Founding SDET

Plotline Inc.; Bengaluru; Hybrid; INR 1,500,000 - 2,700,000; Full time

Job summary

Plotline Inc. is seeking a Founding SDET to own end-to-end quality for our AI‑driven product. You will shape QA strategy, build automation from scratch, and partner with founders to influence product architecture and release processes.

The role demands hands-on test engineering, high code quality, and the ability to operate with entrepreneurial drive in a fast-growing startup.

Qualifications

• 4–6 years of experience in test engineering (SDET, QA Automation, or equivalent roles)
• Proven track record building automation frameworks for B2B SaaS or AI/ML products
• Experience as founding or early team QA/SDET is a major plus

Responsibilities

• Test Strategy: Develop and implement comprehensive QA strategies across functional, integration, and system testing
• Automation Ownership: Architect, build, and maintain automated testing frameworks for web, APIs, and backend systems
• CI/CD Integration: Ensure that quality gates and automated checks are integral to the deployment pipeline
• Tooling: Evaluate, introduce, and maintain testing tools tailored to our product and scale
• Product Quality & Release Engineering: Define release criteria, support releases, and ensure smooth rollouts
• Developer Productivity: Partner with engineers to make testing easy, fast, and effective
• Documentation: Drive creation of testing documentation and best practices

Skills

SDET

QA Automation

Team Collaboration

Tools

Selenium

Playwright

Cypress

REST API Testing

Job description

Join a small, high-output team building the future of in-app engagement. Work on hard problems that matter at scale.

Founding SDET

Location

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Founding SDET

Join our rapidly growing AI startup as a Founding SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) and own the end-to-end quality strategy for our product. This role is for an exceptional engineer who combines strategic test planning with hands‑on automation, enabling us to deliver reliable, scalable AI‑powered experiences to our rapidly expanding customer base. As a founding team member, you’ll work closely with our founders and product teams to define, build, and scale Plotline’s QA processes from the ground up.

Plotline is backed by Elevation Capital and powers user experiences for customers like Dream11, Upstox, Zepto, and more.

Why This Role Matters

Build the QA vision and systems for a high-growth, product-led AI company

Work directly with founders to influence core product architecture and release processes

Ensure every user touchpoint is robust, reliable, and delightful at scale

We’re seeking a rare mix of deep technical expertise, hands‑on test engineering, and entrepreneurial drive to set our quality bar high from day one.

About This Role

Quality Velocity: Delivering high test coverage with fast iteration and minimal bottlenecks

Infrastructure from Scratch: Designing scalable and maintainable automation frameworks for end-to-end and integration testing

This is an opportunity to shape our entire approach to shipping bulletproof products and develop expertise in testing complex AI-driven systems at a scaling startup.

Outcomes Expected

Q1 Objectives: Set up robust automation frameworks and integrate them into the CI/CD pipeline

Year 1 Objectives: Build processes and tooling that enable fast, safe, and reliable product delivery, with quality metrics showing measurable improvements

Responsibilities

Test Strategy: Develop and implement comprehensive QA strategies across functional, integration, and system testing

Automation Ownership: Architect, build, and maintain automated testing frameworks for web, APIs, and backend systems

CI/CD Integration: Ensure that quality gates and automated checks are integral to the deployment pipeline

Tooling: Evaluate, introduce, and maintain testing tools tailored to our product and scale

Product Quality & Release Engineering

Bug Prevention: Engage early in product design and architecture reviews to reduce defects before code is written

Test Case Development: Write and maintain detailed, reusable, and effective test cases

Performance & Security: Design tests for scalability, performance, and security, especially for AI/ML features

Release Readiness: Define release criteria, support releases, and ensure smooth rollouts

Developer Productivity: Partner with engineers to make testing easy, fast, and effective

Documentation: Drive creation of testing documentation and best practices

Requirements

Professional Experience

4–6 years of experience in test engineering (SDET, QA Automation, or equivalent roles)

Proven track record building automation frameworks and driving QA for B2B SaaS or AI/ML products

Experience as a founding or early team QA/SDET is a major plus

Technical Proficiency

Automation Tools: Hands‑on experience with modern test automation tools (Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar)

CI/CD: Familiarity with CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, CircleCI, etc.)

API Testing: Strong command of REST API and load/performance testing

Core Competencies

Quality Leadership

Pragmatic Ownership: Balances test coverage with speed and business needs

Process Builder: Establishes scalable test and release processes that will grow with the team

Technical Execution

Hands‑On Delivery: Personally implements and maintains test automation with high code quality

Debugging: Skilled at identifying root causes of complex failures

Team Player: Works side‑by‑side with developers, product, and ops to drive a quality culture

Clarity: Explains complex technical concepts clearly, in writing and meetings

Startup Agility

Fast Iteration: Acts quickly on feedback and balances perfection with speed

Resourcefulness: Delivers results with lean resources and creative approaches

Growth Mindset

Continuously evolves testing strategies as the product and team scale

Work at scale

Move fast

Small team, no bureaucracy. Your work goes from idea to production in days, not months.

Hard problems

Real‑time triggers at sub‑100ms latency, SDK performance on millions of devices, no‑code UI builders — genuinely hard engineering challenges.

Customer obsessed

We work directly with world‑class product and growth teams at companies like Dream11, CoinDCX, and Zepto.