Location: Santa Clara, CA
Experience: 3+ Years
Employment Type: Contract

Position Overview:

We are seeking a Software Quality Test Engineer with a Chemistry background to support software quality assurance and testing for analytical laboratory instruments and healthcare-related software products.

The ideal candidate will combine software testing expertise with practical chemistry and laboratory experience, particularly with Gas Chromatography (GC), Liquid Chromatography (LC), GC-MS, and LC-MS systems. This role involves developing and executing manual and automated tests, validating software functionality, performing instrument-related laboratory activities, and ensuring the accuracy and reliability of analytical results.

The successful candidate will work closely with Engineering, Product Management, R&D, Support, and laboratory teams throughout the software development and release lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and execute manual and automated end-to-end test cases to verify software functionality and product requirements.
• Create software test plans, define feature-level test scenarios, and support verification and validation activities.
• Develop and execute automated tests using appropriate frameworks and scripting languages.
• Test applications and integrations built using C#/.NET, JavaScript, SaaS platforms, and REST APIs.
• Support software development and testing for GC, LC, GC-MS, and LC-MS products.
• Perform laboratory activities, including sample analysis, data processing, instrument calibration, maintenance, and tuning.
• Prepare reagents and support routine analytical testing as required.
• Investigate software errors, document defects, validate fixes, and assess application performance.
• Review software requirements and functional design specifications to ensure adequate test coverage.
• Perform integrated manual and automated testing within an Agile software development environment.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Product Management to communicate test results, risks, recommendations, and release timelines.
• Troubleshoot issues with Support, R&D, and implementation teams; validate resolutions and support production releases.
• Estimate QA effort and assist with project scoping, test planning, resource coordination, and scheduling.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Educational background in Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Experience in software quality assurance, software testing, or quality engineering.
• Strong understanding of manual testing, automated testing frameworks, and scripting languages.
• Experience designing test cases and executing functional, integration, and end-to-end testing.
• Experience with C#/.NET, JavaScript, SaaS applications, and REST APIs in a testing or development capacity.
• Practical knowledge of chromatography systems, including GC, LC, GC-MS, and/or LC-MS.
• Familiarity with laboratory procedures, sample analysis, analytical data processing, instrument calibration, and maintenance.
• Ability to review technical requirements and translate them into comprehensive test scenarios.
• Experience with defect tracking, troubleshooting, regression testing, and verification of software fixes.
• Understanding of Agile software development and QA practices.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and communication skills.
• Ability to work onsite in Santa Clara, California.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience testing software used in healthcare, life sciences, analytical chemistry, or laboratory environments.
• Hands-on experience with GC-MS and LC-MS instruments.
• Experience with automated end-to-end testing frameworks and API testing tools.
• Familiarity with software verification and validation processes for laboratory or analytical instruments.
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams across Engineering, R&D, Product Management, and laboratory operations.
• Familiarity with software release management, performance testing, and continuous integration practices.

Technical and Domain Skills:

Software Testing: Manual testing, automated testing, end-to-end testing, test planning, verification and validation, regression testing, defect management.

Development and Integration: C#/.NET, JavaScript, REST APIs, SaaS applications, scripting languages, automation frameworks.

Chemistry and Laboratory: Analytical chemistry, sample analysis, reagent preparation, data processing, instrument calibration, instrument tuning, laboratory maintenance.

Instrumentation: Gas Chromatography (GC), Liquid Chromatography (LC), GC-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), LC-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS).

Methodologies: Agile/Scrum, requirements review, test estimation, release validation, cross-functional collaboration.