Senior Software Development Engineer in Test, ML

Sony Playstation; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 152,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment in Madison, WI is seeking a Sr Software Development Engineer in Test, ML to lead quality efforts for machine learning-powered products and services. You will partner with ML engineers, software engineers, product managers, and data partners to build scalable test automation for systems at global scale.

This role focuses on validating probabilistic models through score distributions and cohort-level behavior, not just deterministic pass/fail, requiring strong

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 5+ years as an SDET, testing backend systems.
• Proficiency in Python/Java/Scala/go for test automation.
• Hands-on experience with API testing tools (e.g., Postman) for distributed systems.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and test execution in Jenkins or similar (GitHub Actions, ArgoCD).
• Hands-on experience building automated test frameworks (pytest, JUnit, TestNG).
• Experience with databases for backend validation.
• Experience with cloud and container technologies (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker).
• Familiarity with monitoring/observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Databricks).
• Strong understanding of SDLC and Agile methodologies.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive architecture-level automation solutions across teams.
• Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks and scripts for ML inference services.
• Create realistic test accounts and datasets to evaluate model behavior.
• Validate model score distributions, ranking, and output quality.
• Perform functional, integration, regression, API, and non-functional testing.
• Collaborate with ML engineers and ops to ensure automated coverage in CI/CD.
• Debug and analyze test failures and report defects.
• Promote high standards of quality and scalable test strategies.
• Develop best practices for scalable test automation.
• Monitor test execution and optimize test environment performance.
• Propose innovative solutions to organizational problems.

Skills

Python

Java

Scala

Go

Test automation

CI/CD

API testing

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

ArgoCD

pytest

JUnit

TestNG

Databases

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Docker

Prometheus

Grafana

SDLC

Agile

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Postman

pytest

JUnit

TestNG

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

ArgoCD

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Docker

Prometheus

Grafana

Job description

Why Sony Interactive Entertainment?

Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting‑edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.

At PlayStation, we're passionate about both partnership and technology. We care about building performant products and powerful tools, solving practical problems in delightful ways. We love building the systems that millions of people use, and we're always our own first customers and critics. We strive to be at the forefront of development technologies and celebrate our diversity with engineering teams located on four continents from all walks of life. We build our teams to be places where every voice is heard, all input is valued, and our members have the creative freedom to make their ideas real.

Sr Software Development Engineer in Test , ML

Locations: Madison, WI and Waterloo, Ontario Canada

PlayStation is seeking a Sr Software Development Engineer in Test, ML to join our Madison team and lead quality efforts for machine learning-powered products and services. You will partner closely with ML engineers, software engineers, product managers, and data partners to build scalable test automation and validation approaches for systems serving PlayStation at global scale. This role is focused on building confidence in model reliability, production readiness, and behavioral consistency. Unlike traditional software backend testing, success here requires validating probabilistic systems through score distributions, cohort‑level behavior, thresholds, and statistical signals, not just deterministic pass/fail assertions.

Responsibilities:

• Drive architecture-level automation solutions and scalable quality engineering practices across multiple teams and product areas.
• Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks, test scripts for ML inference services and related ML platform components using python/Java
• Build and automate realistic, representative test account creations and datasets to evaluate model behavior across different scenarios
• Validate score distributions, ranking behavior, output quality, and other model signals for incoming ML models prior to release
• Perform different types of testing, including functional, integration, regression and API testing working with RESTful APIs, microservices and databases, and non-functional performance and load testing to verify inference service scalability, latency requirements and reliability under production like conditions
• Work closely with ML engineers and ops teams to ensure that all features and bug fixes come with automated test coverage, ensuring continuous integration and deployment
• Debug and analyze test failures, model anomalies and report defects
• Drive high standards of quality for both engineering decisions and customer-facing features with optimal test and automation strategy
• Develop and implement best practices for test automation that is highly scalable and maintainable
• Monitor test execution and optimize performance in test environments
• Come up with innovative solutions to organizational problems

Required Qualifications:

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
• Minimum 5 years of experience as an SDET, with strong experience testing backend systems.
• Proficiency in Python/Java/Scala/go for test automation.
• Hands‑on experience with API testing tools (e.g., Postman or similar) for distributed systems
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and test execution in Jenkins or similar environments such as jenkins, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, etc
• Hands‑on experience building and maintaining automated test frameworks (e.g., pytest, JUnit, TestNG, etc.)Experience in working with databases for backend validation.
• Experience with cloud and container technologies (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker, etc.)
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Databricks, etc.) for validating service health
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and agile methodologies.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills and excellent communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience testing machine learning systems, such as recommendation systems, search ranking systems, or other probabilistic ML application systems.
• Experience creating synthetic or seeded test data to simulate realistic customer/account behaviors.
• Experience evaluating model outputs using statistical techniques, distribution analysis, or scenario‑based validation, rather than deterministic assertions.
• Knowledge of data pipelines, feature stores, inference systems or model‑serving infrastructure (Seldon, KServe, Ray Serve, etc.) is a plus.
• Experience with performance and load testing tools
• Experience with Databricks or similar ML platform tooling
• Experience architecting and optimizing CI/CD pipelines, quality gates, and release validation systems using Jenkins or similar platforms.

Benefits and Compensation

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location. Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job‑related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top‑tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.

$152,000 — $190,000 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.