The Mission

As Lead Software Engineer – AI Quality & Test Automation, you own the strategy and execution of a modern, AI-accelerated test automation program. You build and run the platforms, frameworks, and CI quality gates that keep releases reliable at high velocity — using AI to scale test creation, maintenance, and triage across teams. You don’t retrofit testing onto AI workflows; you engineer quality into them from the ground up, ensuring every stage of an AI-assisted pipeline is observable, trustworthy, and continuously improving.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Platform & Automation Leadership

• Own the automation platform: define and build scalable frameworks, standards, and governance (services, APIs, UI) that enable teams to produce robust, consistent coverage
• Set direction for test automation tooling and AI-assisted techniques that accelerate test design, authoring, maintenance, and triage
• Lead by example — write automation, set the quality bar, mentor engineers, and drive adoption of the practices you establish
• Own CI automation health: build and maintain test environments, pipelines, and tooling (including containers/CI), reduce flakiness, and shorten feedback loops
• Be a highly visible advocate for quality — lead cross-team discussions, drive alignment and decisions, and escalate risks and blockers immediately

AI-Native Test Engineering

• Lead the adoption of LLM-powered test generation: from natural language requirement ingestion to executable, maintainable test output
• Build and maintain a self-healing test infrastructure layer — leveraging AI to detect broken selectors, drifted APIs, or changed behaviors and propose or apply fixes autonomously
• Define prompt engineering standards, context injection patterns, and RAG architectures that ground test generation in real codebase context
• Implement guardrails to ensure AI-generated test output is verified, traceable, and safe to ship — including versioning, ownership attribution, and confidence scoring
• Own automated coverage and risk reporting (unit/integration/e2e) and use it to drive targeted gap closure and release readiness

Quality Gates & CI/CD

• Lead risk-based test strategy with product and engineering — define acceptance criteria and quality gates that support high delivery velocity without sacrificing customer-impacting quality
• Design adaptive quality gates for AI-accelerated CI/CD pipelines — gates that reason about risk, not just pass/fail thresholds
• Build risk-scoring models that adjust gate strictness based on change scope, code origin (human vs. AI-generated), historical failure patterns, and deployment context
• Architect the observability layer for automated pipelines: surface signals that indicate poor quality decisions in real time
• Establish rollback and circuit-breaker patterns for autonomous deployments triggered by quality signal degradation

AI Model & Agent Validation

• Build behavioral testing frameworks for validating AI agents and LLM-powered features in production — testing non-deterministic outputs with statistical rigor
• Design evaluation benchmarks for internal AI tooling: measuring task completion accuracy, hallucination rates, and decision quality over time
• Define adversarial and edge-case testing methodologies for AI features: prompt injection resistance, boundary condition handling, and graceful degradation
• Partner with ML platform and data science teams to establish quality acceptance criteria for every model and agent promoted to production

Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with a strong emphasis on test automation (unit, integration, end-to-end) and quality engineering practices
• Strong programming skills in one or more languages: Python, TypeScript, Java, or C#
• Platform mindset — energized by building infrastructure and frameworks that enable product teams to move faster
• Experience building automation for APIs and distributed systems; UI automation experience is a plus
• Experience with CI/CD, test reporting/observability, and maintaining reliable pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps)
• Proven ability to apply AI/LLM tools to scale automation (e.g., generate/refine tests, expand edge cases, refactor brittle suites, accelerate failure triage) while implementing guardrails so AI output is verified, traceable, and safe to ship
• Hands-on understanding of agentic AI patterns: tool use, multi-agent orchestration, planning loops, and human-in-the-loop design as applied to quality workflows
• Familiarity with LLM failure modes relevant to quality: hallucination, context loss, sycophancy, and over-confident assertions
• Excellent debugging and root-cause analysis skills across code, data, and infrastructure
• Strong communication skills; able to translate quality risks into clear tradeoffs and action plans
• Demonstrated technical leadership across teams — driving standards, roadmap execution, and stakeholder alignment
• Self-directed, comfortable with ambiguity, and biased toward action

Desired Skills & Experience

• Modern test frameworks (e.g., pytest, JUnit, NUnit, Playwright, Cypress) and API testing (REST, gRPC)
• Containerization and environments: Docker; Kubernetes a plus
• Relational databases and SQL; ability to validate data pipelines and analytics outputs
• Experience with Elasticsearch or similar text-retrieval data stores
• Performance/load testing (e.g., JMeter, k6, Locust) and profiling/observability
• Cloud experience (AWS/Azure/GCP) and Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform)
• Experience building AI-enabled automation workflows (e.g., Claude/OpenAI APIs, prompt patterns for test generation, repo-aware RAG, scripts/services that turn AI output into runnable tests)
• Familiarity with agent frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, AutoGen, or equivalents) and their tradeoffs in production quality pipelines
• Experience designing evaluation harnesses for non-deterministic AI systems — statistical confidence, behavioral consistency, and regression detection
• Agile software development experience (Scrum / XP)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

THE POSITION
Our roster has an opening with your name on it

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to own and evolve test automation for our Sportsbook Emerging Experiences - Social and Advanced Search - across iOS, Android, and Web. This is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on building reliable functional and performance automation that improves release confidence.

