Software Engineer in Test

LaraBench; United States; Remote; USD 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote (Philippines)

Company-provided equipment

Aligned with U.S. Eastern Time

Job summary

LaraBench is seeking a Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to scale its engineering organization. This role goes beyond traditional QA automation and focuses on reading production code, improving automated testing, and partnering with software engineers to build reliable, high-quality applications.

You will expand the end-to-end automation framework (Pest in Laravel), increase coverage, and drive testing standards. Remote (Philippines) with alignment to U.S.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as an SDET, Software Engineer, or QA Automation Engineer with strong programming skills.
• Experience building or significantly enhancing automation frameworks.
• Strong understanding of software architecture and modern development practices.
• Experience debugging production applications.
• Experience working with Git and collaborative development workflows.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines.
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills.
• The ability to work independently while collaborating with a distributed engineering team.

Responsibilities

• Own and expand the automation framework (80-90%).
• Build upon an existing end-to-end automation framework written using Pest in a Laravel ecosystem.
• Increase automation coverage across new features and regression scenarios.
• Improve test reliability, maintainability, and release confidence.
• Design thoughtful automated tests rather than scripted scenarios.
• Help shape testing standards and automation best practices across the engineering team.
• Lead technical bug investigation (10-20%).
• Participate in bug triage and investigate production issues.
• Review logs, traces, session replays, and observability data to determine root causes.
• Collaborate with software engineers to prioritize and resolve bugs.

Skills

Strong programming skills

Automation frameworks

Git & GitHub

CI/CD pipelines

Laravel familiarity

Pest, PHPUnit, Playwright or Cypress

Tools

Pest testing framework

Laravel

PostgreSQL

Redis

Git

GitHub Actions

Docker

Browser automation

API testing

Playwright

Cypress

Job description

Development Engineer in Test (SDET, to help scale and strengthen its engineering organization.

This is not a traditional QA Automation role. We're looking for someone who enjoys reading production code, solving complex technical problems, improving automated testing, and partnering closely with software engineers to build reliable, high-quality applications.

If you're the type of engineer who naturally investigates the root cause of issues, enjoys improving developer workflows, and believes quality starts with engineering.

What You'll Do

• Own and Expand the Automation Framework (80-90%)
  • Build upon an existing end-to-end automation framework written using Pest within a Laravel ecosystem.
  • Increase automation coverage across new features and regression scenarios.
  • Improve test reliability, maintainability, and overall release confidence.
  • Design thoughtful automated tests rather than simply scripting repetitive scenarios.
  • Help shape testing standards and automation best practices across the engineering team.
• Lead Technical Bug Investigation (10-20%)
  • Participate in technical bug triage and investigate production issues.
  • Review application logs, traces, session replays, and observability data to determine root causes.
  • Differentiate between application defects, feature requests, and environmental issues.
  • Collaborate with software engineers to prioritize and resolve bugs efficiently.
• Support Internal Teams
  • Assist internal users with platform-related technical questions.
  • Troubleshoot high-priority issues affecting internal operations.
  • Contribute small feature improvements and bug fixes when appropriate.
  • Serve as a technical bridge between support and engineering.

What We're Looking For

• Reading and navigating large production codebases
• Understanding application architecture and data flow
• Writing maintainable automated tests
• Investigating production issues using logs and debugging tools
• Working closely with developers throughout the software development lifecycle
• Making thoughtful decisions about what should-and shouldn't-be automated

Technical Environment

• Laravel / PHP
• Pest testing framework
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• Git & GitHub
• GitHub Actions (CI/CD)
• Docker-based local development
• Modern JavaScript frontend applications
• Browser automation and API testing

In this role, you'll help engineering teams ship with greater confidence by:

• Expanding automated test coverage
• Improving release quality
• Identifying issues before they reach production
• Leading technical bug investigations
• Raising the overall quality standards across the engineering organization

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as an SDET, Software Engineer, or QA Automation Engineer with strong programming skills
• Experience building or significantly enhancing automation frameworks
• Strong understanding of software architecture and modern development practices
• Experience debugging production applications
• Experience working with Git and collaborative development workflows
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills
• The ability to work independently while collaborating with a distributed engineering team

Bonus Points

• Experience with Laravel or PHP
• Experience using Pest, PHPUnit, Playwright, Cypress, or similar automation frameworks
• Experience working within SaaS or web application environments Experience reviewing traces, application logs, browser developer tools, or observability platforms
• Passion for software craftsmanship, automation, and continuous improvement

Benefits & conditions

• Naturally dig deeper instead of accepting the first answer
• Enjoy understanding how complex systems work
• Ask "why" before jumping to a solution
• Take ownership from problem identification through resolution
• Communicate technical concepts clearly with both technical and non-technical teammates
• Are genuinely curious about software engineering and continuously improving your craft

Work Arrangement

• Work Type: Full-time Independent Contract, 40 hours per week; exclusive to our client
• Salary Range: Php 195,000 - Php 255,000 net per month (take-home pay)
• Fully Remote (Philippines)
• Aligned with U.S. Eastern Time working hours (Fixed night shift)
• Company-provided equipment or approved secure work setup
• Collaborative engineering culture with regular stand-ups, demos, and Git-based workflows