We are seeking a Lead Software Development Engineer in Test (Lead SDET) to architect and evolve our quality engineering strategy in today’s AI-driven development landscape. This role is ideal for engineers who thrive at the intersection of test automation, modern tooling, and applied AI — delivering reliable, scalable, and maintainable quality systems that keep product velocity high while reducing risk.
As a Lead SDET, you’ll own and advance our automated testing frameworks, introduce responsible AI-assisted QA practices, mentor engineers across the organization, and raise overall testing maturity across functional, performance, security, accessibility, and AI-enabled product capabilities.
This position can be based out of our HQ in Portland, OR, or remote from anywhere in the U.S.
Essential Responsibilities & Duties:
AI-Driven QA Strategy & Framework Ownership
- Own and evolve the organization’s automated testing framework and QA tooling ecosystem.
- Define and standardize best practices for AI-assisted test case generation, test data generation, and coverage discovery.
- Establish responsible AI guardrails for QA (validation, hallucination mitigation, structured outputs, and review standards).
- Implement intelligent test selection and regression analysis to reduce cycle time without increasing risk.
- Ensure AI-augmented tests remain deterministic, maintainable, and production-ready.
Test Architecture & Automation Excellence
- Architect scalable automation across unit, integration, API, UI, contract, performance, and security testing.
- Champion modern testing principles (test pyramid / risk-based testing) and ensure each layer of the stack is appropriately tested.
- Integrate automation into CI/CD with enforceable quality gates and release readiness criteria.
- Lead root-cause analysis for systemic quality issues and recurring defects.
AI System Testing & Evaluation
- Design evaluation frameworks for AI-assisted features (ground-truth testing, deterministic validation, and prompt robustness).
- Implement measurable quality metrics (regression consistency, precision/recall where applicable, drift detection).
- Introduce traceability mechanisms for AI outputs including logging and version-aware regression suites.
- Ensure human-in-the-loop validation is implemented where appropriate.
Mentorship & Engineering Enablement
- Mentor engineers in modern automation practices and AI-augmented workflows.
- Train teams on effective prompt engineering for QA use cases and validation of AI-generated test assets.
- Establish review standards for AI-assisted code contributions.
Quality Governance & Continuous Improvement
- Define and track KPIs such as defect escape rate, automation coverage by risk, and test stability index.
- Provide data-backed release readiness recommendations including Go/No-Go guidance.
- Continuously audit automation ROI and retire low-value tests.
Cross-Functional Partnership
- Partner with Engineering, Product, Security, and DevOps to embed quality early and drive shift-left testing.
- Represent quality in architectural discussions and influence roadmaps.
- Ensure accessibility, security, and privacy testing practices are integrated into the SDLC.
Qualifications:
- 8+ years of experience in software quality engineering, test automation, or SDET roles.
- 3+ years leading automation strategy or serving as a senior technical QA authority.
- Hands-on experience using AI tools for test generation, refactoring, and automation maintenance.
- Experience evaluating LLM-based systems (prompt robustness, structured outputs, drift detection, and versioned regression suites).
- Strong proficiency in at least one programming language (TypeScript, Java, Python, etc.) and modern test frameworks (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium).
- Demonstrated experience designing, maintaining, and scaling test automation frameworks and CI/CD quality gates.
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, HTTP lifecycle, and database querying (SQL/NoSQL).
- Experience mentoring engineers and leading quality initiatives with measurable outcomes.
- Working knowledge of secure testing practices (OWASP Top 10) and performance testing strategy.
Research shows that people who identify as being from underrepresented groups are more likely to doubt the strength of their qualifications, so we encourage you to submit an application if you're interested in this role despite any reservations you may have about your background or skill set.
What is Nice to Have:
- Familiarity with compliance, privacy, or regulated industry SaaS environments.
- Experience implementing performance/load testing strategies.
- Experience with accessibility testing strategy and tooling.
Who We Are
At RadarFirst, our mission is to make regulatory risk and data privacy simple, actionable, and sustainable.
We’re transforming how organizations handle incidents and compliance with automated, purpose-built SaaS solutions. Recognized as pioneers in privacy, we’ve earned patents, industry awards, and the confidence of some of the world’s most highly regulated industries, from healthcare and insurance to finance and beyond.
Our Values
Respect & Candor
Inclusion & Innovation
Integrity & Empathy
Why Join RadarFirst?
At RadarFirst, our team is filled with smart, thoughtful, and forward-thinking contributors who are experts at what they do. Our culture of innovation and trust is paramount to our success. We work hard, but we also encourage and support a healthy work/life balance. We offer a generous package of benefits and perks that make RadarFirst a great place to work, including:
- Comprehensive benefits that include medical and dental, 401k, Life and Disability insurance, generous flexible time off policy, paid holiday time, and 12 weeks paid parental leave. Plus flexible spending accounts for medical, dependent care, and commuter expenses
- Community outreach programs to encourage giving back to our community both as a group and individually
- Commitment to anti-racism work and accountability to our short-term and long-term equity & inclusion action plan
RadarFirst is a community-first organization, operating on a hybrid model. We actively support all employees working in the way they need. For those who wish to work from the office, these are some features of our downtown Portland office:
- On-site amenities such as indoor bike racks, showers, lockers, and gym facilities
- Casual work environment in an ideal central location, close to great food, shopping, and transportation options
This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.
The salary range for this role is $130,000 – $145,000 annually.
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