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The Position
Company Overview
At Roche, we believe every patient deserves the best care possible, and we are dedicated to developing innovative solutions that transform lives. As part of our global digital health and diagnostics initiatives, our product squads build complex, large-scale software solutions. Quality Engineering is not just a final check—it is a core pillar of our product strategy, ensuring safety, reliability, and unparalleled user experience.
Position Summary
As an Expert SDET, acting as a Solution Architect, specialized in Open Source Test Automation, you will operate as a strategic domain authority across multiple cross-functional product squads within a specific domain. You will sit at the intersection of business strategy, software architecture, and quality engineering. You are accountable for designing robust, open-source automation frameworks, handling ambiguous quality requirements, managing complex stakeholder landscapes, and mentoring junior engineers. You are also directly accountable for defining the long-term Quality Engineering architecture for test automation open source solutions. You will act as a trusted advisor, driving the transition from standard QA execution to highly strategic, automated Quality Engineering.
Key Responsibilities
1. Test Automation Architecture Definition & Governance
- Open Source Architecture: Define, govern, and drive the adoption of scalable, efficient and fit for purpose open source test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Playwright, Robot Framework, Appium, …) to be used as enterprise solutions across multiple functions. Establish reusable architectural components and design patterns for the Test Automation Quality Engineering practice.
- Technology Fit Analysis: Evaluate, select, and govern the implementation of all new testing tools and infrastructure components to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards. Accountable for having the right tools and frameworks and compliant decommission if required for those that would be out of lifecycle.
- Strategy & Planning: Own the design, delivery and validation of effective open source testing automation solutions that cover enterprise wise needs, identify gaps and opportunities to enhance the portfolio of solutions and define the strategy and the delivery plans.
- CI/CD Integration: Align with E3 (Engineering Excellence and Experience) strategy to foster the usage of test automation frameworks within CI/CD workflows making sure automated testing suites can be directly embedded into DevOps CI/CD pipelines to ensure continuous quality and rapid feedback loops.
2. Quality Analysis & Problem Solving (Problem Domain)
- Root Cause Analysis: Define and institutionalize the methodologies for diagnosing and resolving highly critical, cross-domain quality incidents and production defects.
- Requirement Synthesis: Elicit, analyze, and synthesize complex, sometimes ambiguous stakeholder needs regarding software quality, usability, and data integrity.
- Traceability: Ensure comprehensive test and quality requirements traceability across solutions.
- Impact Evaluation: Evaluate how changes in scope impact overarching software quality and map out immediate and long-term implications within the product domain.
3. Stakeholder Management & Strategic Influence
- Trusted Advisor: Build strong relationships across multiple functional areas and product squads. Act as a trusted technical advisor by showing a deep understanding of the healthcare/business domain.
- Expectation Alignment: Develop and execute stakeholder communication plans. Proactively shape stakeholder perspectives and align engineering teams with overall project and business goals.
- Conflict Resolution: Facilitate technical workshops, manage stakeholder maps, and resolve alignment issues or miscommunications regarding project risks and quality tradeoffs.
4. Leadership, Accountability & Mentorship
- Serve as the definitive Solution Architect and technical authority, owning the architectural decisions and quality risk mitigation for the most complex solutions and act as a mentor for simple ones.
- Mentorship: Mentor and coach Senior and junior SDETs and team leads on advanced quality engineering practices and architectural patterns.
- Communities of Practice (CoPs): Key opinion leader for Roche’s internal Quality Engineering Communities of Practice that covers test automation, supporting the definition of organization-wide engineering processes on scope, testing methodologies, and architectural standards.
Qualifications & Experience
Required Technical Experience:
- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).
- Automation Expertise: Minimum of 10-14+ years of progressive experience, including 3+ years in a Principal or Solution Architecture role, with a definitive specialization in building open-source automation frameworks from scratch.
- Coding Proficiency: Strong programming skills in languages commonly used in open-source testing (e.g., Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python).
- API & UI Testing: Demonstrated expertise in testing UI components as well as backend services (RESTful APIs, Microservices).
- CI/CD & Cloud: Solid experience with version control (Git) and continuous integration tools (e.g., GitLab CI, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
Mandatory Architecture Expertise: Proven track record designing enterprise-wide test frameworks, distributed execution grids, and cloud testing platforms.
Mandatory AI & DevSecOps Expertise:
- Architecture experience with AI testing frameworks (Applitools, Functionize, Mabl, or custom LLM/RAG testing agents).
- Hands-on mastery of Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS/Azure, Jenkins/GitHub Actions, and security tools (SonarQube, Snyk, OWASP ZAP).
ITSM & CSV Mastery: Deep expertise in ServiceNow platform integration and regulatory validation processes (CSV, GAMP5, 21 CFR Part 11) within healthcare or life sciences.
Leadership: Ability to lead cross-functional consensus across AI/ML Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Information Security, and Regulatory Compliance teams.
Core Competencies & Soft Skills:
- Analytical Thinking: Advanced logical reasoning skills to identify hidden software defects, quality risks, and architectural gaps.
- Navigating Ambiguity: Proven ability to manage business analysis activities on complex projects where requirements are highly fluid or loosely defined.
- Strategic Influencing: Exceptional communication skills with a track record of driving consensus among cross-functional stakeholders (Product Owners, Developers, and Business Leads).
- Systems Thinking: Ability to manage interdependencies, handling the interconnections between various internal and external processes to improve overall delivery efficiency.
Shift Timings: CET Timezone
#Hyderabad2026
Who we are
A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.
Let’s build a healthier future, together.
Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.