Lead Software Dev Engineer Test II

Description and Requirements
The Opportunity
MetLife is seeking a Lead Software Development Engineer in Test, SDET, to lead quality engineering for Group Disability and Absence solutions.
This hands-on role will define testing strategies, develop automation, and lead end-to-end validation for applications supporting disability claims, absence and leave management, benefit calculations, payments, and customer servicing. The Lead SDET will partner with business and technology teams to ensure solutions are accurate, secure, reliable, and production-ready.
Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead risk-based test strategies for Group Disability and Absence solutions.
• Translate business and technical requirements into test plans, test scenarios, and automated tests.
• Design and maintain automation for user interfaces, APIs, databases, integrations, batch processes, and end-to-end workflows.
• Validate disability claims, leave eligibility, benefit calculations, payments, correspondence, and servicing processes.
• Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines and provide continuous quality feedback.
• Lead defect triage, root-cause analysis, release validation, and production-readiness assessments.
• Ensure testing addresses performance, security, privacy, accessibility, regulatory, and operational requirements.
• Use approved AI-assisted tools to support test creation, automation development, failure analysis, and defect triage.
• Establish reusable automation patterns and quality engineering standards.
• Mentor engineers and communicate quality risks and release recommendations to stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 10 or more years of experience in quality engineering, test automation, software testing, or software development.
• Strong hands-on experience developing tests for applications, APIs, databases, and integrations both manual and automated way
• Proficiency in Java, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or a comparable programming language.
• Experience with Playwright, Selenium, TOSCA, REST Assured, Postman, or similar technologies.
• Experience with API testing, SQL, test-data management, CI/CD, and cloud-native applications.
• Strong understanding of risk-based, exploratory, regression, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Strong technical leadership, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Knowledge of disability claims, leave processes, benefit calculations, payments, and return-to-work workflows.
• Experience with Azure, GitHub, AI-assisted engineering tools, containers, and observability platforms.
• Experience leading quality engineering across multiple Agile teams.
• Familiarity with performance, accessibility, security, and data privacy testing.

Leadership Expectations

• Remain hands-on while providing technical direction across delivery teams.
• Lead quality engineering from solution discovery through production implementation.
• Connect customer, operational, and regulatory risks to the testing approach.
• Provide objective assessments of solution quality and release readiness.
• Mentor engineers and promote shared accountability for quality.

About MetLife
Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies" and Fortune World's 25 Best Workplaces™, MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world's leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
As part of our New Frontier strategy, MetLife is building an AI-enabled, people-centered future. We're looking for people who bring curiosity, adaptability, and a growth mindset as we use AI to enhance how we serve customers, support communities, and evolve the way work gets done. At MetLife, AI is a responsible partner that supports human judgment, creativity, and continuous improvement while helping us build trust, inclusion, and long-term value.
Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our core values - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, and Think Ahead - we're inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it's #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!
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