Sr Software Development Engineer In Test Jobs in Illinois

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is seeking a skilled and motivated Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to join our Quality Engineering team. In this role, you will design and champion automation strategies that keep our mission-critical financial systems stable, performant, and continuously deliverable. You will partner closely with developers, product owners, and platform engineers to embed quality throughout the software lifecycle — from sprint planning through production release.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Test Automation & Framework Development

• Design, build, and maintain scalable UI and API test automation frameworks using Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, TestNG/JUnit, and Rest Assured.
• Author clear, maintainable Gherkin feature files and Java step definitions that serve as living documentation for the team.
• Leverage Docker containers to ensure consistent, reproducible test environments across local, CI, and staging contexts.
• Evaluate and pilot emerging tools — including Playwright — to continuously improve automation speed and reliability.
• Integrate Claude Code (Anthropic's AI-powered coding assistant) to accelerate test generation, reduce boilerplate, and assist in root cause analysis of test failures.

CI/CD & Environment Management

• Integrate automated test suites into Jenkins CI/CD pipelines, ensuring tests run reliably on every build and deployment, with source code managed in Git/GitHub (or equivalent version control system).
• Manage service deployments, scaling, and operation of test environments using Harness and Rancher.
• Maintain and improve pipeline configurations written in YAML/Groovy to support fast, reliable feedback loops.

Performance & API Testing

• Design and execute REST API tests using Postman and Cucumber BDD to validate service contracts and edge-case behaviors.
• Conduct performance and load testing with JMeter to validate system scalability under realistic trading-day volumes.

Quality Metrics & Reporting

• Track defects and test results in SpiraTest and Jira, maintaining clear traceability from requirements through test execution.
• Generate test metric dashboards via SpiraTest and Splunk to surface quality trends and support data-driven release decisions.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies — sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives — as an embedded quality advocate.
• Mentor teammates on automation best practices and support a culture of shared ownership over quality.
• Conduct testability reviews and risk assessments during design and code review phases to catch issues early.
• Recommend improvements to test design for reduced redundancy and greater coverage efficiency.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• This position does not carry formal direct reports. However, the role is expected to provide technical mentorship and guidance to junior and mid-level SDET team members on automation best practices and tooling.

Qualifications

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions.

Required

• Proven hands-on experience designing and maintaining test automation frameworks with Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, TestNG/JUnit, and Rest Assured.
• Familiarity with test environment deployments and scaling using Harness and Rancher.
• Experience integrating automated test suites into Jenkins CI/CD pipelines, including generating quality metric reports through SpiraTest and Splunk.
• Solid understanding of software testing lifecycle (STLC), Agile methodologies, and defect management workflows.
• Proficiency with Java, JavaScript, Gherkin, Gradle, XPath, YAML, and JSON in a testing context.
• Hands-on experience with Git and GitHub (or a comparable version control platform such as GitLab or Bitbucket), including branching strategies, pull request workflows, and code review practices.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools, particularly Claude Code, for accelerating test authoring and analysis.
• Background in financial services or regulated industry environments.
• Experience with contract or schema-based API testing.

Technical Skills

• Test Automation: Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber BDD, TestNG, JUnit, Rest Assured, Postman
• Languages: Java, JavaScript, Gherkin, XPath, YAML, JSON
• Build & CI/CD: Gradle, Jenkins, Harness
• Version Control: Git, GitHub (or GitLab / Bitbucket)
• Containerization: Docker, Rancher
• Performance Testing: JMeter
• Test Management: SpiraTest, Jira
• Observability: Splunk
• AI-Assisted Dev: Claude Code (Anthropic)
• Emerging / PoC: Playwright

Education and/or Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Information Systems, or a closely related field
• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience as a Software Test Engineer or equivalent role.

Certificates or Licenses

• No formal certifications are required. Relevant certifications (e.g., ISTQB, AWS, or vendor-specific tool certifications) are a plus.

About Us

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Founded in 1973, OCC is dedicated to promoting stability and market integrity by delivering clearing and settlement services for options, futures and securities lending transactions. As a Systemically Important Financial Market Utility (SIFMU), OCC operates under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. OCC has more than 100 clearing members and provides central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 19 exchanges and trading platforms. More information about OCC is available at www.theocc.com.

Benefits

A highly collaborative and supportive environment developed to encourage work-life balance and employee wellness. Some of these components include:

• A hybrid work environment, up to 2 days per week of remote work
• Tuition Reimbursement to support your continued education
• Student Loan Repayment Assistance
• Technology Stipend allowing you to use the device of your choice to connect to our network while working remotely
• Generous PTO and Parental leave
• 401k Employer Match
• Competitive health benefits including medical, dental and vision

Visit https://www.theocc.com/careers/thriving-together for more information.

Compensation

• The salary range listed for any given position is exclusive of fringe benefits and potential bonuses. If hired at OCC, your final base salary compensation will be determined by factors such as skills, experience and/or education.
• In addition, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider internal equity of our current team members as part of any final offer.
• We typically do not hire at the maximum of the range in order to allow for future and continued salary growth. We also offer a substantial benefits package as noted on www.theocc.com/careers
• All employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus. Discretionary bonuses are based on various factors, including, but not limited to, company and individual performance and are not guaranteed.

Salary Range

$104,800.00 - $174,500.00

Incentive Range

8% to 15%

This position is eligible for an annual discretionary incentive compensation award, for which the target range is listed above (see Incentive Range). The amount of such award, if any, will be based on