Senior Software Engineer(QA Testing & Automation)

Career Area: Technology, Digital and Data Job Description: Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc. When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other.  We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it. QA Testing & Automation Senior Engineer  to lead the quality engineering strategy, drive automation maturity, and mentor a team of QA engineers. Own the end-to-end test automation architecture across UI, API, and data layers while actively contributing to hands-on development of test solutions. Leadership & Strategy Define and own the  QA automation strategy and roadmap  across all product streams and release cycles Establish framework architecture standards, design patterns (POM, Factory, Strategy), and coding conventions across all automation projects Drive a  shift-left testing  culture by embedding QA activities into sprint planning, refinement, and design reviews Set and enforce quality gates in CI/CD pipelines — no merge without passing smoke and regression suites Report test coverage, defect escape rates, automation ROI, and quality KPIs to engineering leadership and stakeholders Own release readiness decisions in collaboration with Engineering Managers, Product Owners, and Architects Lead technical interviews and assess candidates for QA automation positions Team Management & Mentoring Lead, mentor, and upskill a team of QA engineers across Playwright, Selenium, API, and data validation disciplines Conduct regular 1:1s, set measurable performance goals, and deliver structured feedback Identify skill gaps across the team and create targeted development plans Facilitate internal knowledge-sharing sessions, brown bags, and hands-on workshops on tooling and best practices Resolve sprint blockers for the team and escalate risks to delivery management proactively Playwright — React App UI Testing Architect and own the  Playwright (TypeScript)  framework end-to-end for React SPA coverage Design reusable  Page Object Models , test fixtures, custom reporters, and shared utility layers Define coverage standards across component-level, integration, and full E2E scenarios for React routes, state transitions, and dynamic rendering Implement  API mocking  via page.route() for isolated, deterministic UI test scenarios Configure parallel execution, browser sharding, and multi-browser matrix (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit) Integrate Playwright runs into CI pipelines with artifact retention, HTML report publishing, and failure screenshot capture Establish and govern  visual regression  testing baselines and define triage and sign-off processes for visual failures Define retry policies, flakiness thresholds, and quarantine procedures for unstable tests Selenium + Java + BDD (Cucumber) Govern the  Selenium WebDriver + Cucumber  framework architecture, dependency versioning, and upgrade strategy Collaborate with BAs and Product Owners to review and approve  Gherkin feature files  prior to sprint execution Implement and maintain step definitions, hooks (@Before, @After), and shared scenario context/state management Enforce a structured  tagging strategy  (@smoke, @regression, @sanity, @critical) for selective pipeline execution Manage cross-browser execution strategy Ensure Cucumber execution results are published to  Azdo  for requirement traceability and audit compliance Define and enforce  fluent wait strategies  and element interaction standards to reduce test brittleness Own flaky test triage — identify root causes, quarantine, and drive resolution with dev teams API Testing — REST Assured Design and own the  REST Assured (Java)  API framework with a layered architecture: service layer, model layer, utility layer Define standards for  contract testing , JSON Schema validation, response time assertions, and negative scenario coverage Implement authentication handling strategies across OAuth2, Bearer token refresh flows, and API key injection patterns Build reusable request builders and response extractors to support  chained API test scenarios  (token extraction → dependent calls) Collaborate with backend engineers to validate live API behavior against  OpenAPI/Swagger  specifications Parameterize tests using  TestNG data providers  or Cucumber  Examples  tables for data-driven coverage Integrate API test suites as mandatory  PR and release pipeline gates  with pass/fail status reporting SQL — Data Validation Lead the strategy for  database-level assertions  using JDBC utility layers callable from both UI and API test frameworks Write and review complex SQL queries for post-transaction validation — record counts, field-level checks, referential integrity, and audit log verification Design reusable  DB helper classes  that integrate cleanly into Cucumber step definitions and REST Assured test flows Validate  ETL pipeline outputs , data migrations, and cross-service data synchronization operations Coordinate with DBAs to track schema changes and proactively update affected test assertions before releases Define and maintain  test data seeding and teardown scripts  to ensure isolated, repeatable test runs General QA Ownership Own  test plan and test strategy documents  for each release cycle and major feature delivery Chair defect triage meetings and enforce resolution SLAs by severity across squads Manage test environment coordination with DevOps — environment configs, test data pipelines, and seed scripts Systematically identify and eliminate  flaky tests  to maintain a trustworthy CI signal Embed  accessibility (WCAG)  and  security-aware  test cases (OWASP Top 10 awareness) into standard QA workflows Contribute QA insights to incident and drive preventive test coverage from production escapes This position requires working onsite five days a week.   Relocation is available for this position. Posting Dates: May 13, 2026 - May 21, 2026 Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community .