Principal Software Engineer In Test (SDET)
Organization: Meteor Mobile Holdings Inc.
Location: Canada
We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer in Test to lead and evolve our quality engineering practice across backend services and client applications. This role is hands-on, highly technical, and focused on building robust, scalable test automation for REST and WebSocket APIs, as well as web, mobile, and desktop client UIs.As a principal-level engineer, you will define testing strategy, design automation frameworks, and partner closely with backend, frontend, mobile, and platform teams to ensure quality is built into the system. This is not a manual QA role.Employment TypeThis is a full-time independent contractor position. We are not currently hiring for direct employee positions.LocationThis is a fully remote position. Work where you perform your best.Key ResponsibilitiesOwn the end-to-end test automation strategy, architecture, and integration across backend services and client applicationsDesign, build, and maintain scalable test automation frameworks for:REST APIsWebSocket / real-time messaging APIsWeb UIsMobile (iOS / Android) clientsDesktop clientsDesign, build, and maintain automated tests for authentication, authorization, data validation, error handling, and backward compatibilityDesign, build, and maintain complex tests for WebSocket/streaming protocolsCollaborate with backend teams on contract testing and schema validationIntegrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelinesDefine and enforce quality gates for merges, releases, and deploymentsAnalyze test failures, improve signal-to-noise ratio, and reduce flakiness What You Bring Bachelor’s degree in a technical field (Computer Science, Physics, or Engineering) or equivalent professional experience10+ years professional experience in a related technical field3+ years in a senior/lead roleExpert-level coding skills in at least one major language (Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or Go) with the ability to read and possibly debug other languages (Kotlin, Swift, Objective-C, C#)Deep experience testing REST APIs and real-time systems (WebSocket, gRPC, or similar)Hands-on experience with UI automation frameworks for:Web (e.g., Playwright, Cypress, Selenium)Mobile (e.g., Appium, XCUITest, Espresso)Strong understanding of distributed systems, asynchronous behavior, and microservices architectureProficiency with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Spinnaker, etc) and Docker/KubernetesAbility to debug complex issues across backend services and client applicationsNice to Have (Preferred Qualifications)Master's degree or higher in a technical fieldExperience testing high-scale or real-time systems (chat, presence, streaming, collaboration tools)Experience validating contracts and schemas (Pact, Postman, Specmatic, Buf, AsyncAPI Studio, or similar)Performance and load testing for APIs and WebSockets (k6, JMeter, Gatling, or similar)Experience with observability tools (logs, metrics, traces) to support test diagnosticsExperience working closely with product and UX teams