Software QA Engineer

smartlightanalytics; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

SmartLight Analytics seeks an automation-first QA Engineer to design, build, and own automated testing across internal tools, APIs, and portals. This role is hands-on, not a manual tester, and will introduce AI-enabled tooling to improve how tests are written and maintained.

You will lead test automation architecture, integrate tests into CI/CD, and serve as the release quality gate for the toolsets you own, ensuring high quality releases with evidence-based risk calls when needed.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building and maintaining automated test suites.
• Ability to reason about test coverage and risk.
• Strong debugging and reproducibility skills for defects.
• Experience releasing software with automated gates and evidence.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain automated regression suites (Playwright or equivalents) across internal tools and APIs.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD so they run on relevant changes without manual triggering.
• Apply AI-enabled testing tools to speed up authoring while keeping human review where needed.
• Act as release quality gate for toolsets based on automated test results and risk analysis.
• Document defects with reproducible steps, expected vs. actual behavior, and severity.
• Prioritize test coverage by risk across carrier and customer-facing paths and high-usage features.
• Collaborate with Software Engineering and Product to avoid bottlenecks in testing.
• Build repeatable QA practices and release-gate criteria for consistent quality.

Skills

CI/CD integration

Automation mindset

Defect reproduction

Release gating

Tools

Playwright

Cypress

Selenium/WebDriver

CI/CD tools

Job description

SmartLight Analytics is looking for an automation-first QA Engineer to build and own test automation across our internal tools, carrier-facing APIs, and carrier and customer portals. This is a hands‑on engineering role, not a manual-testing position with automation on the side: you'll design, build, and maintain an automated test framework (e.g., Playwright) as the primary way we catch regressions and gate releases, and you'll bring AI-enabled tooling into how tests get written and maintained.

This is a remote role.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain automated regression suites (Playwright or an equivalent modern framework) covering internal tools, carrier-facing APIs, and carrier and customer portals

• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD so they run on every relevant change without manual triggering

• Evaluate and apply AI-enabled testing tools - AI-assisted test generation, self-healing selectors, AI-assisted defect triage - to speed up authoring and maintenance while keeping a clear standard for what still needs human review

• Act as the release quality gate for the toolsets you own: sign off on releases based on automated test results, or make an explicit, documented risk call when something isn't ready

• Find, isolate, and clearly document defects with reproducible steps, expected vs. actual behavior, and severity

• Prioritize test coverage by risk - carrier‑and customer‑facing paths, compliance‑relevant flows, and high‑usage features get coverage first

• Partner closely with Software Engineering and Product throughout the development cycle so testing isn't a bottleneck bolted on at the end

• Build and document repeatable QA practice - test architecture, coverage standards, release‑gate criteria - so quality doesn't depend on any one person's memory

• Produce testing and change‑management artifacts that hold up as evidence under compliance frameworks like SOC 2

What We're Looking For

• Hands‑on experience building and maintaining automated test suites with Playwright or a directly comparable modern automation framework (Cypress, Selenium/WebDriver, etc.)

• Experience testing both UI and API layers, including reasoning about API contracts and data flows for integration testing

• Experience integrating automated tests into a CI/CD pipeline

• Practical experience using AI tooling to accelerate software testing work - test generation, test maintenance, or defect triage - with good judgment about where AI output needs verification

• Strong defect isolation and reproduction skills; writes bug reports engineers can act on without back‑and‑forth

• Sound risk judgment - can distinguish a cosmetic issue from one that threatens data integrity, compliance posture, or customer/carrier trust

• Comfortable being a release gatekeeper: can say "this isn't ready" and back it up with evidence

• Self‑directed and comfortable building and improving automation process independently

Nice to Have

• Experience testing systems in a regulated or compliance-sensitive environment (SOC 2, HIPAA‑adjacent, or similar)

• Experience testing external‑facing API integrations with third‑party partners

• Familiarity with Python and/or Snowflake‑adjacent data pipelines, enough to sanity‑check data quality issues surfaced during testing

• Experience standing up or significantly leveling up an automation framework

Reporting & Team

This role sits within Software Engineering, working closely with engineering, Product, and Data Platforms, with room to grow into a broader quality engineering function as SmartLight's toolset and carrier/customer-facing surfaces expand.