Python Developer

Title- Python Developer

Location: Charlotte, NC (2X a week on-site)

Position Type: Contract to hire

Interviews: Virtual



Job Summary:
• The meeting focused on intake requirements for four mid-level Python automation engineers to support QA automation in a fixed income sales and trading platform environment.
• While final approval is still pending, the main roadblock has been removed, and approval is expected within 1-2 weeks.
• The team plans to begin sourcing candidates now so they can move quickly once approved.
• The roles require strong Python skills plus deep recent fixed income/swaps domain expertise, as the hires will assess and potentially rebuild dysfunctional UI and API automation suites tied to the internal Polaris platform



Required Skills and Experience
• Python is mandatory
• Candidates must have fixed income domain expertise, especially in:
• interest rate swaps
• caps/floors
• swaptions
• basis swaps
• cross-currency products
• inflation swaps
• related OTC derivatives
• Candidates must understand:
• how trades/deal tickets are structured
• business validations for automated testing
• fixed income workflows in sales and trading systems
• The most important differentiator is recent hands-on fixed income experience
• Candidates who have been out of the space for 1.5-2 years are unlikely to be a fit
• H1B candidates are not being considered



Technical Environment and Assessment
• Existing and future frameworks are Python-based
• Technical screening will use CoderPad
• Interview test includes:
• writing a Python program
• troubleshooting/debugging a pre-made program
• Technical test is about 1 hour
• Interview process after approval:
• automation architect technical review
• final screening by hiring manager and colleague
• no in-person final interview currently planned

Remarks :
AT A GLANCE
• Rob said the 4 automation engineer openings are not yet approved, but he expects approval in 1-2 weeks; the prior blocker was removed, and a new stakeholder/backfill started this week.
• The roles support SNBC's fixed income sales/trading platform "Polaris" (homegrown, similar to Murex/Calypso/Sophis) and require strong Python plus deep fixed income/swaps domain expertise; candidates who do not know the products will not be hired.
• Required product knowledge includes interest rate swaps/vanilla, caps/floors, cap straddles, butterfly swaps, curve swaps, European swaptions, Bermudians, swap straddles, basis swaps, collars, cross-currency, mark-to-market basis swaps, swap spreads, forward rate agreements, non-deliverable IRS/swaps, inflation swaps, global swaps, and index TRS.
• The team's mandate is to assess and remediate a broken automation environment built over the last 12-18 months: about 500-600 UI automated test cases and roughly 10,000 API tests (effectively a few hundred unique tests with permutations). Rob said Polaris is "a disaster," with monthly releases followed by 6-8 patch releases fixing multiple production bugs because regression automation has major gaps.
• Candidates must be currently immersed in fixed income derivatives/OTC products; Rob said people coming from adjacent areas like equities derivatives, or those out of the space for 1.5-2 years, are unlikely to succeed. He wants pedigree similar to hires Greg Szymanski and Chandra Komana, who came from Wells and worked on a similar sales/trading platform.
• Position details: Charlotte-based, currently onsite Monday and Thursday minimum (likely to increase later), up to $120/hour, initially through Fieldglass for up to 18 months with possible conversion typically after about 9 months minimum; no H1B candidates. Interview process includes a ~1-hour Python CoderPad test (write a program + troubleshoot pre-made code), then review by the automation architect, followed by final screening with Rob and a colleague.
Key Topics
Hiring Status and Timing
• No roles have been officially approved yet
• Approval is expected in about 1-2 weeks
• A prior blocker has been removed, and leadership will brief the new stakeholder
• Team wants to get a jump start on sourcing before formal approval
Role Scope
• Hiring for 4 automation engineers
• Main responsibilities:
• Review existing UI and API automation suites
• Determine whether current automation is:
• salvageable
• partially reusable
• or should be fully replaced
• Analyze both:
• UI automation framework
• API automation framework
• Support a broader QA transformation effort
Business Context
• Work is tied to Polaris, a homegrown internal platform for swaps trading
• Platform quality is currently a major issue:
• Monthly releases are followed by 6-8 patch releases
• Production bugs are slipping through due to automation gaps
• Parallel workstreams are planned:
• Manual testing improvements
• Automation suite remediation/rebuild
Contract Details
• Contract duration:
• up to 18 months
• possible conversion to full-time
• conversion discussions typically begin after 9 months
• Location: Charlotte
• Current in-office expectation:
• Monday and Thursday minimum
• Team expects office attendance may increase in the future
Candidate Profile Guidance
• Strong comparison profiles may come from similar sales and trading platform environments
• Examples of comparable prior hires were shared for sourcing calibration
• Relevant background may include firms such as Wells Fargo


Key Insights
• Domain expertise is more critical than pure technical strength
• These are not standard automation roles; hires must be able to interpret complex fixed income products and testing scenarios
• The automation team will function like a SWAT team, quickly taking ownership of the existing automation repo and deciding how to remediate it
• Current API test volume is large (~10,000 tests) but many are permutations of a smaller core set
• There are approximately 500-600 UI automated test cases to review


Decisions Made
• Begin candidate sourcing immediately ahead of formal approval
• Target candidates with:
• Python automation experience
• recent fixed income/swaps expertise
• ability to evaluate and triage existing automation frameworks
• Use CoderPad-based Python assessment as part of the screening process
• Submit candidates first through resumes/profiles and write-ups; move them into Fieldglass once narrowed for interview alignment


Next Steps
• Hiring manager / leadership
• Meet with the new stakeholder and push for approval of the 4 roles
• Expected timeline: within 1-2 weeks
• Recruiting team
• Start sourcing candidates immediately
• Focus on profiles with:
• Python automation
• fixed income/swaps knowledge
• recent relevant domain immersion
• Review backgrounds similar to the example hires shared
• Recruiting team and hiring manager
• Once approval is granted, align selected candidates to the appropriate Fieldglass requisitions
• Begin technical screening and interview process quickly
• Hiring team
• Run technical assessments through CoderPad
• Conduct final screening after technical review