You’ll partner closely with engineers, product, and QA to embed quality earlier in the development lifecycle, build repeatable patterns in our Nx monorepo and CI, and raise the bar on what “release ready” means for user-critical journeys.

In addition to the specific responsibilities outlined above, employees may be required to perform other such duties as assigned by the Company. This ensures operational flexibility and allows the Company to meet evolving business needs.

THE GAME PLAN
Everyone on our team has a part to play

Design and implement end-to-end automation for core Social and Search journeys using Cypress (web) and Detox (iOS/Android), aligned to our Nx monorepo structure.

Own and evolve the pillar’s automation foundations: test architecture, folder structure, screen-object patterns, shared utilities, and local-first run toolchains so teams can add coverage quickly and consistently.

Integrate automation into CI (Buildkite and/or GitHub Actions): affected execution, parallelization, clear pass/fail reporting, and quality gates that are actionable, while keeping suites easy to run locally for fast iteration.

Drive stability: track flakiness, improve test determinism, and shorten time-to-signal through improved synchronization, test data control, and failure triage patterns.

Establish a test data and environment strategy: mocks/fixtures for acceptance, prod-like data for E2E, and lightweight API/contract tests (Pact or equivalent) where they add value.

Build performance coverage for critical journeys (feed load, interactions, search latency/rendering) using Detox performance tooling and/or Flashlight + Maestro; define baselines and regression thresholds.

Own load/performance testing for key end-to-end user journeys (from BFF/edge APIs through platform and backend services) using Locust (Python) or equivalent, including realistic traffic modeling (ramp profiles, concurrency, think time), scenario design, assertions on p95/p99 latency, throughput, and error rates, and reporting.

For Advanced Search (including LLM-powered experiences where applicable), define automated evaluation: schema/structure checks, relevance/quality regression vs baselines, and edge-case/safety checks.

Partner with platform and observability teams to improve test visibility (dashboards, logging, artifacts) and ensure automation results are easy to interpret and act on.

Mentor and enable: coach engineers and QA (including team members transitioning from manual to automated testing) on automation authorship, local-first toolchains, and AI-assisted development workflows (e.g., Cursor) so squads can confidently build and maintain test coverage.

THE STATS
What we're looking for in our next teammate

7+ years of experience in software test automation / quality engineering, including designing and maintaining automation frameworks at scale.

Hands-on coding skills in TypeScript/JavaScript and/or Python; comfortable reading and contributing to production code.

Strong end-to-end automation experience across web and mobile (Cypress and Detox preferred; Playwright, Appium, WebdriverIO, etc. are transferable).

Experience working in monorepos and CI/CD: Nx (or similar), Buildkite/GitHub Actions, and practices like affected runs, parallelization, and fast feedback loops.

Experience testing APIs and distributed systems: test data setup, SQL/NoSQL validation, and contract testing/mocking approaches where appropriate.

Performance and reliability mindset: build performance baselines, run end-to-end load tests (Locust/k6/JMeter) that exercise BFF and downstream services, interpret p95/p99 latency and error rates, and reduce flaky tests through better design.

Staff-level leadership: proven ability to influence across teams, set standards, mentor others, and drive quality initiatives end-to-end.

Nice to Have

Mobile performance tooling (Detox performance, Flashlight, Maestro) and/or web performance profiling (Lighthouse, tracing) is a plus.

Accessibility testing experience (axe, WCAG) and/or visual regression testing.

Experience with observability and reporting (Grafana, ELK, Datadog) for test signal, flakiness, and CI analytics.

Cloud and data tooling (AWS, Docker/Kubernetes) for test environments, orchestration, and test data pipelines.

Experience testing ML/LLM-powered search: evaluation datasets and regression across model/prompt changes.

ABOUT FANDUEL

FanDuel Group is the premier mobile gaming company in the United States and Canada. FanDuel Group consists of a portfolio of leading brands across mobile wagering including: America’s #1 Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook; its leading iGaming platform, FanDuel Casino; the industry’s unquestioned leader in horse racing and advance-deposit wagering, FanDuel Racing; and its daily fantasy sports product.  

In addition, FanDuel Group operates FanDuel TV, its broadly distributed linear cable television network and FanDuel TV+, its leading direct-to-consumer OTT platform. FanDuel Group has a presence across all 50 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

The company is based in New York with US offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Jersey City, as well as global offices in Canada and Scotland. The company’s affiliates have offices worldwide, including in Ireland, Portugal, Romania, and Australia.

FanDuel Group is a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment, the world's largest sports betting and gaming operator with a portfolio of globally recognized brands and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: FLUT).

