Software QA Engineer

SmartLight Analytics is looking for an automation-first QA Engineer to build and own test automation across our internal tools carrier-facing APIs and carrier and customer portals. This is a hands-on engineering role not a manual-testing position with automation on the side: youll design build and maintain an automated test framework (e.g. Playwright) as the primary way we catch regressions and gate releases and youll bring AI-enabled tooling into how tests get written and maintained.

This is a remote role.

What Youll Do

• Design build and maintain automated regression suites (Playwright or an equivalent modern framework) covering internal tools carrier-facing APIs and carrier and customer portals

• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD so they run on every relevant change without manual triggering

• Evaluate and apply AI-enabled testing tools - AI-assisted test generation self-healing selectors AI-assisted defect triage - to speed up authoring and maintenance while keeping a clear standard for what still needs human review

• Act as the release quality gate for the toolsets you own: sign off on releases based on automated test results or make an explicit documented risk call when something isnt ready

• Find isolate and clearly document defects with reproducible steps expected vs. actual behavior and severity

• Prioritize test coverage by risk - carrier- and customer-facing paths compliance-relevant flows and high-usage features get coverage first

• Partner closely with Software Engineering and Product throughout the development cycle so testing isnt a bottleneck bolted on at the end

• Build and document repeatable QA practice - test architecture coverage standards release-gate criteria - so quality doesnt depend on any one persons memory

• Produce testing and change-management artifacts that hold up as evidence under compliance frameworks like SOC 2

What Were Looking For

• Hands-on experience building and maintaining automated test suites with Playwright or a directly comparable modern automation framework (Cypress Selenium/WebDriver etc.)

• Experience testing both UI and API layers including reasoning about API contracts and data flows for integration testing

• Experience integrating automated tests into a CI/CD pipeline

• Practical experience using AI tooling to accelerate software testing work - test generation test maintenance or defect triage - with good judgment about where AI output needs verification

• Strong defect isolation and reproduction skills; writes bug reports engineers can act on without back-and-forth

• Sound risk judgment - can distinguish a cosmetic issue from one that threatens data integrity compliance posture or customer/carrier trust

• Comfortable being a release gatekeeper: can say this isnt ready and back it up with evidence

• Self-directed and comfortable building and improving automation process independently

Nice to Have

• Experience testing systems in a regulated or compliance-sensitive environment (SOC 2 HIPAA-adjacent or similar)

• Experience testing external-facing API integrations with third-party partners

• Familiarity with Python and/or Snowflake-adjacent data pipelines enough to sanity-check data quality issues surfaced during testing

• Experience standing up or significantly leveling up an automation framework

Reporting & Team

This role sits within Software Engineering working closely with engineering Product and Data Platforms with room to grow into a broader quality engineering function as SmartLights toolset and carrier/customer-facing surfaces expand.