Principal Software Development Engineer in Test, Core QE

NetSkope Software; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 30,00,000 - 45,00,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading cloud security company in Bengaluru is seeking a Principal Software Development Engineer in Test to drive quality engineering initiatives. This senior leadership role involves defining strategies for test automation and quality metrics while ensuring collaboration across teams. The ideal candidate should have over 13 years of experience and a Master's or Ph.D. in a relevant field. Competitive salary and a dynamic work environment are offered.

Qualifications

• 13+ years of experience in software development and quality engineering focused on architectural leadership.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing complex test automation frameworks.
• Extensive knowledge of software quality metrics.

Responsibilities

• Define vision and strategy for software quality engineering.
• Lead implementation of systems for quality metrics collection and analysis.
• Provide technical guidance on measuring software quality.
• Mentor senior SDETs to foster technical excellence.

Skills

Architectural leadership

Test automation

Cloud-native architectures

Distributed systems

DevOps practices

Leadership

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Education

Masters degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science

Job description

About Netskope

Since 2012, we have built the market-leading cloud security company and an award-winning culture powered by hundreds of employees spread across offices in Santa Clara, St. Louis, Bangalore, London, Paris, Melbourne, Taipei, and Tokyo. Our core values are openness, honesty, and transparency, and we purposely developed our open desk layouts and large meeting spaces to support and promote partnerships, collaboration, and teamwork. From catered lunches and office celebrations to employee recognition events and social professional groups such as the Awesome Women of Netskope (AWON), we strive to keep work fun, supportive and interactive.

About the role

Please note, this team is hiring across all levels and candidates are individually assessed and appropriately leveled based upon their skills and experience.

The Core QE team handles overarching quality initiatives and strategies, and is the ultimate owner of the quality of the deployed Netskope products and services. We create tooling for nightly automation test suite runs, write automated tests to expand suites, create metric dashboards, oversee automation hygiene, enforce release criteria, and do data-driven continuous improvement to ensure customer excellence.

The Principal Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) is a senior leadership position within the Central Quality Engineering team at Netskope India Pvt Ltd. This role is crucial for driving the strategic direction and technical excellence of our quality engineering efforts. The Central Quality Engineering team is responsible for Quality Observability, Performance Testing, Tools and Infrastructure.

At Netskope the Quality function is distributed across the company with product teams responsible for their own testing. The Central Quality Engineering team has a mandate to work with all partnering development teams to drive quality best practices.

The Principal SDET will be instrumental in architecting, designing, and operating cutting-edge systems for defining, collecting, aggregating, and analyzing operational and execution-based software quality metrics, setting the standard for quality, innovation, and best practices across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term vision and strategy for software quality engineering, including test automation, performance testing, and quality metrics.
• Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of highly scalable and resilient systems for quality metrics collection and analysis.
• Act as a subject matter expert, providing technical guidance to multiple teams on all aspects of measuring software quality.
• Evangelize and implement best practices for monitoring metrics around testability, functional quality, performance, reliability, and maintainability across the engineering organization.
• Identify emerging technologies and tools in quality engineering and assess their applicability to our needs.
• Mentor and coach senior SDETs and other engineering staff, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with cross-functional leadership to align quality goals with overall product and business objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives in testing processes, tools, and infrastructure, ensuring optimal efficiency and effectiveness.

Qualifications

• Masters degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 13+ years of progressive experience in software development and quality engineering, with a significant focus on architectural leadership in test automation.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing, building, and scaling complex test automation frameworks and quality metric systems.
• Exceptional programming skills and deep understanding of software design patterns and architectural principles.
• Extensive experience with cloud-native architectures, distributed systems, and modern DevOps practices.
• Deep knowledge of various software quality metrics, their interpretation, and their impact on product quality.
• Outstanding leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and inspire at all levels.

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