1

Senior Software Engineer In Test Jobs in Pleasanton, CA

Principal Software Engineer In Test I

Alameda, CA · On-site

$120.85 - $169/hr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

A Principal Software Engineer in Test evaluates and optimizes the performance of software, hardware, and systems to ensure they are fast, reliable, and efficient. Their responsibilities include ...

New

SDET

Sunnyvale, CA · On-site

$108K - $163K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

Job Title SDET About your role: Fiserv is a global leader in financial services technology, and Clover provides the smart point-of-sale (POS) platform and SDKs that empower thousands of integrators ...

Showing results 41-60

Senior Software Engineer In Test information

See Pleasanton, CA salary details

$25K

$139.7K

$182K

How much do senior software engineer in test jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 19, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior software engineer in test in Pleasanton, CA is $139,737.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $123,000.00 and $159,700.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a senior software engineer in test?

Senior Software Engineers in Test are experienced professionals who design, develop, and implement automated testing frameworks and tools to ensure the quality and reliability of software products. They work closely with development and QA teams to identify testing needs, create robust test plans, and write automated scripts that validate software functionality. In addition to hands-on coding, they often mentor junior engineers, drive process improvements, and contribute to the overall testing strategy of the organization.

What are some typical challenges a senior software engineer in test faces when designing automated testing frameworks?

Senior Software Engineers in Test often encounter challenges such as integrating automated tests with complex, evolving codebases and ensuring tests remain reliable as features change. Balancing thorough test coverage with execution speed, especially in continuous integration environments, is another common concern. Additionally, collaborating with both development and QA teams to align on testing strategies and maintaining documentation for test frameworks are key responsibilities that require strong communication and adaptability.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a senior software engineer in test, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Senior Software Engineer in Test, you need a deep understanding of software development, test automation frameworks, and a background in computer science or a related field. Mastery of tools like Selenium, Jenkins, JUnit, and experience with CI/CD systems, as well as relevant certifications such as ISTQB, are typically required. Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication skills set top candidates apart in this role. These skills are crucial for ensuring robust, scalable, and reliable software delivery in complex technical environments.

What is the difference between Senior Software Engineer In Test vs Software Development Engineer in Test?

AspectSenior Software Engineer In TestSoftware Development Engineer in Test
CredentialsBachelor's in CS or related field, experience in testing and automationBachelor's in CS or related field, strong coding skills, experience in testing
Work EnvironmentDesigning test strategies, automation frameworks, collaborating with development teamsDeveloping test tools, writing automated tests, integrating testing into CI/CD pipelines
Industry UsageCommon in tech companies, especially in QA and testing teamsWidely used in software development companies focusing on automation

The main difference is that Senior Software Engineer In Test often focuses on testing strategy and automation leadership, while Software Development Engineer in Test emphasizes developing testing tools and automation code. Both roles require strong coding skills and testing experience, but their focus areas differ slightly within the testing lifecycle.

What are popular job titles related to Senior Software Engineer In Test jobs in Pleasanton, CA?

For Senior Software Engineer In Test jobs in Pleasanton, CA, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Senior Software Engineer In Test jobs in Pleasanton, CA look for?

The top searched job categories for Senior Software Engineer In Test jobs in Pleasanton, CA are:

What cities near Pleasanton, CA are hiring for Senior Software Engineer In Test jobs?

Cities near Pleasanton, CA with the most Senior Software Engineer In Test job openings:

Infographic showing various Senior Software Engineer In Test job openings in Pleasanton, CA as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 81% Full Time, 14% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 86% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 10% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $139,737 per year, or $67.2 per hour.

Senior Software Development Engineer in Test - LLM Evaluation & Automation, T3E

Apple, Inc.

Cupertino, CA • On-site

$136K - $177K/yr

Other

Posted 13 days ago


Apple rating

8.0

Company rating: 8.0 out of 10

Based on 677 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

7th of 30 rated technology retailers


Job description

The Apple Intelligence Platform Experience Validation team builds the tooling and automation that keeps Apple Intelligence features high-quality before they ship. We are looking for a Senior SDET to lead the design and implementation of automated model evaluation: standing up LLM-as-a-judge in existing and new pipelines, and building the infrastructure that catches model regressions before they reach human evaluation or the live on population.
This is a hands-on, senior individual-contributor role. You will own eval automation as a discipline across the team, partnering with modeling, framework, and infrastructure teams to make model quality a first-class, continuously measured signal.
Description
You will build and maintain model level, component or end-to-end evaluation coverage for the generative features our team validates. Your job is to leverage LLM judge scoring output quality in automation, ensuring reliable, repeatable eval jobs that run that produce actionable signal.
The kinds of problems you will work on include:
* Image / visual generation: validating model output and its associated classification metadata, and detecting quality or behavior regressions across model updates.
* Natural-language generation: evaluating whether generated artifacts and responses match user intent, moving at-desk LLM judges into a scalable and repeatable automation environment.
* Correctness beyond string matching: replacing exact-match checks for open-ended or factual responses with an LLM-as-judge stage integrated into the pipeline.
* Generated insights and summaries: assessing whether model-generated content is sensible and good enough to surface to users.
You will decide when a component-level check (an API or CLI that exercises the model against its framework) is sufficient and when a full end-to-end user flow is required, and you will build the tooling for both.
Minimum Qualifications
BS in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
Three years of relevant industry experience in test automation, software development, or related areas.
Preferred Qualifications
Strong practical knowledge of Python, including data-pipeline fluency (JSON/YAML, REST APIs).
Hands-on experience with LLM-as-a-judge evaluation and rubric design, or a strong demonstrated ability to ramp into it quickly.
Strong software engineering fundamentals - able to define atomic, composable components and build maintainable pipelines and tooling, not just scripts.
Strong debugging and triage skills; able to separate genuine regressions from infrastructure or rubric noise.
Strong knowledge of the software development lifecycle, testing methodologies, and QA processes.
Excellent written and verbal communication; able to document clearly and describe quality signal to modeling and leadership audiences.
Ability to lead work across varying priorities and partner multi-functionally with modeling, framework, and infrastructure teams.
Experience building on-device tooling and device/model eval infrastructure.
Experience integrating with CI/CD and job orchestration systems, and comfort deploying tooling as reusable libraries.
Familiarity with generative model behavior - image generation, NLP, or LLM output evaluation.
Experience curating and reasoning about large datasets; comfort manually inspecting data (Jupyter or similar) to build intuition and drive next steps.
Awareness of dataset bias and fairness considerations in evaluation.
Experience with database/query tooling (e.g., SQL) and dashboards/visualization for reporting quality trends.
Experience with Xcode is a bonus.

What Apple employees say

Pay

Benefits

Hours and flexibility

Workplace

Get the full story on Breakroom


Apple logo

About Apple

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

Imagine what you could do here! At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming extraordinary products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you could accomplish. Dynamic, intelligent people and inspiring, innovative technologies are the norm here. The people who work here have reinvented entire industries with all Apple Hardware products. The same real passion for innovation that goes into our products also applies to our practices strengthening our dedication to leave the world better than we found it.

Industry

Computer and electronic product manufacturing

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Cupertino, CA, US

Year founded

1976