Job Title: Staff/Lead SDET Engineer (Test Automation Platform)
Product: Total Battle
Total Battle is a massive MMO 4X strategy game available on mobile and web, uniting millions of active players. As our product and engineering teams scale, we are shifting our testing paradigm: automated testing must become a daily, self-service engineering tool rather than a bottleneck owned by a dedicated team.
We are looking for a Staff/Lead SDET to take technical ownership of our internal test automation tooling and make this vision a reality.
Why this role exists
Your core mission is to empower product QA teams. You won't write tests; you will build the tools, APIs, and abstractions that allow QA engineers (with basic Python & OOP skills) to independently create checks, manage test states, run tests in CI/CD, and diagnose failures.
- The Product Teams own the tests.
- You own the tooling layer that makes their work possible.
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💡 Core Focus Areas:
1. Client Testing Tools: UI scenarios, method/component checks across Android, WebGL, and (soon) iOS.
2. Server Integration: Component testing tools built over existing Python clients, SDKs, and product testability capabilities.(Note: We aren't starting from scratch. We need a visionary who can assess our existing solutions, define a target architecture, and evolve them incrementally).
What You’ll Work On
- Drive Technical Strategy: Define the roadmap for QA tooling, evolve its architecture, and personally implement key solutions.
- Build the Platform: Develop domain APIs, fixtures, and state-preparation tools for integration/component testing over existing SDKs.
- Enhance Client Automation: Extend client UI automation and enable sub-UI checks for specific client methods.
- Unify Execution: Ensure local and CI execution follow a predictable, unified path across Android and WebGL.
- Create Diagnostics: Build clear diagnostic tools to help QA engineers easily distinguish between product, test, tooling, and infrastructure failures.
- Cross-Team Collaboration: Translate recurring QA needs into product testability requirements and establish technical contracts with client/backend teams.
- Evangelize & Mentor: Drive adoption of your tools through pilots, solid documentation, and feedback loops. (Where needed, help define engineering roles and participate in hiring/onboarding).
Who You Are We are looking for a hands-on technical leader who thrives in long-term ownership of internal platforms.
- Python Expert: You regularly write, debug, and maintain Python code for libraries, frameworks, SDKs, or internal tools.
- Platform Builder: You have designed or substantially evolved a framework/SDK used by multiple teams, bringing it to a point where teams can use it independently.
- API Designer: You know how to build stable public APIs over existing SDKs, hiding low-level details from the end-user.
- Cross-Functional Driver: You’ve successfully worked with backend, client, or framework teams to deliver testability capabilities, driving changes even when you don't directly manage the teams.
- CI/CD & Diagnostics Guru: You have integrated automated checks into CI quality gates with robust reproducibility and diagnostics.
- AI Adopter: You leverage LLMs and coding agents to investigate codebases, develop tooling, or create tests efficiently.
- Deep Domain Expertise: You have profound hands-on experience in at least one of the following (and can take technical responsibility for the other):
- Client/UI automation: Drivers, custom/non-native UI, synchronization, and sub-UI checks.
- Backend/integration tooling: Python clients/SDKs, protocols, sessions, fixtures, and test state.
Nice to Have (Bonus Points)
- Experience in both client/UI and backend/integration tooling.
- Background in modernizing legacy automation and conducting incremental user migrations.
- Experience with complex…