Lead Software Development Engineer in Test
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
GenMark Diagnostics is seeking a Lead SDET to architect the next generation of our automated verification strategy. This is a high-impact "Player-Coach" role where you will balance hands-on framework development with the leadership of a dedicated team of Software Quality Engineers.
You will lead the technical evolution of our testing capabilities for FDA-regulated diagnostic instruments. Your mandate is to champion a culture of automation-architecting robust C#/.NET test harnesses, integrating them into modern CI/CD pipelines, and mentoring the team to ensure high-velocity, high-quality releases.
The Opportunity
Automation Architecture & Technical Leadership (40%)
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Technical Debt Remediation: Act as the specialist in reducing our manual testing burden. Identify and automate "High-Value/Low-Effort" manual tests first to rapidly buy the team breathing room and accelerate feedback cycles.
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Framework Design: Architect and build scalable, maintainable test automation frameworks (using C#, Selenium, Appium, or similar) to support both UI and backend logic, utilizing advanced object-oriented programming.
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Hardware & Integration Testing: Design test strategies that account for hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) testing and software interactions with physical diagnostic instruments and sensors.
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Continuous Integration & Security: Partner with the DevOps/Architecture team to integrate automated suites into Azure DevOps pipelines. Lead the automation of vulnerability scanning and static/dynamic analysis (SAST/DAST) to align with modern FDA cybersecurity guidelines.
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Tooling Selection: Evaluate and select the right tools for performance profiling, load testing, and security scanning to ensure comprehensive coverage.
Team Management & Mentorship (40%)
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Technical Mentorship: Act as the technical anchor for the SW Quality team. Mentor Quality Engineers on coding best practices, automation scripting, and source control management.
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Team Growth: Foster a collaborative environment where manual testing expertise is complemented by growing technical skills. Lead code reviews for test scripts to ensure they meet production-quality standards.
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Resource Management: Balance hands-on coding (the "Player") with team leadership (the "Coach"). Align team activities with the software roadmap, ensuring that verification activities happen in parallel with development rather than lagging behind.
Regulatory & Process Compliance (20%)
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Tool Validation: Collaborate closely with Regulatory Affairs (RA) to formally validate automated testing tools, ensuring they meet strict regulatory compliance standards.
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V&V Modernization: Enhance Master V&V Plans to support automated evidence generation, ensuring strict compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 820 and ISO 13485 standards.
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Metrics Driven: Define and track key quality metrics (e.g., Defect Density, Automation Coverage) to drive continuous improvement and transparency.
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Risk Analysis: Participate in software hazard analysis (FMEA) to ensure safety-critical workflows are prioritized in the automation strategy.
Requirements
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Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline.
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8+ years of software engineering or SDET experience (Must have hands-on coding experience).
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3+ years of leadership experience (Team Lead or Manager).
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Experience transforming a manual testing team into an automation-first team is highly preferred.
Technical Skills
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Strong Coding Ability: Deep proficiency in C#/.NET. You must be able to write production-quality code and demonstrate an understanding of advanced concepts (e.g., async/await, modern .NET core, RESTful API integration, and mocking frameworks like Moq).
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Framework Experience: Proven experience building automation frameworks from scratch (e.g., Selenium WebDriver, Appium for UI, NUnit/xUnit for API/Logic).
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Methodology: Explicit experience implementing Test Driven Development (TDD) or Behavior Driven Development (BDD, e.g., SpecFlow) to align engineering and quality teams.
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Hardware Integration: Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) testing or testing against physical sensors is highly preferred.
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CI/CD Ops: Experience configuring build pipelines in tools like Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitHub Actions.
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Regulated Environment: Experience working in an FDA-regulated environment is a strong plus.
Soft Skills
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Change Agent: A passion for modernizing workflows and showing teams "the art of the possible" with automation.
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Collaborative: Ability to work closely with Software Developers, Program Managers, and Quality Assurance to bridge the gap between "Dev" and "QA."
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Communication: Strong ability to articulate quality risks and technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.