SDET Lead

Lead Software Development Engineer In Test (Sdet)

This is a lead role and we are looking for strong candidates who are visa independent. We are looking for a Lead Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) with strong expertise in.NET technologies, AWS cloud services, and test automation. This is a senior, hands-on technical leadership role for an engineer who treats test code with the same rigour as production code - and who can raise the bar for everyone around them. You will own the automation strategy across the .NET stack and our AWS-hosted platforms, architect the frameworks other engineers build on, and embed quality throughout the delivery lifecycle rather than bolting it on at the end. Beyond writing code, you will mentor SDETs and developers, shape testing standards, and act as a strategic quality partner to engineering and product leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• 9–13 years of experience in software testing and automation, including time in a lead or senior technical role.

• Deep hands-on experience with C# /.NET automation and framework architecture.

• Proven experience testing AWS cloud-native applications at scale.

• Track record of mentoring engineers and setting quality standards across teams.

• Strong knowledge of Agile, DevOps and microservices.

Preferred certifications

• AWS Certified Developer – Associate.

• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

• ISTQB Certified Tester.

Requirements

Key responsibilities

Technical leadership

• Own and evolve the test automation strategy and framework architecture across the.NET stack and AWS platforms.

• Set quality engineering standards, patterns and the definition of done, and hold teams to them.

• Mentor and coach SDETs and developers, and grow test-engineering capability across the group.

• Partner with engineering and product leadership on release readiness, risk and quality trade-offs.

• Lead the technical evaluation and adoption of new testing tools, frameworks and practices.

• Contribute to hiring - interview, calibrate and help build a strong quality engineering team.

Hands-on delivery

• Design, develop and maintain scalable, maintainable test automation frameworks in C# /.NET.

• Build and own automated test suites across UI, API, integration, regression and end-to-end layers.

• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to enable fast, reliable feedback on every build.

• Develop and execute API test automation for RESTful services, including contract and data-driven testing.

• Validate applications and services deployed on AWS, using cloud-native tooling to test and monitor behaviour.

• Drive performance, load and resilience testing, and help identify bottlenecks early.

• Triage, investigate and clearly document defects, and drive them through to resolution.

• Create reusable automation libraries and clear, actionable quality reports.

• Champion quality engineering best practices - shift-left testing, TDD/BDD and test observability.

Essential skills and experience

• Strong programming ability in C# and the.NET / .NET Core ecosystem, with sound object-oriented design.

• Proven experience building test automation frameworks from the ground up - not only writing scripts within an existing one.

• UI automation with tools such as Playwright, Selenium WebDriver.

• API testing and automation (e.g. RestSharp, Postman) with Swagger / OpenAPI, and a solid grasp of REST principles.

• Unit and integration testing with NUnit, xUnit or MSTest, and BDD with SpecFlow.

• Hands-on experience with AWS services relevant to testing and deployment (e.g. EC2, S3, Lambda, API Gateway, CloudWatch, IAM, RDS, ECS / EKS).

• CI/CD experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions or Jenkins, and containerisation with Docker.

• Proficiency with Git and version-control workflows.

• Sound understanding of SQL and experience validating data in relational databases (e.g. SQL Server, PostgreSQL).

• Working knowledge of Agile, DevOps and microservices delivery.

• Solid grounding in QA fundamentals: test design techniques, test planning and defect lifecycle management.

• Demonstrated technical leadership: setting standards, mentoring engineers and driving quality strategy across teams.

• Strong communication and stakeholder skills - able to influence engineering and product leadership.