Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) - Java

About BR-DGE
BR-DGE is an award-winning FinTech founded in Edinburgh, powered by a high-performing, remote-first team across the UK and beyond. Our platform gives e-commerce and technology businesses the freedom and flexibility to redefine how they handle payments. Since 2018, we've been pioneers in payment orchestration, enabling enterprise brands to optimise their infrastructure and create frictionless digital experiences. From travel giants to household retail names, our global customer base is growing fast, supported by world-class partners like Visa and Worldpay. The journey so far has been incredible, but we're just getting started. We are looking for exceptional talent to join us as we level up our engineering maturity.

About this role
This is a software engineering role, not a QA or manual testing role. At BR-DGE, our Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) is a core engineer who architects, builds, and scales our automated testing infrastructure and quality tooling in Java. You will write production-grade code that enables our teams to ship high quality software frequently and with total confidence - not execute test cases. You will not sit at the end of a delivery pipeline manually validating tickets or acting as a gatekeeper. You will not be running scripted or exploratory manual tests. Instead, you own the technical design, development, and evolution of our centralised automation frameworks and infrastructure, engineering systemic solutions that let development teams own their own quality and deploy safely.

Who this isn't for: if your background is primarily manual QA, exploratory testing, or test-case execution, even with some scripting exposure, this role isn't the right fit. We need someone who identifies as, and has worked as, a software engineer first.

What you'll be doing

• Framework Architecture and Engineering: Design and build automation frameworks in Java, covering Integration, Contract, E2E, and Performance / Load testing. Be informed and opinionated on what good looks like for Unit and Component tests.
• Tooling and Infrastructure Development: Build, maintain, and scale internal testing tools, libraries, and test data management utilities that streamline the development lifecycle for all engineering teams.
• CI / CD Optimisation: Engineer and manage fast, reliable, CI native pipelines. Implement advanced, parallelised quality gates and automated feedback loops directly into the deployment infrastructure to eliminate manual intervention.
• Architectural Testability: Analyse system architecture and cloud native topologies to suggest and implement improvements that enhance system testability and quality.
• Production Quality: Build out monitoring, logging, and alerting tooling and standards. Translate incident postmortem findings into concrete, automated safeguards and process improvements.
• Metrics and Diagnostics: Implement and track quality metrics to diagnose system bottlenecks, using data to drive targeted performance and reliability enhancements across our frameworks.
• Mentoring and Engineering Maturity: Proactively drive forward the organisation-wide quality strategy, building and designing our testing ecosystem, and mentoring software engineers. Act as a thought leader to coach development teams on 'quality first' design.

Essential Experience

• Strong, Recent Java Experience: Deep, hands-on proficiency in Java is required, this is non-negotiable. You should be able to speak confidently about JVM internals, design patterns, and idiomatic Java at a senior engineering level.
• Software Engineering Background: You have worked as a software engineer or backend developer, with test automation architecture as part of (or the focus of) that engineering remit, not as a QA professional who picked up scripting.
• Framework Design from Scratch: A proven track record of designing, building, and scaling multi-layered automation frameworks from the ground up (Integration, Contract, E2E, and Performance).
• CI / CD and Pipeline Engineering: Heavy hands-on experience building, optimising, and maintaining CI / CD pipelines, with a focus on fast, parallelised execution and automated gates.
• Cloud Native Architecture: Deep understanding of distributed system design, microservices, and cloud native environments, with the ability to optimise them for logging, observability, and testability.
• Root Cause Debugging: Exceptional technical debugging skills across complex, distributed systems, with the ability to write robust automated regressions to address production vulnerabilities.
• Technical Collaboration: Ability to define technical standards, document framework architectures clearly, and collaborate with engineering teams to ensure seamless adoption of quality tooling.

Nice to Have

• Background as a general-purpose Software Engineer (backend-heavy) prior to specialising in test infrastructure.
• Experience implementing, capturing, and visualising DORA metrics automatically within deployment pipelines.
• Familiarity with feature flagging frameworks and progressive delivery infrastructure.
• Experience in fintech, payments, or other high-throughput environments where transactional integrity, security, and strict reliability are paramount.

Why this role exists
Our business is growing rapidly. We recognise that to achieve fast delivery and systemic quality, we need to move away from traditional testing bottlenecks. We need dedicated engineers who can build the robust, scalable automation infrastructure required to support continuous, hands-off deployment. If you're a Java engineer who loves writing code that empowers other systems and teams to run faster and safer, we want to talk to you.

What we offer
We provide a supportive, high-growth environment where your impact is visible every day.

• Financial: Competitive salary and life insurance.
• Time Off: 33 days holiday (including public holidays) plus Birthday Leave.
• Flexibility: Remote-first working culture that respects your other priorities.
• Health: Family private healthcare and an Employee Assistance Programme.
• Growth: A culture that champions career progression and direct investment in your learning and development.
• Community: Regular team events and socials to keep our remote team connected.

Ready to bridge the gap? Apply to be a BR-DGE Builder today.

At BR-DGE, we champion diversity and inclusion. We believe that our roles should be open to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, or neurotype. We value the unique talents and perspectives that each individual brings and try to create a fair and accessible hiring process for all.