Junior Software Development Engineer in Test

Position Summary

The Junior SDET is an early-career engineer who splits their time between writing test automation code and contributing smaller pieces of production feature code, always with a quality lens. The role is well suited to graduates or career-changers who have both coding fundamentals and a genuine interest in how systems fail, and who want to grow a career at the intersection of engineering and quality. Junior SDETs learn DIME's automation frameworks, internal tooling, and delivery pipelines, and they grow into the role over twelve to twenty-four months under the close mentorship of the QA Lead, Senior SDETs, and Senior Software Engineers.

Reporting Line

• Primary reporting line: Quality Assurance Lead.
• Dotted-line / technical reporting: Application Manager / Senior Engineer.
• Works closely with: Junior and Senior Software Engineers, Junior and Senior QA Engineers, DevOps Engineer, Product Managers, Payment Services Engineer.
• Peers: Junior Software Engineers, Junior QA Engineers.

Key Responsibilities

• Test automation development: Under the direction of the QA Lead or a Senior SDET, write, extend, and maintain automated tests at the unit, component, contract, integration, API, UI, and end-to-end levels. Cover web, mobile, POS, and payment API surfaces as assigned.
• Framework contribution: Contribute code to DIME's shared automation frameworks - page objects, fixtures, helpers, data generators, reporters - and follow the same engineering standards (review, testing of test code, documentation) that production code is held to.
• CI/CD-embedded testing: Wire new automated tests into DIME's CI/CD pipelines, working with the DevOps Engineer on execution environments, parallelisation, and reporting. Triage test failures, distinguish true failures from flake, and keep the pipeline trustworthy.
• Production code contribution: Contribute well-scoped production features and bug fixes alongside Software Engineers, especially those that have testability or observability implications - for example, adding logging, metrics, feature flags, or hooks that make systems easier to test and debug.
• Exploratory and manual testing: When automation is not the right tool - for example, for a new, rapidly changing feature - perform structured exploratory and manual testing, feeding findings back into automation once the feature stabilises.
• Defect investigation: Reproduce, diagnose, and often fix defects you find, working with Software Engineers to land fixes and regression tests in the same pull request.
• Shift-left practices: Attend story refinement and sprint planning and actively challenge untestable acceptance criteria, missing edge cases, and hidden dependencies before work starts - not after it is in test.
• Data and environment discipline: Help build and maintain safe test data sets, masked fixtures, and reproducible local environments. Never introduce real personal or financial data into non-production environments without authorisation.
• Documentation and knowledge sharing: Document frameworks, fixtures, test environments, and common troubleshooting patterns so that Software Engineers and QA Engineers can make use of them independently.
• Continuous learning: Read code across DIME's repositories, study payment protocols, and pursue certifications and training agreed in your individual development plan.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a closely related discipline, or equivalent demonstrable experience.
• Zero to three years of combined experience across software development and software testing - including internships, boot-camp projects, academic project work, open-source contributions, or early-career employment.
• Working proficiency in at least one modern programming language appropriate for test automation at DIME - typically JavaScript / TypeScript, Python, Java, or C#.
• Basic familiarity with at least one automated testing framework (Jest, PyTest, JUnit, xUnit, Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Postman / Newman, REST Assured, or similar).
• Working knowledge of Git, HTTP, REST APIs, JSON, and basic SQL.
• Strong written English, sufficient to produce clear defect reports, framework documentation, and code review comments.
• Eligibility to work in Jamaica.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps).
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerisation (Docker).
• Exposure to mobile test automation (Appium, Espresso, XCUITest) or performance testing (k6, JMeter, Locust).
• Exposure to payments, fintech, banking, or any regulated domain.
• ISTQB Foundation Level (CTFL), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), or any entry-level cloud certification.
• A public portfolio of code on GitHub, GitLab, or equivalent that includes testing work.

Core Competencies

• Dual mindset - thinks like a developer and like a tester in the same breath.
• Comfort with code review as both giver and receiver.
• Patience for reproducing intermittent defects and diagnosing flake.
• Collaborative temperament across engineering and QA functions.
• Appetite for automating what can be automated, and for knowing when automation is the wrong choice.