Contract Software Tester Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Summary
Our Product Development & Operations (PDO) organization builds and runs the cloud platform that P&C insurers around the world rely on to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver secure, scalable solutions that power mission-critical insurance workflows in the cloud. You'll join a highly collaborative engineering culture that values inclusive teamwork, technical depth, and continuous improvement across our modern, cloud-native stack.
As a Software Test Automation Architect, you will own the vision, design, and evolution of our test automation frameworks and quality tooling for Guidewire Cloud and our AI-augmented product portfolio. You'll spend most of your time hands-on - building resilient test infrastructure, integrating automation into CI/CD for zero-downtime releases, and shaping how we use AI agents to transform continuous testing. Working closely with product, platform, and SRE teams, you'll be a key driver of PDO priorities around operational excellence, GenAI adoption, and measurable customer value, directly supporting Guidewire's mission to transform how the world's P&C insurers do business.
Job Description
What you'll do

• Own the end-to-end architecture and evolution of test automation frameworks and tooling across critical Guidewire Cloud and AI-powered services, ensuring they meet PDO reliability, security, and performance goals.
• Spend at least 70% of your time hands-on designing, implementing, and optimizing automation frameworks (API, UI, data, contract, and performance) using languages such as Java, Python, or JavaScript.
• Embed comprehensive automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to support zero-downtime, high-confidence releases, partnering with SRE to improve speed and stability of delivery.
• Design, prototype, and integrate AI and agentic testing capabilities to enhance test generation, data creation, defect detection, and edge-case discovery in line with Guidewire's GenAI and Agentic AI Platform strategy.
• Collaborate with architects, product managers, and engineering leaders to define quarterly and annual quality objectives that support PDO priorities around operational excellence, cloud adoption, and customer-centric outcomes.
• Establish best practices, coding standards, and governance for test automation in distributed, microservices-based environments using Docker, Kubernetes, and modern data formats (e.g., Avro, Parquet).
• Mentor and influence SDETs and software engineers across teams, scaling quality practices through design reviews, pair programming, and reusable patterns that reduce time-to-value for new products and markets.

Through this work, you'll directly support Guidewire's mission to transform how the world's P&C insurers do business by delivering secure, resilient cloud services and AI-powered experiences that help customers engage, innovate, and grow efficiently.
What you'll bring
Required

• 12+ years of hands-on experience in software testing, test automation, and framework or platform-level test architecture for complex, distributed systems.
• Strong programming skills in one or more of: Java, Python, or JavaScript, including building libraries, services, and tooling used by other engineers.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems concepts such as consistency, availability, fault tolerance, durability, and consensus patterns, and how these impact testing strategies and quality architecture.
• Proven expertise in REST API test automation using frameworks such as Karate or Cucumber, plus experience with browser automation tools like Selenium WebDriver, Playwright, or TestCafe.
• Hands-on experience testing and automating workloads running in containers and Kubernetes, including environment provisioning, test data strategies, and observability integration.
• Practical experience designing or integrating AI/GenAI-based solutions or agents into engineering workflows (for example, test generation, code analysis, intelligent triage, or anomaly detection).
• Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills, with a clear bias toward automation, simplification, and building for long-term maintainability.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of influencing cross-functional teams and driving alignment on quality and reliability goals.

Preferred

• Experience in large-scale SaaS, cloud, or platform engineering environments, ideally in fintech, insurtech, or other highly regulated domains.
• Background in data-intensive systems and analytics platforms, including experience validating data pipelines, schemas (Avro/Parquet), and data quality at scale.
• Familiarity with performance, resiliency, and chaos testing strategies for microservices and event-driven architectures.
• Prior experience contributing to organization-wide quality strategies, technical standards, or enabling frameworks used across multiple product lines.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Your Impact
We believe in clarity and setting you up for success. In your first months, you'll immerse yourself in our platform, CI/CD pipelines, and product portfolio, partnering with engineering and SDET teams to assess current frameworks, identify gaps, and define a roadmap that aligns with PDO's focus on operational excellence, AI adoption, and customer-centric outcomes. You'll lead the design of next-generation automation architecture, pilot AI-driven testing capabilities, and establish clear quality metrics that demonstrate reduced incident rates, faster release cycles, and improved coverage for new AI-powered features and global cloud regions. Over time, your work will shape how Guidewire engineers build and ship software, influencing our ability to deliver secure, resilient, and innovative solutions that help P&C insurers engage their customers, innovate confidently, and grow efficiently.
What's in it for you
The people we employ give their all, and in return, we offer flexibility wherever we can, such as:

• Flexible work environment
• Health and wellness benefits
• Paid time off programs including volunteer time off
• Market-competitive pay and incentive programs
• Continual development and internal career growth opportunities

We also embrace a culture of in-person interviews for all applicants and onsite orientation for all new hires, so you can build meaningful connections and experience our collaborative culture from day one.
The US base salary range for this full-time position is $172,000 - $270,000. Your base pay will depend on your experience, skills, education, training, and location among other factors. All full-time positions or part-time roles working 30 hours or more a week at Guidewire are eligible for benefits that support their health and well-being including health, dental, and vision insurance, paid time off, and a company sponsored retirement plan. In addition, some roles may be eligible for the annual company bonus plan, commissions, and/or long term incentive awards which are contingent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, company and employee performance.
Disability Accommodations and Guidewire's Appeals Process. Guidewire provides accommodations to the hiring process to create a fair opportunity for candidates with disabilities to contend for open positions. Accommodation requests should be directed to Accommodations@guidewire.com. If things do not go as hoped, we invite you to use our appeals process. Guidewire promises to independently review any denied accommodation and any decision not to offer you the position. The appeals process is the same in either case. Within five business days of receiving a notice of denial of an accommodation, or receiving a notice of your non-selection for a vacancy, e-mail Accommodations@guidewire.com to make an appeal. Guidewire will assign a new decision-maker to review the request and/or hiring decision, who will then notify you in writing of a decision within 10 business days.
About Guidewire
Guidewire is the platform P&C insurers trust to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver our platform as a cloud service. More than 540+ insurers in 40 countries, from new ventures to the largest and most complex in the world, run on Guidewire.
As a partner to our customers, we continually evolve to enable their success. We are proud of our unparalleled implementation track record with 1600+ successful projects, supported by the largest R&D team and partner ecosystem in the industry. Our Marketplace provides hundreds of applications that accelerate integration, localization, and innovation.
For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com and follow us on Twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.
Guidewire Software, Inc. is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to an inclusive workplace, and believe that a diversity of perspectives, abilities, and cultures is a key to our success. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability. All offers are contingent upon passing a criminal history and other background checks where it's applicable to the position.