Automation Test Specialist
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
We are looking for a hands-on SDET to support election-critical systems through the November elections cycle.
- This person will work closely with the current Elections QA Lead and help offload testing and automation work, especially on the distribution side of the platform.
- The role requires strong automation, API testing, AWS observability, and backend validation experience.
- The person must have practical knowledge of U.S. elections and understand the risks associated with election result distribution.
- This is not a pure automation role; the person must be able to clarify requirements, challenge gaps, assess production risk, and help improve QE processes.
- The ideal candidate should be comfortable working in a fast-paced Agile environment while maintaining quality discipline.
- The person should be able to communicate testing progress, automation value, risks, and quality improvements to stakeholders., * Work closely with the Elections QA Lead and take ownership of assigned distribution-side testing workstreams.
- Help reduce the workload on the current lead by independently handling automation, API validation, log analysis, and test coverage expansion.
- Identify high-risk workflows and prioritize testing based on business and production impact.
- Review requirements critically and not simply test what is written in the ticket.
- Proactively work with stakeholders to clarify unclear requirements, missing acceptance criteria, and edge cases.
- Use CloudWatch logs to understand real API usage patterns and add tests where coverage gaps exist.
- Bring practical QE process improvements to reduce production misses wherever possible.
- Help improve test coverage across API, backend, data validation, schema validation, and distribution workflows.
- Comfortable pushing back respectfully when process shortcuts create quality or production risk.
- Communicate risks clearly without creating noise or unnecessary escalation.
- Show value to stakeholders by broadcasting automation improvements, risk reduction, coverage gains, and ROI.
- Participate in blameless postmortems and help convert findings into preventive actions.
- Comfortable working under election-cycle pressure without cutting corners on quality.
- Bring a continuous improvement mindset and help strengthen the QE processes.
Requirements
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Strong hands-on experience with Playwright for UI and API automation.
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Strong coding and scripting experience using TypeScript.
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Hands-on API automation experience using Rest Assured.
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Strong experience testing REST APIs, including:
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Request and response validation,
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Status code validation
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Header validation
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Error handling validation
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Negative testing
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Contract testing
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Data integrity testing
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Must have experience with XML and JSON schema validation.
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Ability to design test scenarios based on API specification documentation.
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Experience writing BDD-style test scenarios and acceptance criteria.
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Working knowledge of AWS, especially for test validation and production behavior analysis.
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Ability to analyze CloudWatch logs to determine API usage patterns, failure trends, and missing test coverage.
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Experience converting production usage patterns into meaningful automated test coverage.
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Experience working with MongoDB collections for backend data validation.
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Hands-on experience with Jira and Zephyr for test case management, defect tracking, test execution, and traceability.
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Strong understanding of risk-based testing and the ability to prioritize coverage based on production and business impact.
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Experience working in a highly Agile environment with fast-moving delivery teams.
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Ability to push back professionally when the team deviates from agreed process, quality gates, or acceptance criteria.
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Strong stakeholder communication skills.
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Ability to work with product owners, developers, QA leads, and business stakeholders to clarify requirements and acceptance criteria.
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Institutional knowledge of U.S. elections is a must, including:
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Election results workflows
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Race-level data
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Vote updates
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Vote types
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Race calls
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Result distribution
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Downstream consumer impact
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Election-night risk areas, The ideal candidate should be more than a test automation engineer; they should operate like a quality engineer who understands production risk.