Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Job description

ABOUT ALPEN LABS Alpen Labs is a New York-based startup founded in 2022 by four MIT alumni. Our mission is to build universal rails for money by creating a scalable, private and programmable Bitcoin ecosystem. We're achieving this through cutting-edge innovations in zero-knowledge cryptography and offchain solutions, without compromising Bitcoin's fundamental principles. This endeavor is not just about technological advancement but a step towards a more resilient, free, and prosperous global society. Our current team consists of engineers and researchers from companies like Blockstream Research, Palantir, and Nethermind. We invite passionate individuals to join us in navigating this complex, yet rewarding journey towards redefining financial sovereignty. JOB DESCRIPTION As a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET), you will serve as the quality gate between engineering and production, ensuring every release meets the standards required for users entrusting us with their Bitcoin. Working at the intersection of engineering and product, you will develop automated testing frameworks, define release validation strategies, and evaluate software readiness across our blockchain infrastructure and developer tooling. You'll develop a deep understanding of user workflows, translate them into scalable automated tests, and continuously improve the quality, reliability, and performance of our systems. This is more than a traditional automation role. You'll be responsible for ensuring we test the right things—not simply more things—using sound engineering judgment to balance product quality, release velocity, and user impact in a fast-moving startup environment. We value engineers who embrace modern AI tools to build better testing systems and deliver higher-quality software faster. WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING - Develop and maintain scalable automation frameworks for backend services, APIs, and blockchain infrastructure. - Design comprehensive test strategies based on product requirements, user journeys, and real-world usage scenarios. - Build and maintain automated regression test suites that prevent new releases from introducing breaking changes. - Validate software upgrades and version migrations to ensure seamless transitions across releases. - Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines and continuously improve test execution speed, reliability, and coverage. - Leverage modern AI-assisted development tools to accelerate test creation, improve coverage, and streamline QA workflows. - Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to define acceptance criteria and identify quality risks early in development. - Execute exploratory testing to uncover edge cases, usability issues, and unexpected system behavior. - Evaluate defects, assess release risk, and determine whether issues should block production releases. - Troubleshoot complex failures, reproduce bugs, and provide detailed reports to engineering teams. - Review code and contribute improvements that enhance testability, maintainability, and reliability. - Create and maintain technical documentation, test plans, testing standards, and release checklists. - Champion a quality-first engineering culture across the organization and continuously improve QA processes and tooling. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR - Strong software engineering background with extensive experience building automated testing frameworks. - 4+ years of experience as an SDET, QA Automation Engineer, or similar software quality engineering role, leveraging AI to build and scale QA automation for large-scale production systems. - Proven experience testing production software in Web3, blockchain, fintech, or other high-reliability distributed systems. - Hands-on experience with backend, API, integration, and end-to-end testing. - Strong proficiency with Python for automation and API testing. - Experience integrating automated testing into CI/CD pipelines. - Experience working with Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud-native environments. - Ability to read and understand Rust code to effectively reason about system architecture and behavior (deep Rust development experience is not required). - Familiarity with EVM-based systems; experience with Bitcoin infrastructure, bridges, or zero-knowledge systems is a strong plus. - Strong understanding of regression testing, release management, and risk-based testing methodologies. - Experience collaborating closely with engineering and product teams throughout the software development lifecycle. - Experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or similar) to accelerate QA automation, generate test cases, improve test coverage, optimize CI/CD pipelines, and enhance engineering productivity is strongly preferred. PERSONAL QUALITIES - Thinks like both an engineer and an end user, balancing technical rigor with practical product quality. - Exercises sound judgment about what should—and should not—block a production release. - Curious and analytical, with a passion for understanding complex distributed systems. - Highly detail-oriented and methodical when investigating defects and edge cases. - Strong communicator who collaborates effectively across engineering and product teams. - Comfortable operating independently in a fast-paced startup environment with evolving priorities. - Continuously explores new technologies and AI-powered workflows to improve software quality and engineering efficiency. - Takes ownership of product quality and continuously seeks opportunities to improve testing processes.