Software Development Engineer in Test

About italki

italki is a global language learning community that connects students and teachers for 1-on-1 online language lessons. We’re passionate about giving everyone the opportunity to learn languages, in the most personalized and authentic way possible.

About the Job

We are looking for a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to help strengthen the quality, reliability, and release confidence of italki’s products. This role combines software engineering and quality engineering, with a strong focus on building scalable test automation, improving testability, and embedding quality throughout the software development lifecycle.

You will work closely with software engineers, product managers, and other cross-functional partners to identify quality risks, develop effective automated testing solutions, and improve the tools and processes that support reliable product delivery.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain scalable automated test frameworks and test infrastructure for critical product workflows.

Build and maintain automated tests across relevant layers, including APIs, services, integrations, and user-facing applications.

Partner with software engineers to improve system testability, identify quality risks early, and define effective testing strategies for new features and technical changes.

Integrate automated quality checks into CI/CD pipelines to provide fast and reliable feedback throughout the development lifecycle.

Investigate test failures and product defects, identify root causes, and collaborate with engineering teams on effective solutions.

Improve test coverage, execution efficiency, stability, and maintainability while reducing unnecessary manual regression effort.

Develop tools, utilities, test data, mocks, or supporting infrastructure that improve engineering productivity and quality assurance.

Contribute to testing standards, quality metrics, release criteria, and engineering practices that improve overall product reliability.

Monitor automation effectiveness and continuously identify opportunities to improve quality processes, tooling, and technical approaches.

Requirements

Professional experience in software development, test automation, quality engineering, or a related engineering role.

Strong programming skills in at least one commonly used software development language, with the ability to write maintainable production-quality test code.

Hands-on experience designing, developing, and maintaining automated test frameworks.

Experience with API, service, integration, and/or end-to-end automated testing.

Good understanding of software testing principles, test design, debugging, and root-cause analysis.

Experience working with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated testing into software delivery workflows.

Solid understanding of software development practices, version control, code review, and collaborative engineering workflows.

Ability to analyze complex systems, identify quality risks, and select appropriate testing approaches at different layers of the application.

Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with software engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.

Experience working in an Agile or iterative product development environment.