Sr Software Development Engineer in Test - Application Development

You have a clear vision of where your career can go. And we have the leadership to help you get there. At CNA, we strive to create a culture in which people know they matter and are part of something important, ensuring the abilities of all employees are used to their fullest potential.

CNA seeks to offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package to our employees that helps them — and their family members — achieve their physical, financial, emotional and social wellbeing goals.

For a detailed look at CNA’s benefits, check out our Candidate Guide.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Software Development Engineer in Test (Sr. SDET) to join our Application Development organization. As a Sr. SDET, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring the quality and reliability of our software products by leading automated testing initiatives. You will collaborate closely with product owners, system architects, developers, leveraging your expertise in automation and Agile practices to develop and execute the test strategies and processes. This is a leadership role, where you will also mentor junior test engineers and developers and drive the continuous improvement of quality engineering practices across the organization.

The ideal candidate will have 3 - 5 years prior experience as an application developer. This hybrid role is located in Chicago, IL and at this time averages 2 days per week in the office.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

1. Lead test strategy development and execution per CNA quality standards.
2. Participate in various SAFe ceremonies like PI Planning, ART Synch, Mid PI review and Sprint meeting to be the 'voice of quality'.
3. Participate in the review of test procedures and processes and provide recommendations to eliminate redundancies and improve efficiency.
4. Assess resource skills and manage MSP project assignments.
5. Produce Software Quality metrics for products in flight.
6. Review project estimations.
7. Collaborate with RTE/System Architects/PO and Product manager to achieve the objectives of Agile team.

Quality Engineering Leadership and Collaboration:

1. Champion Shift-Left Testing, ensuring early defects identification by promoting early involvement in requirement reviews and design discussions.
2. Implement and advocate for BDD/TDD practices to better code quality and fewer defects.
3. Lead a team of test architects, developers, and engineers to build automated innovative solutions for solving everyday team problems.
4. Demonstrate leadership abilities to manage various multidisciplinary and globally distributed engineer’s cross agile teams.
5. Coach and mentor a team of application developers and Jr SDETs to improve productivity and quality.
6. Be a Quality champion by working closely with the Quality CoP (Q-CoP) to adopt, enhance and promote CNA’s Quality Engineering standards, best practices, platforms, and tools within portfolio.
7. Partner with Q-CoP for evaluation of external vendors/products/services.
8. Contribute to broader Q-CoP solutions and conduct road shows for EQE within portfolios and across the organization.

Testing Automation and Execution:

1. Develop scalable, maintainable, and user-friendly test automation frameworks.
2. Collaborate with developers/devops to integrate test automation into the CI/CD pipelines.
3. Bring innovation in quality engineering by augmentation of Gen AI tools.
4. Perform code reviews for script resilience.
5. Identifies opportunities to eliminate or automate remediation of recurring issues to improve overall operational stability of software applications and systems.

Reporting Relationship

Typically, Director or above.

Skills, Abilities & Characteristics

1. 7+ years of hands-on experience in software development (desired) and Testing.
2. Hands-on experience with programming languages like Java, Python, JavaScript/Typescript, C#.
3. Proficiency in developing and maintaining Test Automation tools like Cypress, WebDriver, Playwright or Selenium.
4. Expertise in developing scalable and re-useable Test Automation framework and script development.
5. Experience with relational databases like Oracle, Postgres or NoSQL DBs like Mongo DB.
6. Hands-on experience with Docker and CI/CD/CT platforms like GitHub Actions, Gitlab, Jenkins etc.
7. Expertise in API testing with tools like Postman, JMeter, Rest Assured or SOAP UI etc.
8. In-depth practical knowledge of BDD and TDD practices and extensive experience using tools such as Cucumber.
9. Experience of augmentation of AI in Quality Engineering using tools GitHub Copilot, Google Vertex AI etc.
10. Experience of working in programs following SAFe methodology.
11. Good understanding of modern cloud native architecture e.g. Microservice, 12 factor apps etc.
12. Good understanding and experience of working with public cloud providers like AWS, GCP, Azure etc. (GCP preferred).
13. Experience of working with Agile tools like JIRA / Rally / Xray.
14. Experience of working with cross-functional engineering teams with a solution-oriented approach.
15. Expertise in developing and presenting testing strategy in collaboration with IT SME and Business SME.
16. Expertise in project estimation skills.
17. Understanding of Insurance functions and processes, both within the organization and across the industry, preferably commercial insurance industry is preferred.
18. Quality Certification is preferred.
19. Understanding of Nonfunctional testing like Performance and security (DAST) is a plus.

Key Characteristics

We seek an individual who:

1. Views learning as a continuous journey rather than a destination, and who applies their knowledge to drive ongoing innovation.
2. Strong problem-solving skills and a keen eye for detail.
3. Leadership and the ability to drive quality-focused initiatives across teams.
4. Excellent communication skills for collaborating with cross-functional teams.
5. Ability to balance multiple projects while maintaining high standards for quality and reliability.
6. Proactive mindset, always looking for opportunities for improvements in people, processes, and technology.

Education & Experience

1. Bachelor’s degree in computer science, related discipline, or equivalent work experience.
2. Typically, 7+ years of application delivery experience inclusive of testing and development.
3. Typically, 3+ years of SDET or equivalent experience championing scripted test automation for frontend, API or data.
4. Insurance Domain experience is a plus but not required.

CNA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the recruitment process. To request an accommodation, please contact