Sr. SDET Consultant

Role: Location: Hybrid - Chicago, IL Interview: Virtual Contract: 12+ months Contract Client: Caterpillar Exp: 10+ years required Visa: Any Excellent Communication JOB DESCRIPTION: We are seeking a highly experienced Senior SDET to extend and enhance existing test automation frameworks. The ideal candidate will take ownership of test strategy, design, and execution while working closely with cross-functional teams to ensure high-quality software delivery. Key Responsibilities Test Strategy & Ownership Understand business requirements and acceptance criteria (ACs) Define and own test strategy and test plans Develop and execute automated and manual test cases Automation & Framework Development Extend and maintain automation frameworks using Java / JavaScript Develop automation test cases using existing frameworks Build automation for: Continuous Integration (CI) Continuous Delivery (CD) Systems and infrastructure validation API & Performance Testing Design, develop, and maintain API automation frameworks Perform REST API testing Develop scenario-based performance testing using JMeter Hands-on Testing Create automated functional scripts using: Java Karate JMeter Perform exploratory and manual testing when required Leadership & Collaboration Provide technical leadership and mentorship to QA/test engineers (onshore & offshore) Train team members on: Automation scripting Execution & reporting Regression suite maintenance Collaborate with Product Owners to: Resolve issues Understand features and enhancements Quality & Best Practices Implement testing methodologies, standards, and best practices Participate in code reviews and CI/CD processes Support end-to-end integration and system testing Team & Work Environment Work within a team of 20+ members Hybrid work model with onsite presence required from Day 1 Some interview rounds may be conducted onsite Required Qualifications 10+ years of overall experience Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of relevant experience Minimum 8 years of experience in test automation framework design Strong design & development experience in two or more: Java (3 5 years) Cucumber (3 5 years) JBehave or other BDD frameworks Strong experience in Web Services / REST API testing (3 5+ years) Experience in: Writing test scripts, test cases, and test data SQL / relational database querying 3+ years of JMeter for performance testing Experience with: Full-stack testing Integration testing with third-party systems End-to-end system integration testing Preferred / Desired Skills Hands-on experience with Python Experience with AWS Cloud technologies Knowledge of: TDD (Test-Driven Development) Continuous Integration practices Code review processes Experience with API gateways (Apigee or similar) Familiarity with DevOps tools: CI/CD pipelines Jenkins Git Minimum 2 years of Agile experience with strong understanding of Agile/Lean methodologies Key Highlights Senior-level role with strong automation + leadership exposure Opportunity to work with a large enterprise client (Caterpillar) Hands-on + strategic role across automation, API, and performance testing