Staff Software Development Engineer in Test

As a Staff SDET, you will lead the architecture and implementation of enterprise-grade test automation systems. You’ll work closely with development, product, and DevOps teams to integrate testing deeply into our CI/CD pipelines, helping reduce risk and improve delivery confidence.

This role requires strong technical expertise in test automation and infrastructure, as well as the ability to influence and guide quality practices across multiple teams. You’ll play a key role in defining testing standards, optimizing system testability, and driving initiatives that improve performance, reliability, and maintainability at scale.

This is a leadership-level individual contributor role for someone who brings both depth and breadth in quality engineering. Your ability to mentor, innovate, and scale testing impact across an organization will be critical to success.

We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. If your experience aligns with the goals of the role—even if not in a traditional path—we’d love to hear from you.

About The Team

At Safe Software, our quality engineering efforts span functional, performance, and systems-level testing across complex data integration products. You’ll join a collaborative, cross-functional environment where quality is considered a shared responsibility, not a separate phase.

As a Staff SDET, you’ll have opportunities to shape how testing is done across teams and platforms. You’ll work with a growing group of engineers who value thoughtful design, automated delivery, and continuous learning. Notably, as Safe expands AI capabilities across our product and our internal engineering practice, this role will help define what ‘quality’ means for non-deterministic systems.

What You’ll Be Doing

As a Staff SDET, you will:

• Define and lead the vision for test automation architecture and quality engineering at scale.

• Design, build, and evolve reusable test frameworks that are maintainable, scalable, and efficient.

• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, and DevOps to embed testing throughout CI/CD and cloud-based deployments.

• Guide architectural decisions to improve testability, observability, and long-term system health.

• Identify and resolve quality gaps, technical debt, and inefficiencies across teams.

• Mentor developers, SDETs, and QA team members to build testing skills and promote a quality-first mindset.

• Standardize tools and technologies that support test automation and improve development workflows.

• Monitor and report on testing coverage, quality KPIs, and risk areas to inform planning and continuous improvement.

• Champion AI-assisted development across the org, piloting and standardizing tools that accelerate test authoring, triage, results analysis, and code review.
  
  

Qualifications, Skills, and Competencies

At Safe Software, we welcome diverse backgrounds and experiences. While not all candidates will have everything listed, the most successful candidates will bring many of the following:

What We’re Looking For:

• 8+ years of experience in software development or test automation, including roles with technical leadership scope.

• Advanced skills in programming languages such as Python, Java, or C++.

• Deep experience with testing frameworks like Pytest, Selenium, or custom solutions.

• Strong knowledge of CI/CD and orchestration tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Docker, Kubernetes).

• Experience with infrastructure-as-code, systems-level testing, and test infrastructure at scale.

• Proven ability to influence cross-team testing strategies and mentor engineers across experience levels.

• Strong communication and leadership skills, with a collaborative and inclusive approach.
  

Nice to Have:

• Hands-on experience testing AI/ML or LLM-powered features, including building evaluation frameworks and dealing with non-deterministic outputs.

• Practical fluency with AI coding assistants and agentic dev tools (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor, etc.) and a point of view on how to use them safely and effectively in a quality engineering context.

• Experience integrating AI capabilities into developer tooling or test infrastructure (e.g., AI-driven flake detection, auto-triage, self-healing tests).

• Experience scaling test practices in hybrid or cloud-native environments.

• Familiarity with performance profiling, observability tooling, or resilience testing.

• Involvement in community-of-practice leadership or internal quality initiatives.

• Passion for continuous improvement and innovation in test automation and engineering practices.
  

What You Can Expect

When you choose a career with Safe Software, you’re also choosing…

• Meaningful Work: Make a profound impact across our business, workplace and data integration product.

• A Supportive Environment: Feel empowered to share your ideas and implement them with high autonomy and team support.

• Social Responsibility: Become part of a team that finds meaningful ways to give back. Take paid time off to volunteer for one of our Safe-organized opportunities that align with our core community initiatives.

• Learning & Career Development: We believe in your continuous learning and growth. Take advantage of an annual learning budget and training programs paid for by Safe.

• Flexible Working Hours: Flexible and remote-friendly work arrangements to fit your lifestyle. Work when you want, and how you want to.

• Work-Life Balance: There's no place for burnout at Safe. Maintain a healthy balance of your personal and work life without splitting yourself in two. Enjoy 3 weeks of vacation to recharge, plus an additional paid 6 seasonal days off per year.

• Health & Wellness: Extended health, dental, health or lifestyle spending, and counseling benefits from day 1. That’s right, no waiting period.

• Family is important: We are dedicated to supporting our employees through parenthood and offer a Parental Leave Top-Up Program for new parents through childbirth or adoption.

• Shared Success: Share in Safe’s success with our bi-annual profit sharing and RRSP/TFSA matching program.

• An Accessible Commute: Regardless of your commute method, we’re located close to public transit, and provide complimentary parking and bike storage for our team!

About Safe Software

Safe Software transforms organizations with FME, the only All-Data Any-AI Enterprise Integration Platform connecting all your data, anywhere, at any velocity.

With over 30 years of expertise and 25,000+ enterprise customers across 125+ countries, we simplify your data journey, wherever it leads.

Founded in 1993, Safe is headquartered in Surrey, BC with over 300 team members and counting. We’re always looking for talented individuals with diverse backgrounds who are determined to learn and grow. Are you ready to join the team?

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Safe Software is an equal opportunity employer and we truly believe that innovation and strength begin with diversity and inclusion.

We welcome all candidates regardless of race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, ability, disability, national or ethnic origin, political belief, religion, or family status.

Should you require accommodations during the recruitment process, please contact [email protected].

Notice Regarding Use of Automated Tools in Hiring

At Safe Software, we use automated tools to help us process applications and identify qualified candidates. These tools may assist in screening resumes and summarizing interview content based on the information you provide. This helps our team review applications efficiently while ensuring every candidate is considered based on the requirements of the role.

Please be assured that the final hiring decision is always made by a member of our team. For more information on how we protect your privacy, please see our policy. If you have questions about this process, please contact us at [email protected].