Automation Engineer

We are seeking an Automation Engineer for a 6-month contract position based in Rancho Cordova, California. This is a hands-on quality engineering role within IT Applications Testing Services, responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining automation solutions for start-up implementations and operations and maintenance (O&M) software development projects. You will analyze system requirements, partner with Development, DevOps, Cloud, Systems, and Business teams, and translate testing needs into reusable, scalable, and maintainable automated tests. You will advance automation frameworks and quality practices for web, mobile, microservices, database, and API-based applications, integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines, contribute to performance and test data strategies, mentor team members, and support proof-of-concept evaluations of emerging automation and AI-assisted testing capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, maintain, and enhance reusable automation frameworks using Page Object Model, data-driven, API-first, and AI-assisted testing approaches.
• Develop automation solutions using Java and/or Python, Selenium WebDriver, REST APIs, SQL, and supporting web and scripting technologies.
• Create and execute automated tests for web, mobile, microservices, database, ETL, and API-based applications.
• Collaborate with Development, DevOps, Cloud, Systems, and Business teams to integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines and support reliable releases.
• Analyze requirements, identify automation candidates, prepare test data, and develop test strategies, plans, cases, estimates, and technical documentation.
• Review automation code, frameworks, test scripts, and suites for quality, reusability, security, maintainability, and compliance with standards.
• Manage defects from identification through closure and communicate risks, dependencies, status, and quality results to project stakeholders.
• Support cloud-based test environments, containerized execution, test data management, and database validation activities.
• Contribute to performance testing planning, execution, analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Mentor testing team members, provide project-specific knowledge sharing, and promote automation and quality engineering best practices.
• Evaluate and pilot new tools, technologies, and AI-enabled testing capabilities, and provide recommendations based on measurable value and project needs.
• Assess AI-generated testing outputs for accuracy, security, maintainability, traceability, and business relevance with appropriate human oversight.
• Maintain manual and automation documentation and support system, release, and user acceptance testing activities as needed.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor''s degree from an accredited college or university in information technology, computer science, statistics, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on experience in software quality assurance and test automation for medium to large, complex web-based or enterprise applications.
• Strong programming experience in Java and/or Python, including object-oriented design principles for reusable and maintainable automation solutions.
• Hands-on experience with Selenium WebDriver.
• Experience designing, developing, and maintaining automation frameworks using Page Object Model, data-driven, API-first, or similar modern practices.
• Proficiency in testing web services and applications using REST APIs and tools such as Postman.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, AWS services, or comparable tools.
• Strong SQL skills for backend validation, database testing, and ETL testing.
• Working knowledge of AWS fundamentals and cloud-based testing solutions.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or other containerization and orchestration technologies.
• Proficiency with JavaScript, HTML, XML, and Unix/Linux scripting.
• Experience developing test strategies, test plans, test cases, estimates, and technical documentation.
• Experience with test management and defect tracking tools such as Jira and Xray.
• Working knowledge of Generative AI and AI-assisted engineering tools, with the ability to apply them responsibly to test design, automation development, defect analysis, or test data generation.