Automation Engineering Manager Jobs in Seattle, WA

About the team
The team is focused on building and maturing automated testing capabilities that enable faster, higher-quality software delivery across Symetra. This role will lead a small team of automation engineers while working cross-functionally with engineering, product, DevOps, architecture, and business partners. The environment is highly collaborative, with an emphasis on innovation, continuous improvement, and implementing scalable automation solutions that increase release confidence and support business-critical applications.
About the role
The Lead Test Automation Engineer is a hands-on technical leader responsible for guiding a team of 2-3 automation engineers and advancing automation maturity across complex applications and delivery teams.
This role leads the design, development, and ongoing improvement of scalable test automation frameworks, environments, and CI/CD integrations. The individual works with minimal supervision and partners closely with engineering, product, DevOps, architecture, business subject matter experts, and QA teams to improve test coverage, reliability, performance, and release confidence.
What you will do

• Lead and provide technical direction to a team of automation engineers.
• Design, develop, and maintain scalable automated test strategies, frameworks, and scripts supporting API, UI, integration, functional, regression, smoke, performance, and reliability testing.
• Recommend and help standardize automation frameworks, test environments, tools, coding practices, and implementation patterns.
• Drive automation strategy, framework design, solution planning, CI/CD integration, and tooling decisions for major initiatives.
• Remain hands-on with framework development, test implementation, code reviews, debugging, and technical problem-solving.
• Mentor automation engineers, Software Test Engineers, analysts, and interns, and serve as an automation subject matter expert across delivery teams.
• Lead the consistent adoption of automation and quality engineering best practices.
• Own automation framework health, pipeline integration, execution reliability, and communication of automation risks, gaps, and progress to leadership.
• Define and track meaningful automation metrics, including coverage, execution results, stability, failure trends, and test effectiveness.
• Lead root-cause analysis for complex automation failures, framework issues, and recurring defects, and implement improvements to prevent recurrence.
• Identify and implement improvements that increase automation efficiency, maintainability, scalability, and execution speed.
• Partner with development, QA, DevOps, architecture, product teams, business stakeholders, and third-party vendors to support high-quality delivery.
• Communicate technical recommendations, automation health, delivery risks, and improvement opportunities to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Who You Are

• Eight or more years of relevant test automation or quality engineering experience.
• Significant hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining automation solutions across multiple applications, products, or services.
• Proven experience leading automation engineers and providing technical mentoring and guidance.
• Strong experience designing and governing scalable automation frameworks, including coding standards, test strategy, framework architecture, and long-term maintainability.
• Advanced experience with modern automation frameworks such as Playwright, Cypress, Selenium, or Pytest.
• Strong API testing and automation experience using tools and technologies such as Postman, REST services, JSON, and related API validation frameworks.
• Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines, including pipeline design, execution controls, metrics, and governance.
• Strong knowledge of functional, regression, integration, end-to-end, smoke, performance, and reliability testing.
• Strong debugging, system analysis, and root-cause analysis skills, including experience diagnosing issues across distributed systems.
• Solid understanding of DevOps practices, test environment management, pipeline optimization, and test execution efficiency.
• Experience testing cloud-based applications and services in AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Demonstrated ability to work across engineering, product, DevOps, architecture, QA, and business teams.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder-influencing skills.
• Proactive leadership mindset with ownership of automation strategy, framework quality, and continuous improvement.

Nice to Haves

• Experience with Python, Pytest, and Postman.
• Experience with Playwright or Cypress.
• Experience with Azure DevOps pipelines or GitHub Actions.
• Experience testing AWS-based applications, including serverless or container-based solutions.
• Experience with performance and reliability testing.
• Experience contributing to new solution design and architecture.
• Experience defining automation metrics and communicating quality and delivery risk to leadership.

Why Work at Symetra
Here's what some of our employees have to say about why they work at Symetra:
""I was referred to Symetra by a family friend who's been with the company for years-and I'm so glad I took their advice. Symetra truly puts its people first. I've always felt supported, not micromanaged, and that trust has helped me grow. I started in an entry-level position and have worked my way up to Unit Manager by continuously learning and expanding my skills. It's a place that believes in its employees and invests in their success." - Morgan D., Sr. Unit Manager
""Symetra will spoil you. There aren't many companies that will put as much effort into you being a success as Symetra. The culture will challenge you but simultaneously put you at ease. Failure is seen as integral to the learning process so there is less reason to be fearful of it." - Kerry S., Sr. Systems Analyst
What we offer you
Benefits and Perks
We don't take a "one-size-fits-all" approach when it comes to our employees. Our programs are designed to make your life better both at work and at home.

• 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
• Want more details? Check out our Symetra Benefits Overview

Compensation
Salary Range: $128,700 - $214,600 plus eligibility for annual bonus program
Please review Symetra's Remote Network Minimum Requirements:
As a remote-first organization committed to providing a positive experience for both employees and customers, Symetra has the following standards for employees' internet connection:

• Minimum Internet Speed: 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, in alignment with the FCC's definition of "broadband."
• Internet Type: Fiber, Cable (e.g., Comcast, Spectrum), or DSL.
• Not Permissible: Satellite (e.g., Starlink), cellular broadband (hotspot or otherwise), any other wireless technology, or wired dial-up.

When applying to jobs at Symetra you'll be asked to test your internet speed and confirm that your internet connection meets or exceeds Symetra's standard as outlined above.
Identity Verification
Symetra is committed to fair and secure hiring practices. For all roles, candidates will be required (after the initial phone screen) to be on video for all interviews. Symetra will take affirmative steps at key points in the process to verify that a candidate is not seeking employment fraudulently, e.g. through use of a false identity.
Failure to comply with verification procedures may result in:

• Disqualification from the recruitment process
• Withdrawal of a job offer
• Termination of employment and other criminal and/or civil remedies, if fraud is discovered

We empower inclusion
At Symetra, we aspire to be the most inclusive insurance company in the country. We're building a place where every employee feels valued, respected, and has opportunities to contribute.
Inclusion is about recognizing our assumptions, considering multiple perspective, and removing barriers. We accept and celebrate diverse experiences, identities, and perspectives, because lifting each other up fuels thought and builds a stronger, more innovative company. We invite you to learn more about our efforts here.
Creating a world where more people have access to financial freedom
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.
For more information about our careers visit https://symetra.eightfold.ai/careers
Work Authorization
Employer work visa sponsorship and support are not provided for this role. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States at hire and must maintain authorization to work in the United States throughout their employment with our company.
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