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Role Description

As a Lead Test Automation Engineer, you will elevate Symetra’s quality engineering by delivering secure, high‑performing solutions and advancing our automation capabilities. You’ll lead 2–3 automation engineers, shape modern frameworks and practices, and champion an automation‑first approach that strengthens CI/CD and boosts production readiness. You’ll mentor talent, influence technical direction, and collaborate across teams to ensure we deliver consistently high‑quality, scalable systems.

What you will do

• Develop high‑quality, secure, performant code; lead and approve code reviews; define and monitor performance metrics; and ensure required test coverage and code quality gates are met.
• Design, develop, and maintain extensible automated testing frameworks; integrate them into CI/CD to improve speed and stability; lead adoption of automation best practices; and track key automation health metrics to drive continuous quality improvements.
• Contribute to system design and architecture; apply scalable design patterns; ensure alignment with security, performance, and resiliency standards; and partner with DevOps, Architecture, and Product to drive operational excellence and observability.
• Design and support automated build and deployment pipelines; lead root‑cause analyses and implement preventative automation safeguards; and troubleshoot complex automation and framework issues across systems.
• Mentor engineers and interns; serve as the automation subject matter expert across teams; and promote an inclusive culture grounded in Symetra’s Core Values.

Qualifications

• You have a high school diploma (required) and a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience).
• You have 9–12 years of relevant software engineering experience, including 6–10+ years of hands‑on test automation expertise.
• Bring strong software design and development skills; deep expertise in automated testing across all layers; hands‑on experience with frameworks like Pytest, Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright; advanced API testing with tools like Postman; strong debugging and root‑cause analysis abilities; solid DevOps and continuous testing practices; and experience with cloud‑native testing across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• You have strong problem‑solving and decision‑making skills; communicate effectively with technical and non‑technical partners; manage and prioritize work to drive team improvements; and mentor engineers across varying skill levels.
• Professional certifications in software engineering, automation, cloud, or DevOps are highly preferred.
• Some minimal annual travel required (for people manager roles only).

Requirements

• All newly hired people leaders with direct reports are required to complete a comprehensive leadership development program within their first year. This program includes both virtual and in-person training. The in-person sessions will take place at Symetra’s corporate headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.
• Symetra covers all travel and accommodation expenses.

Benefits

• Flexible full-time or hybrid telecommuting arrangements.
• Plan for your future with our 401(k) plan and take advantage of immediate vesting and company matching up to 6%.
• Paid time away including vacation and sick time, flex days and ten paid holidays.
• Give back to your community and double your impact through our company matching.

Company Description

Symetra is a national financial services company dedicated to helping people achieve their financial goals and feel confident about the future. In our daily work, we’re guided by the principles of Value, Transparency and Sustainability. This means we provide products and services people need at a competitive price, we communicate clearly and openly so people understand what they’re buying, and we design products—and operate our company—to stand the test of time. We’re committed to showing up for our communities, lifting up our employees, and standing up for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Join our team and help us create a world where more people have access to financial freedom.