Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Irish Life Group Services Limited; Dublin; On-site; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Canada Life Group Services in Dublin is seeking a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to assure the quality of the Xempus platform with a focus on automated API testing using REST Assured and integration testing. The successful candidate will have at least three years of testing experience, including hands-on test automation and strong Java skills.

The role supports QA activities within an Agile Scrum team and CI/CD pipelines, with opportunities to contribute to test automation

Qualifications

• Minimum of three years testing experience, including hands-on test automation.
• Strong Java skills and API/UI testing experience.
• Experience with REST Assured for API testing.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and test automation in a team.
• Experience with BDD, Gherkin, Cucumber and JUnit.
• Knowledge of agile/scrum delivery and quality risk assessment.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to test planning, identifying functional, regression, integration and edge-case scenarios.
• Develop, maintain and run automated tests for APIs, services and UI components.
• Ensure clear test coverage and traceability for new features.
• Collaborate with Product Owner and delivery teams to validate acceptance criteria.

Skills

Java

REST Assured

BDD (Gherkin)

JUnit

Cucumber

SDET fundamentals

CI/CD

Education

Third-level qualification (honours degree)

Tools

Selenium

Jenkins

Azure Pipelines

Maven

Job description

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Location: Dublin, IE

Canada Life Assurance Europe plc (‘CLE’) is a dynamic insurance company with over 700 people across our offices in Germany and Ireland. We have been operating in Germany since 2000 and have established a fast-growing presence in one of the world’s largest and most established markets. We specialise in providing innovative unit-linked pension, savings, and protection solutions and have become a trusted partner for life insurance products distributed through independent brokers. It is our priority to support our customers at every stage of life with the best products and service, tailored to their needs – and we’re doing it all in a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees.

Role Overview

Canada Life Europe (CLE) is seeking a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to join the Advisor Experience Team. The role will focus on assuring the quality and reliability of the Xempus platform, with particular emphasis on automated API testing using REST Assured and integration testing.

The successful candidate will have a minimum of three years testing experience, including hands‑on test automation and strong Java skills.

What you will help us to achieve

• Contribute to test planning by identifying functional, regression, integration and edge‑case scenarios.
• Develop, maintain and execute automated tests for applications, services and APIs, including API test automation using REST Assured.
• Test business rules and integration journeys within the Xempus platform.
• Contribute to scalable test automation solutions in line with agreed patterns, practices and architectural guidelines.
• Ensure clear, appropriate and traceable test coverage for new and existing system features.
• Log, reproduce and support triage of defects with developers and the wider delivery team.
• Work with the Product Owner and delivery team to understand business requirements and undertake quality assurance activities, including reviewing acceptance criteria, identifying quality risks and validating developed solutions.
• Support the integration of automated tests into CI/CD pipelines, with guidance where needed.
• Perform exploratory and manual testing when automation is unsuitable or additional assurance is required.
• Participate in peer reviews of automated test code and follow agreed coding, documentation and version‑control standards.
• Maintain test data, test environments and test documentation relevant to assigned work.
• Work as part of a Scrum team using Agile values, principles and practices.
• Contribute to continuous improvement in testing practices, tooling and ways of working within the delivery team and the CLE Quality Practice, including researching relevant tools, methodologies and industry trends.

More specific responsibilities will include

Key Strengths:

• Practical database testing experience, including functional testing with an awareness of load, capacity and performance considerations.
• Ability to create reliable automated integration, functional and regression tests, and clearly communicate automated test execution and coverage results.
• Experience testing B2B integrations, preferably within group pensions, employee benefits or the wider Financial Services sector.
• Solid Java skills, with experience automating tests at API and UI level.
• Experience working in a test‑driven environment and with Continuous Integration pipelines to build and execute feature and regression tests.
• Working knowledge of code‑quality metrics, quality gates and the value of effective unit‑test coverage.
• Agile tester mindset, able to select proportionate test approaches that maximise the value of automation and support Continuous Delivery.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the confidence to raise quality risks and advocate for testable, high‑quality software.

Technologies & Frameworks:

• Hands‑on API test automation using REST Assured is essential.
• Experience of BDD practices and associated tooling, including Gherkin, Cucumber and JUnit.
• Experience of UI test automation tooling, such as Selenium, Serenity or equivalent frameworks and libraries.
• Java (latest versions preferable).
• Relational database testing and SQL.
• Web and service communication technologies, including HTTP/HTTPS, SOAP and RESTful APIs.
• Authentication and authorisation technologies, such as OAuth 2.0 and SAML.
• Version control using Git, including platforms such as Azure Repos or Azure DevOps.
• Continuous Integration and automated build tooling, such as Jenkins, Azure Pipelines or equivalent.
• Build and dependency‑management tooling, particularly Maven.

What you will need to be successful in the role

Essential Skills:

• Experience maintaining and extending automated test suites or frameworks and contributing to framework improvements within agreed patterns and guidance.
• Ability to contribute to test approaches for user stories and features, identify appropriate test types, and implement proportionate automated testing.
• Good Java development skills and experience writing automated integration, API, functional, regression and/or BDD tests.
• Experience testing RESTful APIs using REST Assured, including validating request and response payloads, HTTP status codes, headers, authentication, error handling and integration behaviour.
• Experience developing and maintaining BDD test suites using Gherkin, Cucumber and JUnit.
• Experience working with automated builds and CI/CD pipelines to execute feature, integration and regression test suites.
• Understanding of effective test delivery practices, including defect management, test reporting and communicating quality risks.
• Experience working collaboratively within an Agile delivery team.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Desired Skills:

• Previous experience testing group pension scheme systems.
• Previous experience working in Financial Services or another regulated environment.
• Written and/or spoken German.
• Experience using Jenkins or comparable tooling for build and release management.
• Experience with PowerShell or Bash scripting.

Additional skills

Personal Strengths:

• A proactive and collaborative team member who can implement sound testing solutions within agreed integration patterns, architectural principles and engineering guidelines.
• Willingness to share knowledge, support colleagues and seek guidance when appropriate.
• Passionate about quality, curious about technology and motivated to improve testing practices, delivery processes and customer outcomes.
• Able to communicate quality risks clearly, constructively and at the appropriate time.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Minimum of three years’ experience in software testing, including hands‑on test automation experience.
• Third‑level qualification (honours degree), preferably in a related discipline, or equivalent experience.

The company reserves the right to draw up a shortlist as part of the selection process. Where Agency assistance is required the Canada Life Recruitment Team will engage directly with suppliers. Unsolicited CVs / profiles supplied to Canada Life by Recruitment Agencies will not be accepted for this role.

Canada Life Group Services is proud to be an Equal Opportunities employer. We have created an environment of inclusion and growth to help people achieve their potential, to ensure they can bring their whole selves to work and to feel valued. We celebrate diversity of thought and perspective and want all of our employees to feel valued, respected and supported. We have built a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees and strive to ensure that our behaviours, processes and practices are aligned to this culture.

If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process please contact [e-mail] and we will be delighted to ensure you are fully supported to be your best.

CLGS supports Equal Opportunity and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.