Software Developer in Test (Talent Pool)

Percona; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hours

Remote equipment

Career development funds

Connectivity allowance

Equity plan

Work-from-Anywhere

FlowDays

FryDays

Job summary

Percona is building a talent pool for a Software Developer in Test (SDET) to modernize and accelerate testing infrastructure for Kubernetes Operators managing PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB. You’ll lead AI-assisted test generation, triage, and log analysis, while re-architecting pipelines to dramatically cut PR feedback time and reduce test flakiness.

Join a remote-only, globally distributed team that values experimentation, open source excellence, and scalable QA processes.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with Kubernetes and experience testing applications within containerized environments.
• Familiarity with database systems, architecture, and performance in cloud/Kubernetes contexts.
• Experience designing and implementing automated tests, preferably for databases such as Postgres, MySQL, or MongoDB.
• Capability to build and maintain CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins or similar).
• Proficiency in scripting languages (Python, Bash) and familiarity with test automation programming languages.
• Experience and proficiency in Linux.
• Experience with version control systems like Git.
• Experience in Agile environments with test management for defects and test management.
• Experience with AI/LLM tooling applied to engineering problems.

Responsibilities

• Make AI a core part of our testing workflow—research, prototype, and productionize AI-assisted test generation, flaky-test detection, failure triage, and log analysis.
• Attack the e2e bottleneck head-on—profile and re-architect test pipelines to reduce PR feedback time through parallelization and smarter test selection.
• Develop and maintain automation frameworks and testing infrastructure across operators and Jenkins pipelines.
• Own and improve CI/CD for testing—build reliable, observable pipelines with clear PR signals.
• Define and iterate on test strategy for operators as products evolve and enforce quality gates.
• Partner with and enable QA teams by building automation, tooling, and self-service infrastructure.
• Research and recommend new tools/strategies to improve testing, delivery speed, and quality.
• Collaborate with engineering on testability, reliability, and release quality.

Skills

Kubernetes familiarity

Automated tests design

CI/CD experience

Scripting (Python, Bash)

Linux proficiency

Git experience

Agile experience

AI/LLM tooling

Go (Golang)

YAML configuration

Tools

Jenkins

kubectl-kuttl

Pytest

Bash scripting

Git

Job description

Talent Pooling Opportunity

We are currently building a talent pool for this role and welcoming applications from candidates who may be interested in joining us in early Q4. Please note that this is a forward-planning recruitment process, so there may be a delay in responding to applications. We appreciate your patience and will be in touch with suitable candidates as the process progresses.

Suppose you are a Quality Engineering professional who wants to work in a highly innovative, fully remote environment using the latest technologies, including AI, alongside experts in the open-source database field. In that case, we have the perfect opportunity for you!

We are looking for a skilled Software Developer in Test (SDET) to take ownership of the testing infrastructure behind Percona’s Kubernetes Operators for PostgreSQL, MySQL (PS & PXC), and MongoDB (PSMDB). These operators run mission-critical open-source databases on Kubernetes for users around the world, and they are validated by one of the largest end-to-end test suites we operate, built up over years across Jenkins, kubectl-kuttl, pytests, and our own Bash-based test framework.

That scale is also our biggest bottleneck: a full e2e run currently takes over four hours per operator to return results on a pull request. As our teams adopt AI and ship faster, that feedback loop has become the primary constraint on how quickly we can grow. Your core mission is to change that by modernizing, automating, and accelerating our test infrastructure, and to make AI a first-class part of how we generate, run, triage, and maintain tests. You will be the person who turns a four-hour wait into a fast, trustworthy signal and who frees our QA team to focus on higher-value work.

What you will do:

• Make AI a core part of our testing workflow - research, prototype, and productionize AI-assisted test generation, flaky-test detection, failure triage, and log analysis, and roll them out as everyday tooling for engineers and QA

• Attack the e2e bottleneck head-on - profile and re-architect our test pipelines to dramatically cut PR feedback time through parallelization, smart test selection and sharding, better resource utilization, and reduced flakiness

• Develop and maintain the automation frameworks and testing infrastructure across our operators, evolving our frameworks and Jenkins pipelines, and modernizing them where it makes sense

• Own and improve CI/CD for testing - build reliable, observable, and fast continuous-integration pipelines that give a clear signal on every pull request

• Define and iterate on the test strategy for the operators as the products evolve, and enforce appropriate quality gates at the required stages of the development lifecycle

• Partner with and multiply the QA team - build the automation, tooling, and self-service infrastructure that lets QA adopt, improve, and scale our processes instead of being blocked by manual effort

• Research and recommend new tools, strategies, or processes to improve testing, delivery speed, and overall quality

• Take an active role in the development lifecycle, working closely with engineering on testability, reliability, and release quality

Your Experience:

• Familiarity with Kubernetes and experience testing applications within containerized environments

• Familiarity with database systems, architecture, and performance, especially in a cloud or Kubernetes context

• Experience designing and implementing automated tests, preferably for databases such as Postgres, MySQL, or MongoDB

• Capability to build and maintain continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines (Jenkins or similar)

• Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash) and familiarity with programming languages for test automation

• Experience and proficiency in Linux

• Experience with version control systems like Git

• Experience working in an Agile environment, using a test-management tool for defect tracking and test management

• Experience with AI/LLM tooling to real engineering problems - or demonstrated experience already doing so

What will make you stand out:

• Hands‑on experience integrating AI/LLMs into developer or QA workflows (test generation, triage, agents, or similar)

• Hands‑on experience with the Golang programming language and YAML as a configuration language

• Interest and contributions to the open-source community

• Passion for the evolving landscape of database technologies

• A track record of bringing innovative ideas to the table, contributing to the improvement of testing strategies, automation processes, and overall product quality

• Demonstrated commitment to ongoing learning, staying in touch with the latest trends in quality engineering, AI, open source, databases, and related technologies

Why Percona?

At Percona, we believe an open world is a better world. Our mission is to enable everyone to innovate freely, by providing the best open source database software, support, and services. We make databases and applications run better through a unique combination of expertise and open source software built with the community for you. Our technical teams are experts in MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB.

Percona is proud to be a remote-only and globally dispersed workforce – we have colleagues in more than 50 countries! We offer a collaborative, highly-engaged culture where your ideas are welcome and your voice is heard.

Our staff receives generous benefits including flexible work hours and various paid time off programs, all your equipment for your remote office, funds for career development (external training, certifications, conferences), ongoing connectivity allowances, and the opportunity to participate in our equity incentive plan. We also have benefits that support a healthy work/life balance such as The Percona Adventure Team, Work‑from‑Anywhere, FlowDays, FryDays, and overall flexibility. We also support being socially responsible through our PAVE volunteering program and Women Transforming Technology.

If you love the idea of working with a high-growth tech company that is one of the best in the business and known globally as a leader in the open-source database space, let’s talk!

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