IND Senior Staff Associate /Engineer SDET

IND Senior Staff Engineer, Engineering - GCC117 We're determined to make a difference and are proud to be an insurance company that goes well beyond coverages and policies. Working here means having every opportunity to achieve your goals - and to help others accomplish theirs, too. Join our team as we help shape the future. **Position Overview** The Hartford is seeking an experienced **SDET Technical Lead** to lead quality engineering and test automation for enterprise-scale applications. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for guiding a team of **7-10 SDETs** , defining the automation strategy, establishing engineering best practices, and embedding quality throughout the software development lifecycle. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in **Playwright-based UI automation** , API testing, modern programming practices, and CI/CD integration. This individual will own quality outcomes-not merely test execution-and partner with product, engineering, architecture, and business teams to improve release confidence, speed-to-market, customer experience, and production stability. **Key Responsibilities:** **Automation Strategy and Architecture** + Define and implement an enterprise-grade test automation strategy across UI, API, integration, and end-to-end testing. + Architect scalable and reusable automation frameworks using **Playwright with TypeScript or JavaScript** . + Establish framework standards for modularity, maintainability, parallel execution, cross-browser testing, reporting, and failure diagnostics. + Guide the appropriate use of unit, component, API, contract, integration, UI, and end-to-end. + Reduce dependence on manual regression through risk-based, sustainable automation. **Quality Engineering and Shift-Left Practices** + Drive shift-left quality by influencing requirements, acceptance criteria, solution designs, and testability. + Define the overall test approach, quality gates, automation coverage targets, and release-readiness criteria. + Champion test-driven development, behavior-driven development, API-first testing, and early defect prevention. + Collaborate with product owners and business analysts to create clear, testable acceptance criteria. **Code Quality and Engineering Standards** + Conduct automation design and code reviews and ensure adherence to programming, security, and maintainability standards. + Establish reusable libraries, coding guidelines, test patterns, branching practices, and Definition of Done. + Ensure automated tests are reliable, independent, maintainable, and resistant to flaky execution. + Implement effective test reporting, failure analysis, defect triage, and root-cause analysis practices. **CI/CD, Cloud and Non-Functional Quality** + Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines to provide fast and actionable feedback. + Enable parallel, cross-browser, environment-based, and scheduled test execution. + Partner with DevOps and platform teams to improve test environment availability, test data provisioning, and pipeline reliability. + Contribute to performance, accessibility, security, compatibility, and resiliency testing strategies. + Implement dashboards and quality metrics that provide visibility into coverage, defects, execution stability, and release risk. **Stakeholder and Business Outcome Ownership** + Communicate quality status, release risks, dependencies, and recommendations to technical and non-technical stakeholders. + Provide objective, data-driven release-readiness assessments rather than limiting accountability to test completion. + Drive measurable improvements in release confidence, escaped defects, automation coverage, cycle time, and customer experience. **MUST HAVE Skills:** + 12-15 years of experience in software quality engineering, test automation, or SDET roles, including technical leadership responsibilities. + Deep hands-on experience designing and developing automation frameworks using **Playwright** . + Strong programming capability in **TypeScript or JavaScript** ; working knowledge of Python or Java is valuable. + Strong experience testing modern web applications across multiple browsers and responsive interfaces. + Expertise in API testing using tools or frameworks such as **Karate, REST Assured, Playwright API, Postman, or equivalent** . + Experience designing maintainable automation using page/component models, reusable fixtures, data-driven approaches, and appropriate design patterns. + Strong knowledge of test pyramid principles, shift-left testing, risk-based testing, and quality engineering practices. + Experience integrating automation with CI/CD platforms such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, or equivalent. + Proficiency with Git-based version control, pull requests, code reviews, and branching strategies. + Experience with BDD and Gherkin, with sound judgment on where behavior-driven specifications add value. + Strong understanding of test data management, service virtualization, mocking, environment management, and defect lifecycle. + Ability to troubleshoot complex failures across UI, API, integration, data, and application layers. + Strong stakeholder communication, analytical thinking, influencing, and technical decision-making skills. **SHOULD HAVE Skills** + Experience testing applications hosted on AWS or another public cloud platform. + Experience with containerized test execution using Docker and cloud-based browser execution platforms. + Familiarity with accessibility testing tools and WCAG-aligned validation practices. + Experience with performance testing tools such as k6, JMeter, or Gatling. + Working knowledge of application security testing and secure software development practices. + Knowledge of observability platforms such as Splunk, Dynatrace, Datadog, or OpenTelemetry. + Experience testing enterprise applications in the Property & Casualty insurance domain. + Familiarity with policy administration workflows or platforms such as Duck Creek Policy. + Experience using AI-assisted engineering and testing capabilities for test generation, defect analysis, and productivity improvement. **Education** Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline; equivalent relevant experience may be considered. **Hartford Success Profile** + Owns product quality and business outcomes-not merely test execution. + Leads through technical credibility, hands-on contribution, and sound engineering judgment. + Builds quality into the delivery lifecycle rather than treating testing as a final-stage activity. + Balances delivery speed with customer experience, security, resilience, and long-term maintainability. + Communicates release risk clearly and provides data-driven recommendations. + Acts as a technical multiplier by improving team capability, engineering practices, and automation effectiveness.