Senior Automation Developer (Java)

Job description

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Automation Developer for a fully hands-on, programmatic engineering role dedicated to architecting, refactoring, and maintaining scalable, distributed test automation frameworks for complex, multi-tier User Interfaces (UI) and decoupled server-side microservices. This engineering-centric position requires extensive, daily hands-on Java software development experience, treating test suites as first-class software products, applying rigorous Java object-oriented design patterns (such as Page Object Model, Singleton, Factory, and Builder patterns) and SOLID design principles to eliminate manual verification bottlenecks and minimize technical debt. Operating within a high-velocity Agile Scrum environment, you will collaborate closely as full-stack automation application developers and with product owners to implement shift-left testing methodologies, designing testability directly into the system architecture from the earliest stages of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). A core focus of this role is the integration of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) utilities to enable self-healing element locators, accelerate programmatic script generation, and perform predictive analytics on test execution telemetry. Ultimately, you will bridge the gap between development and operations by engineering highly parallelized, deterministic automation pipelines that facilitate continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) with zero-downtime delivery. Responsibilities: Framework Architecture & Design: Architect, implement, and scale robust, Java-based automation frameworks from scratch for UI and server-side components, prioritizing highly reusable Selenium WebDriver architectures, TestNG/JUnit test runners, Page Object Models, and BDD (Cucumber-JVM). Hands-On Java Engineering: Write clean, maintainable, and production-grade Java code daily to develop complex test automation artifacts, including custom libraries, reusable utility modules, thread-safe execution engines, and dynamic test scenarios. Shift-Left Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams during early-stage sprint planning and grooming to identify automation requirements, define technical acceptance criteria, and establish robust testability hooks within the application code. Methodology Implementation: Implement and advocate for Behavior Driven Development (BDD) and Test Driven Development (TDD) methodologies, translating Gherkin feature files into robust, executable Java step definitions. Server-Side & API Validation: Develop and execute comprehensive automated validation suites for server-side microservices and RESTful APIs using Java libraries (e.g., REST Assured , Jackson/Gson) and perform database-level validation using JDBC/SQL and NoSQL queries. AI Tool Integration: Explore, evaluate, and integrate cutting-edge AI tools and machine learning utilities to enable self-healing test scripts, automate visual regression, and optimize test coverage. Defect & Execution Analysis: Analyze automated execution failures, debug complex Java runtime, multithreading, or environment issues, and work closely with development teams to resolve defects rapidly. Recommended Qualifications: Experience: 5–8 years of professional software engineering and test automation experience, with significant, continuous hands-on Java development experience. Hands-On Java Expertise: Advanced, daily programming proficiency in Core Java (Java 11/17+) , with deep practical expertise in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), design patterns, Collections framework, Exception Handling, Streams/Lambdas, Concurrency/Multithreading, and Memory Management. Working familiarity with secondary languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript/TypeScript) is a plus. Automation & Testing Tooling: Extensive hands-on experience building and maintaining suites with Selenium WebDriver, TestNG / JUnit 5, Cucumber-JVM, and API testing frameworks (e.g., REST Assured, HTTPClient, WireMock). Build & Dependency Management: Strong hands-on experience with Java build lifecycle and dependency management tools, primarily Maven (pom.xml configuration, plugins, profiles) or Gradle . Development Tools & IDEs: Extensive experience utilizing modern IDEs, specifically IntelliJ IDEA , for writing, debugging, profiling, and refactoring clean, high-quality Java code. AI-Assisted Development: Hands-on experience leveraging AI coding assistants, specifically GitHub Copilot, to accelerate script generation, refactor legacy code, and optimize test automation workflows. CI/CD Pipeline Integration: Hands-on experience configuring, maintaining, and optimizing CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Tekton) to trigger and parallelize automated Java test suites. Containerization & Orchestration: Experience orchestrating automated regression runs within containerized environments using Docker and Kubernetes via pipeline-as-code configurations. Version Control & Best Practices: Strong familiarity with Git workflows, code reviews, static code analysis tools (e.g., SonarQube, SpotBugs), and pull request processes within an enterprise environment. Core Competencies: Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and technical communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex architectural concepts to diverse stakeholders. Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical hands-on software development experience. ------------------------------------------------------ Job Family Group: Technology ------------------------------------------------------ Job Family: Applications Development ------------------------------------------------------ Time Type: Full time ------------------------------------------------------ Primary Location Full Time Salary Range: $94,300.00 - $141,500.00 ------------------------------------------------------ Most Relevant Skills Please see the requirements listed above. ------------------------------------------------------ Other Relevant Skills For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter. ------------------------------------------------------ Automated Processing and AI We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi. Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details. ------------------------------------------------------ This job opening is for an existing job vacancy. ------------------------------------------------------ Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law. 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