation strategy by designing scalable and maintainable automation frameworks for web, API, integration and component level testing
• Develop advanced automation suites across front end, back end, services and integrations using modern tools such as Playwright, Cypress, Selenium or similar
• Drive improvements to our CI/CD delivery pipeline by optimizing build efficiency, reliability and parallelization
• Act as a technical mentor and coach for engineers and SDETs while elevating skills in test design, automation patterns and quality best practices
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Developers, QA and Operations to ensure clarity of requirements, testability and quality expectations
• Establish test strategies and quality guardrails for large features, system redesigns, architectural initiatives and cross team projects
• Introduce and evaluate new tools, frameworks and testing technologies through POCs and experimentation
• Influence long term quality direction by contributing to the QA automation roadmap and organizational testing strategy
• Champion observability and monitoring using tools such as Grafana, Prometheus, New Relic or similar to improve product reliability
• Lead root cause analysis for complex issues and ensure preventive automation is created as part of a continuous quality mindset
• Maintain and enforce quality assurance policies and procedures for consistency across teams and product areas

The person we have in mind likely:

• Has 5 plus years of experience in automation and software testing including building automation frameworks and guiding teams
• Demonstrates deep expertise in end-to-end testing, integration testing, API testing and service level automation using tools like Playwright, Cypress, Selenium or Protractor
• Has strong experience designing automated test frameworks for Ruby on Rails and React applications
• Understands modern software engineering principles, testing patterns and automation architecture
• Has hands‑on experience with CI and CD tools such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins or Semaphore and has optimized pipelines at scale
• Possesses strong knowledge of quality engineering including test strategy, testability analysis, test design patterns and risk based testing
• Has experience with monitoring, observability and log aggregation tools such as Grafana, Prometheus, New Relic or Airbrake
• Brings experience with performance and load testing using tools like JMeter, K6 or Gatling
• Is comfortable working in distributed systems, microservices or cloud based architectures
• Excels at mentorship, technical leadership and uplifting others through coaching and pairing
• Is a creative problem solver who thrives in ambiguous or fast moving environments
• Communicates effectively to influence cross team decisions and drive alignment
• Loves to learn, experiment and explore new technologies while bringing fresh ideas to elevate quality across the organization

These things would also be nice, but we think you could learn them on the job:

• Experience establishing testing standards and governance across multiple teams
• Experience shaping or owning a company wide test automation roadmap
• Experience with AI driven testing tools or autonomous test generation
• Familiarity with education technology platforms or LMS systems
• Experience building test environments, synthetic data systems or contract testing frameworks

We’re committed to fair and transparent pay that reflects both where you’re at and where you can grow. This role has a salary range of $86,400-$108,000-$129,600 in Canada, designed to capture the full journey from developing skills to excelling in the position. Most new hires start between the minimum and midpoint, which aligns with being fully capable in the role. Salaries above the midpoint are typically reserved for team members who have demonstrated strong, consistent performance, deep expertise, and a significant positive impact within the role.

For high-demand or hard-to-fill positions like this one, we may hire above midpoint for candidates who bring exceptional experience, skills, or impact potential.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging & Accessibility

This is just our initial idea of who we’re looking for! At Thinkific, we know that people have unique career journeys. If your experience is close to what we’ve described but you feel that you might be missing a few of the requirements, please still apply! We believe in equal opportunity and are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging across every facet of our business.

We’re also committed to providing a comfortable and accessible interview experience for every candidate. If there are any accommodations our team can make throughout our hiring process (big or small), please let us know.

What you can expect if you join Thinkific:

👏 An amazing team of talented, passionate, and kind Thinkers. Together, we’ve built an amazing, award-winning culture—we’re a Certified Great Place to Work and one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures by Waterstone!

🚀 The chance to build, improve, and innovate on a platform that’s driving positive impact for thousands of businesses and millions of students around the world.

💸 A competitive compensation package including base salary, equity, team-wide bonuses, and an Employee Share Purchase Plan.

🌴Flexible Paid Time Off to maintain mental and physical health. Our team is encouraged to take a minimum 4 weeks of vacation, plus Thinker Holidays (extended long weekends in the summer) and time off for the December holiday season.

🩺 Health Benefits and Wellness: Comprehensive benefits starting on Day 1 include health, vision, and dental coverage for you and your family, $3,000 for mental health care, a short-term health plan, and an additional health or personal spending account. Plus, family friendly benefits include generous parental leave top-ups for up to 32 weeks, as well as fertility coverage and personalized return to work options.

💻 Flexible Work. Choose to work from home from anywhere in Canada, at our Vancouver HQ, a co-working space, or anywhere there’s wifi for a change of scenery.

⬆️ Learning & Growth. An annual $1500 USD Learn and Grow fund for conferences, seminars, or courses, plus training, mentorship, coaching, and internal promotion opportunities.

🏡 A home office setup so you’re ready to succeed with a company-owned Macbook Pro and a budget to order a desk, chair, or any accessories to help you work comfortably and productively.

💙 A place where you can bring your whole self to work. We know that different perspectives lead to amazing ideas, more innovation, and, ultimately, our success as a company. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, experiences, beliefs, identities, and statuses. Whoever you are—we can’t wait to meet you!

The Thinkific Vancouver office operates on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations of the Coast Salish People. We encourage everyone to learn more about the original caretakers of the land that you currently occupy.