Sr SDET Data & Platform Quality

Role Overview We are seeking a Senior SDET to own automation quality for large-scale, data-heavy, event-driven platforms. This role focuses on backend, Kafka, and AWS data platform validation using Python-based automation frameworks. This is a hands-on engineering role, not a traditional QA position.

• No manual testing * No UI / Selenium-only testing * No basic ETL script validation You will design and own automation frameworks that validate Kafka-driven architectures, backend services, and cloud-native data pipelines, while partnering closely with data and platform engineers. Key Responsibilities Automation & Framework Ownership * Design, build, and maintain Python-based test automation frameworks, not just individual test cases * Define reusable test libraries for validating data platforms and distributed systems * Drive automation standards, patterns, and best practices across teams Kafka & Event-Driven Systems Testing * Validate Kafka-based event streams, including: * Topic-level data validation * Producer and consumer behavior * Message schemas, payload integrity, ordering, and replay scenarios * Failure handling, retries, and dead-letter scenarios * Test asynchronous workflows and event propagation across services Data Platform & Backend Validation * Validate end-to-end data flows across distributed services and pipelines * Test backend APIs, service integrations, and asynchronous processing layers * Perform schema validation, transformation checks, data consistency, and completeness validation AWS & Cloud Data Testing * Test cloud-native data platforms built on AWS services such as: * S3, Glue, Redshift, Lambda (or similar services) * Validate ingestion, processing, storage, and downstream consumption of data * Debug data and automation failures across multiple cloud services CI/CD & Quality Gates * Embed automation into CI/CD pipelines * Enforce quality gates and fail pipelines on critical data or platform issues * Provide actionable feedback to engineering teams based on automation results Collaboration & Strategy * Work closely with data engineers, platform engineers, and architects * Define test strategies for event-driven and distributed data systems * Proactively identify quality risks and gaps in platform design

Required Experience (Non-Negotiable) * Strong test automation engineering experience using Python * Hands-on Kafka testing experience (real production systems, not theoretical knowledge) * Proven experience testing distributed and event-driven systems * Solid understanding of data validation concepts, including: * Schemas and contracts * Transformations and enrichment * Data consistency, completeness, and accuracy * Experience working in AWS-based data platforms * Ability to debug and troubleshoot issues across multiple services, not just log defects * Engineering mindset with ownership mentality Nice to Have * Experience with schema registries (Avro / JSON / Protobuf) * Knowledge of streaming vs batch data architectures * Familiarity with observability, logging, and monitoring in distributed systems * Experience working in high-volume, near-real-time data environments Flexible work from home options available.