PLAYER BENEFITS
We treat our team right

We offer amazing benefits above and beyond the basics. We have an array of health plans to choose from (some as low as $0 per paycheck) that include programs for fertility and family planning, mental health support, and fitness benefits. We offer generous paid time off (PTO & sick leave), annual bonus and long-term incentive opportunities (based on performance), 401k with up to a 5% match, commuter benefits , pet insurance, and more - check out all our benefits here: FanDuel Total Rewards. *Benefits differ across location, role, and level.

FanDuel is an equal opportunities employer and we believe, as one of our principles states, “We are One Team!”. As such, we are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, local or federal law. We believe FanDuel is strongest and best able to compete if all employees feel valued, respected, and included.

The applicable salary range for this position is $159k- $199k USD, which is dependent on a variety of factors including relevant experience, location, business needs and market demand. This role may offer the following benefits: medical, vision, and dental insurance; life insurance; disability insurance; a 401(k) matching program; among other employee benefits. This role may also be eligible for short-term or long-term incentive compensation, including, but not limited to, cash bonuses and stock program participation. This role includes paid personal time off and 14 paid company holidays. FanDuel offers paid sick time in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws.

FanDuel is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please email Benefits@fanduel.com.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

#LI-Hybrid

The Challenge 

We are looking for a Principal-level SDET to support our product development teams. As the Principal SDET, you will play a crucial role in shaping and leading our software testing strategy. You will be responsible for designing, developing, and implementing robust test automation frameworks, mentoring a team of SDETs (Software Development Engineer in Test), and ensuring the overall quality and reliability of our software products. 

Your Mission  

As a Principal SDET, you will: 

• Provide technical leadership and guidance to the SDET team.
• Collaborate with development and QE (Quality Engineering) teams to integrate testing into the software development process.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable and efficient test automation frameworks and test architectures.
• Rub shoulders with developers in writing unit and integration tests using their tools and frameworks.
• Ensure the frameworks support various testing types, including functional, integration, and performance testing.
• Mentor and guide junior SDETs, providing technical expertise and career development support.
• Conduct training sessions to enhance the skills of the testing team.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning within the team.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop comprehensive test plans.
• Execute and oversee the execution of test cases, ensuring thorough coverage of functional and non-functional requirements.
• Analyze test results and provide meaningful insights to improve product quality.
• Work closely with developers, product managers, and other stakeholders to understand requirements and user stories.
• Communicate effectively with team members and stakeholders, providing clear updates on testing progress and issues.
• Add, maintain, and update scripts in existing automation suite, helping with running the suite across various checkpoints in the release cycle.
• Participate in various POCs (Proof of Concept) to keep the automation framework and technology relevant and current to product offerings. 
• Conduct peer reviews of test code and automation frameworks.

You Are 

You are a seasoned SDET with an automate anything anywhere attitude who is looking for a challenging technical leadership role in a dynamic and innovative company. You can efficiently find the underlying cause of a failure (in an integrated environment) and alert the right team. You are consistently willing to pitch in to support a long running deployment, even after hours. You are willing to learn and pick up new skillsets to support the ever-changing technology landscape like Cloud computing & AI (Artificial Intelligence). You can understand complex product and deployment architectures and create efficient test solutions. You want to be part of a team that is passionate about delivering high-quality software solutions.

Your Experience Includes 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical or business field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience working as a developer, automation engineer or SDET.
• 8+ years of experience coding in Java and must have strong practical knowledge of OOPs and Core Java principles. 
• 4+ years of experience contributing to Test-Driven Development or BDD (Behavior Driven Development) with tools like Cucumber, Junit, Mockito, or TestNG.
• 3+ years of experience with CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Circle CI, or Azure DevOps with the ability to create test pipelines using Java or Groovy.
• 4+ years of experience with Selenium or Cypress frameworks for automating GUI (User Interface) and E2E tests of the application.
• 4+ years of experience with REST Assured or similar tools like Postman for automating APIs.
• 4+ years of experience working in a highly automated CI/CD environment.
• 4+ years of experience with source control tools such as Bitbucket, GitHub or GitLab.
• 2+ years of experience mining meaningful logs for troubleshooting using tools like Splunk, Dynatrace or Coralogix.
• 3+ years of experience working in a cloud shop preferably Azure with exposure to various Azure services like Gateways, Redis, Storage, VMs (virtual machines) and Kubernetes clusters. 
• 3+ years of experience in testing mobile applications, both native and websites using Appium on both real devices and simulators either in a private farm of 3^rd party vendors like Sauce Labs or BrowserStack.
• 4+ years of experience working with geographically distributed teams in US, Canada, and India.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work as part of a team, demonstrate initiative, solve problems independently and mentor others.
• Passion for high-quality work and attention to detail.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Extra Awesome

• Prior exposure to AI/ML systems and how to use them in testing thus making test pipeline more intelligent.
• Experience in analyzing the CPU Utilization, Memory usage, Network usage, Garbage Collection and DB Parameters and DB Reports to verify the performance of the applications.
• Ability to spin up scalable test architecture using Docker or Kubernetes.
• Experience with Kubernetes and extended usage patterns for test grids, auto scale properties.